"Yeah, I think I saw a carnivorous one headed this way." Maria laid the little girl back down and pulled the sheets up to her neck.

"What's a carnborous dinosaur?" The little girl let out a yawn and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

Annoyed, Maria stood walking to the door, but before shutting the light she spoke soft and low, "It's a dinosaur that eats bad little girls who don't go to sleep when they're supposed to." She shut the door with a frustrated sigh. [Will this night ever end?!] Before she made her way half way down the steps she stopped, not believing her ears, hearing the loud cries coming from the bedroom. [What the hell?] Maria ran back up the steps and threw the door open.

"Shhh, you'll wake Mickey." She came next to the bed.

"It's biting my feet!" She reached out for Maria from under her heavy blanket.

"Shhh, what's biting your feet?" Maria sat her up, pulling the crying child onto her hip.

"The carnborous dinosaur." Maria wiped the tears from the small girl's cheeks with a sigh.

"No, Megan I was just joking dinosaurs-" She stopped at the tone of the doorbell. "Was that the door bell?" Maria looked skeptically at Megan.

"I dunno." Megan sniffed and rubbed her eye with a yawn.

"Let's go find out." She slid Megan higher up on her hip and made her way out of the bedroom.

"Ouch." Maria said after stubbing her toe in the dark hallway. "Who turned out the lights?" She looked through the darkness to the child in her arms.

"Hahaha." Megan laughed, taking joy in Maria's discomfort.

"Brat." Maria was careful when going down the stairs in the dark.

"Hurry and get it before they go away." The little girl said with a smile watching Maria flip on the light switch.

"No, see I forgot to tell you that the police are dropping by to get some stuff." Megan grabbed for Strawberry, her cat's tail as she and Maria passed by the washing machine it was sleeping on.

"What stuff?" Megan fluffed Maria's flipped out hair.

"Oh, they just need your finger prints, maybe a few blood samples-you know, stick you with a really big needle and suck the blood right from your vein-that kind of stuff."

"No, don't open the door." Maria ignored her and brushed all her hair out of her face before opening the front door.

"Michael." She was astonished to see him standing at the door. "What are you doing here?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"I-I just wanted to see you-you know spend some time with you." He looked into her eyes and Maria felt her insides melt.

"You just wanted to see me?" She smiled in a daze for a second.

"Yeah. Can I come in?" He motioned to the inside of the house.

"Oh, Sure." She moved to the side letting him pass.

"No! Don't let the police in!!" Megan tugged at the sleeve on Maria's shirt.

"Megan-he's not a policeman." Maria said under her breath, lightly enough for only Megan to hear.

"Oh." She whispered putting a small hand over her mouth.

"You can just go through there to the kitchen." Maria pinched herself and when she was sure this wasn't a dream, shut the front door and made her way to the kitchen.

"He's cute." Megan whispered as Maria walked them both into the kitchen. Maria nodded before Michael turned to the two of them, eating a cookie he had just taken out of the cookie jar. [Always knows where the food is.] Maria watched him devour another cookie.

"Well, what do we have here?" He smiled noticing the blonde haired little child.

"This is Megan. I'm babysitting-" She paused. "-hey, how did you know I was here?" She looked at his face while he pinched Megan's cheeks.

"Oh, I asked Alex." He said, not taking his attention off of Megan.

"Alex told you where I was?" She bit her lip, raising a skeptical eyebrow at him. She didn't remember telling Alex her plans for the night. In fact she hadn't even spoken to Alex that day. He nodded wiping the crums from his cookie on his shirt and holding his hands out to Megan.

"You want to hold her?" Maria looked at him like he was insane.

"Yeah." He said smiling at Megan, who was holding her arms out to him.

"Since when do you like children?" She said guiding Megan's body until Michael held her securely in his arms.

"Since now." Megan giggled as he pinched her nose and pretended to take it off.

"Okay." Maria stood puzzled at the situation going on around her.

"How old are you?" He tickled the bottom of Megan's foot, making her giggle even louder as she held up four fingers. "Four?" In between giggles she nodded. "Do you talk?" He asked while grabbing a cookie for her from the cookie jar. Megan looked at Maria with a smile brightening her face.

"Oh yeah, she talks alright-never shuts up." Maria took the cookie Michael offered to her and sat in a chair at the kitchen table, feeling ignored.

********************

Liz shut the Crash Down's doors and made sure they were securely locked before sliding her backpack over her shoulders. Shivering, she buttoned up her jacket and paused, letting out a deep breath looking out into the cold, rainy night. Watching the air she had just blown out rise, she smiled and positioned her hands as if she were holding a cigarette and after taking a few imaginary drags blew out a puff of warm air.

"Just like when we were kids." Liz said to herself remembering all the times she and Maria had done the very thing she was doing. With a smile on her face, she made her way through the rain. Normally she would have scolded herself for not borrowing her father's car but nothing could ruin her good mood. Whenever she spent the night at Maria's she always felt the same. Like they were both twelve again.

A flash of lightening coming from above Liz made her stop dead in her tracks. She needed to get out of the rain. Looking to her right she noticed a familiar neighborhood. In her head she contemplated a plan. She was about a ten-minute walk from Maria's house. She couldn't make it. Not wanting to take a risk, Liz quickly looked for a place to shelter her from the rain. A cozy looking shed belonging to one of the neighborhood's houses caught Liz's attention.

*********************

Maria slid the key out of the lock and pushed her front door open.

