2:59. Her eyes drifted shut and she relaxed. Click. She was startled awake. 3:00.

An oh-so-familiar whimper erupted from the next room. Even though she was wide-awake, Maria still didn’t want to actually drag herself out of her makeshift bed, formally known as Michael’s couch. The whimper grew into a sob with soon became a full-blown cry.

“This is your life, Maria,” she told herself as she threw her blankets to the floor in a heap. Her feet slipped comfortably into her monkey slippers and she padded groggily into the living room.

“Don’t worry Maria. I almost have him clamed down. Go back to sleep,” Michael said from the darkened corner.

She turned around and headed back to her room just as Clay quieted. Abruptly, Maria stopped and turned back realizing the situation. “What are you doing?”

He stepped into the moonlight. “Rocking Clay,” he whispered back. Maria took a moment to admire his boxer-clad body.

Embarrassed, she tried to cover it up. “Well, obviously, but I meant WHY?” Her arms crossed uncomfortably across her chest as she remembered that she was only wearing a white T-shirt and slippers.

Michael looked at her in disbelief. “He was crying.”

“You don’t have to do this, you know. I can take care of them by myself.” Maria felt her defenses kicking in. “I don’t need any help.”

“Never said you did. I just wanted some sleep tonight.”

“Oh… sorry.” Internally she flinched. ‘Nice way to overreact DeLuca,’ she groaned to herself. Her eyes drifted down to the empty carrier. Maria felt her heart stop. “Where’s Anna?” So that was what it felt like to have a heart attack…

“Calm down. She’s in my room so she wouldn’t get upset by Clay’s crying.”

Maria took a deep, calming breath and raised her eyebrows. “Michael Guerin, thinking ahead? I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”

“Well, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you being a mother so we’re even.”

“Touché… Here let me take over.” Maria gently slipped her hands around her not-quite-sleeping-yet son, unable to stop herself from letting the back of her hand linger on his smooth chest. “You probably work on Saturday’s anyway.”

Michael snapped out of his stupor. “Actually tomorrow’s a short day.”

“Get some sleep anyway because tomorrow my furniture comes and you are my personal mover. “Maria found that if she concentrated on Clay’s wiggling toes, she could actually form a comprehensive sentence.

“At least I wont have to go to the gym this weekend,” he joked back, easing the tension slightly. Maria felt confident enough to look up. “Good. You just remember to keep that peppy attitude when you want to kill me later for over-exhausting you.”

“Me, peppy?” His mouth formed its familiar smirk and he moved a hair closer.

“Hell IS on the verge of freezing over you know,” she whispered back, entranced by the small flecks of green in his eyes in the moonlight.

“And on that note, I think I will go fetch the other rug rat for you.” He was gone before Maria had even realized he moved. She needed to stop losing herself like this. She was in control and she would stay that way.

Michael carefully set the carrier down on the floor. ‘See, this is easy,’ Maria told herself, but she wasn’t so sure when he approached her ‘personal space.’ She always seemed to lose it when he invaded her personal space. Michael leaned in close, hesitating an inch away. Something in his eyes drew her in. Was it vulnerability?

Maria held her breath as his lips came closer… and landed on Clay’s soft head. “Goodnight,” he mouthed, clumsily brushing his lips across her cheek and then leaving.

She stood there, unable to move, her mind going a mile a minute. A wave of dizziness overwhelmed her and she shook herself, realizing that she hadn’t been breathing.

‘Breathe, Maria. Breathe…’ she thought. ‘Why are you so affected by a stupid kiss on the cheek? It’s no big deal. It’s just his way of showing friendship. He HAS changed and all.’

Maria lovingly lay the sleeping Clayton in his carrier and stumbled back to bed… or couch…. Whatever. Amazingly enough, sleep approached fast, taking her in its clutches just as she realized that she was just trying to fool herself into not falling for him again.