"Oh, it feels great to be out of there," Maria cried out, chucking her bag on the floor, and laying down on her bed.

"It's soooo good to be back home!"

Amy and Jim had followed her to her bedroom, and Amy sat on her bed, while Jim stood in the doorway.

"Maria, Jim and I have something to tell you," Amy began cautiously. "Mmm?" Maria sounded distracted. "Honey, Jim is, well, he'syourfather," the words came out in a rush. "He's my what?" Maria said "Your father." "I can't believe this! When did this happen?! and why didn't anyone inform me about this?!" Maria ranted. Amy slowly explained what had happened all those years ago.

"God! I can't, I don't... I don't know what to say. I..." her voice faded out, she looked completely shocked.

"Jim and I are planing to get married. Now that you and Kyle are old enough... well, I think it's best that you get to know your father and your brother. Because this makes Kyle your half brother. Plus I love Jim."

Amy looked up at him and smiled. Maria watched her mom, she looked really happy. Even though Maria was really shocked by the news, she hadn't seen her mother this happy in years, and she knew that she couldn't take this away from her. Maria leaned over and hugged her mom tightly. She jumped and quickly hugged Jim, no her father! Kyle walked in.

"Hey Maria." "Hey," Jim and Amy quietly left the room. "We need to talk." "Yeah we do." "So, we're brother and sister huh?" "Yeah, it's pretty weird!" Maria laughed. "We've been teasing each other since, well, since forever! And now we find out that we're related! It's a little more than weird!" "Yeah, and it's strange too!"

Kyle laughed at this, and Maria, to her surprise, found herself joining in. She stopped suddenly as she recalled what had happened, and fell silent. Kyle looked at her, usually Maria could laugh for hours, but whatever had happened to her had obviously affected her a lot. A lot more than she would admit.

Kyle leaned over and impulsively hugged her. She held on to him, tears beginning to make their way down her cheeks.

In the kitchen, Amy and Jim heard them laughing and smiled.

"It's good that those two have finally learned to become friends."

But when all fell silent, Amy looked at Jim worriedly.

"Um I think I'd better go check on them, Check that they haven't killed each other!" Jim said jokingly.

The two walked to Maria's room and peeked in. What they saw amazed them both. Kyle was holding on to Maria, who was obviously crying, though Maria's back was to them. He was rocking her back and forth, whispering to her that it would all be all right. When Kyle saw them watching, he smiled at them, as if to say that he had it all under control. That he was looking after his baby sister.

The next day Michael and Maria were sitting on the Front porch of the DeLuca house, talking quietly. After almost losing Maria, Michael couldn't bear to let her out of his sight.

"Maria?" she heard her father, Jim Valenti of all people, call. "Yeah?"

He walked out of the house and sat down on her other side. "Look, I know this is painful for you, but I really need to get some details from you. If this is a bad time, I'll go, but I am going to need some answers," he said gently.

Maria looked at Michael, he nodded, encouraging her. Maria gulped, then nodded.

"Can you tell me who did it?"

Michael took her hand squeezed. She squeezed back, gratefully. Maria nodded,

"It was James... James Kaye." "James?" Michael asked confused. "From my maths class, the one you saw kissing me." Maria looked away from Michael, filled with sorrow and shame.

Michael just watched her, saddened that she couldn't even look him anymore.

"I'll need a description, honey, then we can start looking for him. Okay?"

Maria pulled away from Michael and dashed inside. The two men couldn't mask their disappointment, as they thought that she was to scared to tell them. Just as they stood to walk inside, the front door swung open and Maria stepped out, holding a book.

'A yearbook,' Michael recognised it. Maria flipped through a few pages before stopping. She pointed to a picture of a sandy haired boy.

"That's him, that's James," she said quietly. Jim squeezed her arm. "Thanks, honey." he leant down & kissed her on the forehead, then walked inside, taking the yearbook with him. "I'm proud of you Maria, that took a lot of guts."