"Where's your mother?" Michael looked into Maria's house, not moving from his position outside the front door.

"She's out of town." His eyes met hers with a suggestive glare. "Liz is coming over in a little while."

"Oh." He followed her in and shut the door behind him.

"You want something to drink?" She said throwing her keys on the table and flipping through the days' mail.

"No thanks." He slid his hands in his pockets.

"Okay, so are you going to tell me the real reason you're here?" She threw the mail on the table next to her keys and took a glass from the cabinet, filling it to the rim with water. [Damn, she's good.]

"What are you talking about?" He watched her gulp the glass of water.

"Come on. Did you have a fight with Max? You can tell me I'm a good listener and I don't gossip-well not a lot."

"How comforting." He came close to her. "Nothing's wrong."

"You sure?" Maria watched him jump in surprise as she stuck her hands in his back pockets. He nodded smiling.

"Unless there's something wrong with wanting to be with you."

*******************

With water dripping down her face, Liz shoved the shed's door open and slowly walked inside. She had to stay there, at least until the rain let up. A twinging shiver made it's way up her spine at the realization of how dark it actually was inside the shed.

"Well this is cozy." Looking for a place to sit Liz stretched her hand out in front of her, to feel a ladder. Carefully, she climbed it and felt for a place to sit and after getting comfortable in her spot, sat her backpack next to her, yawned, and laid back. Right on top of an arm.

A hard lump rose Liz's throat as the hand that the arm belonged to glided up her arm and clutched on tight. In terror, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, opening them to see a dark face looking at her. She pulled away resisting him, but after not feeling the stranger's grip loosen, elbowed the stranger in the stomach. The dark figure jerked back and Liz let out a scream. Trying to keep her head, she quickly reached for whatever she could find to defend her self. The first thing her hand glided onto was a cold, heavy and felt like a big pair of scissors.

She scrambled to her feet, throwing her backpack over her shoulder, and went for the ladder. Suddenly, the stranger's hand ripped from the darkness and grabbed Liz's leg. In horror, Liz brought her weapon down and hard into the stranger's arm. At the sound of his grunt in pain, Liz felt a warm substance gushing onto her. In a panic, she stood up and bumped her head onto the ceiling. She fell on her face and shrieked, "Help!" On the edge of the floorboard she could barely see the ladder. The stranger now stood over her on his knees breathing hard. Liz reached up to grab his face but, not surprisingly, he held her arms to her side. Furiously, Liz pushed her self up and sunk her teeth into his shoulder, biting down as hard as she could. His grip loosened and for a split second Liz was free to move, but soon after, Liz felt his fist punch into stomach. At the sound of her scream, he clamped her mouth shut, sat on top of her, and held her head in his hands.

******************

Returning from the kitchen, Michael ran a weary hand through his spiked hair at the sight of Maria. Like a child she sat with her feet curled under her, staring out into the rainy night. [Liz where are you?]

"She'll be here soon." She broke her stare just in time to taste Michael's lips on her own, before he pulled her into a tight hug.

"Have you been eating-" She paused licking her lips. "-apple pie?"

"Yeah, your mom makes some pretty good pie." He said sitting next to her, looking at the same spot she had been staring at. "When did it start raining?"

"Right after we got here." She snuggled close to him, laying her head up against his chest.

"Well I guess we got here at the perfect time." He said nudging her chin up, so that she looked into his eyes.

Maria shut her eyes and leaned in, only to feel cold air against her lips. She opened her eyes to see Michael sitting back with a smile. "Good things come to those who wait." She smiled and shut her eyes anticipating his lips on hers again. Not even a second later, his lips were on hers and Michael's hands were on Maria's hips…her sides…her rib cage…

********************

In horrified frustration, Liz tore a hand free and tried ripping the hair out of his head and began wrestling with the stranger. Seconds later in confusion, Liz found herself dangling over the edge of the floorboard from the stranger's hand and in a flash noticed the ladder to her left. Reaching for it, Liz discovered it was too far away and felt her hand beginning to slip from the stranger's grasp. Dismissing the fall ahead, she let go and soon after felt a loud thump echo as her body hit the floor.

In a daze, she looked up to see the dark figure looking over the edge at her. She wasn't going to stick around and see what his plans for her were. After peeling herself off of the floor, Liz wiped her face and kicked the shed's door open. A strong gust of wind blew as the door slammed open and without hesitation she ran out into the rain. She ran alone through the rain, her heart beating 1000 times a minute. The fear in the back of her mind brought her body the strength to keep running. She pushed herself and from a distance she could see the sign to Maria's subdivision. The cramps in her legs didn't stop her from running as fast as she could. Soon she could see the streetlights. She had to keep going. Maria's lit up house was only feet away. She reached the front door and while coughing and panting like a dog, banged on the door as hard as she could. The door opened to reveal a disheveled Maria and right behind her an out of breath Michael stood.

"Liz, what's going on?" Maria said grabbing her friend by the arms and quickly pulling her into the house.

"What's happening?" Liz spoke, looking down at her blood stained shirt. "Where's my voice?"

"Liz, are you hurt? Whose blood is this?" She looked at Michael's warm hand on her shoulder, then to his moving lips.

"What's going on?" She said tasting the blood in her mouth. Michael looked down at the blood that covered his hands.

"Liz?" Maria questioned as Liz covered her hands over her ears and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Liz!" Michael yelled taking her by the arms.