"Maybe because I love you too much," Michael explains. Maria’s heart stops at that declaration. A beat later, Michael utters, "Goodbye," and turns to walk up the stairs. He lifts his arms up at his elbows and quickly drops them down, signaling a resigned frustration.

Maria stares at Michael’s retreating back, stunned into silence. "I love you too, Michael," she says in a quiet voice, almost too quiet.

Michael hears her declaration, his step faltering on the stairs. Muscles clench in his jaw as those words reverberate throughout him.

His whole body jerks, as he almost turns around to look at her. He stops himself, knowing he’d never be able to leave if he saw the love and hurt swimming in her eyes. He steels himself and continues walking up the stairs.

Maria lets out a deep sigh and walks dejectedly back towards Alex.

As the jeep speeds away towards Vasques Rocks, Michael sits in silence. Max, Isabel, Alex and Tess are lost in their own thoughts too. Silence hangs like a thick blanket over the quintet.

"I love you too, Michael," Maria’s statement rings throughout Michael’s head. A raw pain is clawing through his heart as he starts to remember her face.

Images of Maria come rushing to his mind … the stiff, almost frightened look painted on her face as she approached him, Max and Isabel during the Crash festival, the outraged look she gave him as he 'borrowed' her car, the gentle, understanding gaze she had as she wiped the silent tears down his cheek that one rainy night, the impassioned plea in her eyes as she shouted "So have I!" at Buckley Point.

He presses his fingers over his tightly closed eyes, trying to will away the gnawing emptiness filling his soul.

"You okay, Michael?" Isabel asks him. "Fine!" he opens his eyes to snap at her, resenting the intrusion into his Maria memories.

Max flicks Isabel a look, almost as if to say, "Leave him alone. He’s trying to deal with all this." Isabel responds with a knowing sigh.

Michael’s head spins forth with more memories. "I told you not to go over 80, the engine won’t take it!" "It’s like the porno version of Aladdin!" A small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.

"You guys act like I’ve never tailed anyone before." "This is the second time you’ve dragged me into some cheap motel," he recalls with fond thought.

"I just really need you not be to cold or mean." "I didn’t care about the stupid flashes, I just wanted us to be close." Michael's eyes haze in recollection as images of red sneakers with a Kermit patch, Dalmatian puppies and a teary-eyed seven-year old assault him again. Maria …

What he never told her was that he also saw Maria standing up to the school bully in the who tormented Liz in the fifth grade, the bully who took Liz’s precious science books and threatened to dump them in the trash.

With her hands on her hips, eyes shooting killing glances, and hands pushing at his chest, Maria blasts away with her patented sarcastic insults and cuts the bully down to size. "What’s the matter, the science lab runs out of brains so you had to donate yours? Your family must be very proud of you … you’ve managed to walk upright on two legs instead of all four! When you think, does it hurt?"

As the bully starts to grab her, she takes on her Liz’s heavy science books and slams into the bully’s stomach … hard. Oof! the bully goes. He backs away from her, slinking off to hide behind a shrub.

Michael grins as he sees Maria slapping her hands together a few times and tells Liz "My job here is done!" He watches as Maria helps Liz pick up the books that the bully dropped and then eggs her for a race. "Race you to the classroom!" she called out as she sails away, laughing.

Liz sees the varying reactions crossing Michael’s face and almost reaches out to him. Her hands drops away in mid-air, suddenly remembering Maria’s pained look. Liz’s heart went out to her friend whose world has just shattered.

"It’s okay you don’t have to tell me," Maria's haunting words assault Michael again. That rainy night became a blur … anguish, loneliness, yearning … only coming into focus when she invited him in to her room, toweled him dry and gathered him close as he let loose all the pent up grief churning inside him. Falling asleep with her arms wrapped around him felt like the most natural and heavenly thing in the world. Her scent, cool and fresh as spring water with a hint of soothing cedar oil, lingered in his nostrils as he closed his eyes that night. It was the first night that he felt completely safe and loved.

He unclenches his jaw, hardly mindful of soreness radiating throughout his face. The gnawing pain has turned into a full-blown maelstrom and he wonders how he can cope without losing control.

Pierce. That one word cuts through his pain and a flash of hatred surges forth. He killed Pierce. He didn’t mean to kill him, just injure him enough to keep the others safe. Instead he killed him. Was he no better than Nasedo? Michael lets out of a rough breath and shuts his eyes again.

Horrid images of him losing control of his powers and inadvertently hurting Maria had Michael recoiling inside. "No, I can’t risk that happening to her. Not her. She’s … everything. I love her too much. And I can’t let her be hurt by something I can’t control yet."

He vows, "I’ll be back, Maria. I can never really leave you. A part of me will always be with you, just as a part of you will always be with me."

The jeep slows to a crawl as Vasquez Rocks looms before Michael, Max, Liz, Isabel and Tess. Michael squares his shoulders and climbs out of the jeep, readying himself to deal with whatever came next, with whatever this so-called destiny brought. As the foursome climb onto the rock before him, Michael glances out to the desert, his gaze flying beyond it, searching the horizon, to a place where a beautiful, feisty, sarcastic, loyal, loving pixie stood and said, "I love you too."

"I’ll be back, Maria. I’ll be back," he whispers as he retreats to join the others.