" ... the face and ghost my guide,
I must move on,
it's the face of one ravaged by love,
it's both dead and alive ... "

Michael ran the deserted streets of Roswell with one solitary thought running
through his head, Maria. His feet pounded on the pavement and his breath came
in short bursts as his body struggled to feed his protesting muscles the oxygen
they needed. It was completely silent and the path in front of him glistened with
the recent rain.

He was desperately trying to ignore the pictures flicking across his mind, however
he found it impossible to erase the image of Maria's lifeless body as it lay on the
blood soaked earth. Michael had spent his entire life searching. Searching for
answers to who and what he was. Nothing else had mattered but at that particular
moment he didn't give a damn. He was completely consumed by thoughts of
Maria and the horrifying possibility that she could be hurt or worse.

Rounding the last bend he saw her house and he sprinted the remaining distance,
coming to stop just short of her window. Doubling over to catch his breath he took
a moment to calm himself before approaching and wondered briefly what he was
going to do now that he was actually here. He was almost too afraid to look.
What if she wasn't there? What if he looked through her window and found her
laying in a pool of blood, just like his dream? He shuddered and pushed that
thought away. He scraped the shards of his will together, took the last remaining
steps to her window and peered into her room. Immediately he recognised the lump
in the bed as her slight form and sighed in relief.

It appeared she was sleeping soundly, he could just see the rise and fall of her
chest as she breathed. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the tiny movement, it
was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen. He pressed his hands to the glass
and rested his forehead against the window. Closing his eyes he exhaled and sent
a silent prayer of thanks to whatever God was listening. He opened his eyes and
looked once more at her. Although he couldn't see her face, he could see her blonde
hair spread out on the pillow behind her and he was filled with an uncontrollable urge
to run his fingers through those soft strands.

He hadn't seen too much of her lately. Not since he had ended their relationship, and
as much as it pained him, he was determined to keep away from her. If removing
her from his life was what it took to keep her safe, then so be it. What had to be
done, had to be done and destiny or no, there was no way in hell he was going to
let her stick around and get hurt. He was barely breathing without her, but knowing
she was alive and well kept him sane.

His gaze rested on the back of her head and he wished for the millionth time that
things could have been different. It constantly amazed him how easily she had slipped
passed his defences and crept into his heart. He laughed inwardly, heck the most
amazing thing about it was that he actually admitted it to himself. He smiled slightly
at the thought and again stifled the urge to creep inside and touch her. He would give
almost anything to be inside with her at that moment. Holding her sweet body against
his and feeling her warm breath against his neck.

Michael considered doing that very thing for about a millisecond and just as quickly
discarded the idea. What was he thinking? He had to stop torturing himself like this.
He frowned as he thought about how things had panned out. He wasn't sure what this
destiny thing meant, all he knew was that he couldn't imagine the world without Maria's
laughter and incessant chatter. Couldn't conceive of a universe without her sweet
face and courageous spirit. It was true he had walked away because he'd had a job to
do, but foremost in his mind was the fact that it was just too dangerous for her to
be involved now. He was too dangerous.

Sighing to himself, he committed her profile to memory and turned away from the
window. It was almost dawn and he figured it was time he headed home. Walking
away his thoughts turned back to his nightmare, for that was what it had been he
convinced himself. There was no truth to it, he'd seen Maria for himself and she was
fine. A shudder ran through his body and his brow furrowed, there had been something
about it though. Michael stopped and looked back towards her house. There had
definitely been something about it.

TBC