She finally looked up into his eyes and smiled. 'That's a rare sight these days,' he thought, 'She doesn't say much either.' * * * Liz knocked on the front door of the DeLuca house, then walked straight in. She had been doing this for years, ever since she and Maria had become close friends. Amy appeared in the hallway.

"Oh hi Liz, Maria's in her room," she said. "Thanks Ms. DeLuca." Liz headed to Maria's room, and knocked on her door.

"Come in," Maria's voice was soft, so soft that Liz wasn't sure that she'd heard it at all.

She decided just to walk straight in anyway. Maria was on her bed, clutching a pillow to her chest, cross legged Indian style, her face tear streaked. Liz shut the door behind her and quickly went over to the bed, hugging Maria. The she sat on the bed next to Maria.

"Howya holding up?" "Okay, I just wish I could forget it all! Forget it ever happened. Forget James Kaye ever existed." This started a fresh round of tears from Maria.

Liz just held her tightly, letting her cry. After about 10 minutes, the tears stopped, and Liz handed her a tissue. Maria wiped her eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to cry all over you." "That's okay, that's what friends are for! Besides, if the situation was reversed, you'd be there letting me cry all over you."

While Liz was speaking she was stroking Maria's hair with one hand, and wiping away her tears with the other.

"Thanks. For everything, for being here." " Like I said, that's what friends are for. Hey you wanna come stay at my place tonight?"

Maria nodded.

"Great, we can make banana splits, make crank calls on the guys and have midnight feasts, just like we used to when we were younger! Whatcha say?!"

Maria laughed despite herself. It did sound tempting.

"Okay, why not?"

Maria grabbed a bag, chucked a few things in it, then the two headed for the kitchen, where Maria knew her mother would be. She was right.

"Mom I'm going to stay at Liz's tonight okay?" Amy looked up, surprised. And when she saw Maria's face, she smiled. Her daughter was beginning to look the way she used to. There was still a long way to go, but it was a start.

"Okay. You two have fun tonight! If you don't, you're in big trouble, both of you," Amy mock scolded them.

They just laughed and walked out the door. * * * Liz and Maria sat on Liz's bed, talking, after dinner, when the phone rang. Liz reached over and picked it up.

"Hello. Parker residence, Liz speaking." "Liz, hi it's Amy. Can I speak to Maria please?" "Sure, here she is." Liz covered the mouth piece, mouthing 'It's your mom,' and handed the phone to Maria. "Hello?" "Honey, they picked up James. Jim is down at the station questioning him now," Amy said, excitedly. "That's great!" Maria cried out. "I know, look I'll keep you posted with what's going on okay?" "Thanks mom." "All right, now you to have a great night. Love you." "Okay, we will, love you too."

Maria clicked it off, and handed the phone back to Liz, who was closest to the night stand. Liz put the phone down then turned back to Maria.

"Well?!" Liz said, sounding impatient. "Liz Parker, I do believe you sounded impatient then!" "Maria?!" "Sorry, anyway they found James! They have him in custody now!" "That's awesome! Banana splits to celebrate!"

The two ran down the stairs and in to the Crashdown's kitchen. Finding all the ingredients for a perfect banana split, they quickly made them and ran back to Liz's room, leaving a very messy kitchen. * * * "I know my rights! I want my lawyer present before I'll answer one of your damn questions!" James shouted.

Jim shrugged, he knew that James was right. He did need is lawyer present. There was nothing they could do until his lawyer was there.

"Let him call his lawyer," Jim said to the nearest cop.

James was led to a pay-phone, and he immediately called his parents. Who immediately got him a lawyer. About 30 minutes later, they finally got to question James.

"Where were you last Friday night, between 7:30 & 10:30 PM?" was the first question, "A friends house watching a movie." "Any alibis?" "Three." "Names?" "Danny Barr, Jack Young, and Josh Mosmer."

Jim wrote the names and their numbers. He handed them to another cop.

"Go check these names out."

10 minutes later the cop was back.

"His story checks out." The cop shrugged. Jim sighed. "All right, I guess we have to let him go."

This really hurt him. His daughter had been abducted by this creep, beaten to a bloody pulp, and left to die, when she was found, she was in a coma, chance being that she wouldn't wake up at all, or if she did, she'd be brain damaged, and yet he got of scott free! This was just not right. And what hurt his baby, hurt him. * * * "No, please! Stop! You're hurting me! Please!"

Liz was woken to hear cries of desperation. She reached over and switched on her bedside lamp. On the trolley bed, Maria lay tossing and turning, crying out in her sleep. Liz hopped out of her bed, and started to shake Maria.

"Maria, wake up!"

Finally Maria's eye's opened and she bolted upright. She looked at Liz and burst into tears. Liz hugged her, rocking back and forth, stroking her hair. "He was hurting me, saying he was going to kill me, kill Michael, punching me, hurting me! I pleaded with him to stop, but he wouldn't."

Maria babbled on, sobbing.

"Shhh... it'll be all right. It'll all be fine," Liz said soothingly.

It worked. Within 10 minutes, Maria was asleep again. Liz got up and hopped into bed. She leaned over, switched off the lamp, then turned over, sighing. She snuggled down, trying to get back to sleep, hoping that Maria wouldn't have any more nightmares.

It scared Liz, Maria never had nightmares, or if she did, she never woke up screaming. She kept an ear open out all night, just checking. There were no more.

The next morning Liz drove Maria home, when they go there, they walked into the kitchen.

"Hi everyone," Maria said to her mom, dad and Kyle, who were all sitting around the kitchen table. They all looked up at her, blank expressions marring their faces.

"Hi honey," her mom replied. "Any news?" They all nodded.

Maria and Liz exchanged glances. This did not look good. Maria bit her bottom lip.

"James was released. There wasn't enough evidence to convict him, and he had three strong alibi's," Jim said quietly.

Maria went pale, and sunk onto the floor.

"I'm sorry honey," Jim continued. Maria just nodded in shock. * * * The next day was Maria's first day back at work. She was carrying 3 Blast-Off Burger to table 6, and then took table 3's order. At table 11, she stopped, James. She walked over to Liz.

"Liz, can you take table 11?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

Liz peeked out and paled. She nodded.

"Yeah, of course Maria."

Maria had to walk past table 11 to give table 3 their order of Saturn Rings. As she did, James grabbed her leg. She froze.

"You'd better watch out DeLuca, I haven't finished with you yet," he hissed.

She squirmed out of his reach, gave table 3 their orders, then she fled to the employees lounge and burst into tears. Michael followed her in from the kitchen.

"Maria? What's wrong?" "James, he... he's out there." "What?! What did he do?" "He told me to watch out, said he wasn't finished with me yet," she sobbed.

Michael pulled her to him, she was shuddering with sobs, and shaking, but it was hard to tell the difference between the two. Maria looked up at him.

"You know, I think I want to go home and lie down. I'm really tired," she said. "I'll go tell Liz for you," Michael offered. "Thanks, can you drive me home? I'll get the Jetta back later." "Sure, just wait here." Michael walked back into the diner and Maria got changed. "All right, lets get you home," Michael said walking back in.

The ride home was really quiet, but when they got there Michael turned to Maria.

"You call me if you need to talk okay? I want to be here for you, no I am here for you. So please call." Maria nodded, and got out of the car. She dashed inside, and Michael drove back to the Crashdown. * * * Maria sat in her room, her parents- funny to have automatically gotten used to the fact that the sheriff was her dad- had left to go to dinner, at her suggestion. Her mom still worried about her, but Maria had insisted that they go out, so they had, and Kyle was at a friends watching the football. So she had the whole house to herself.

Maria just lay on her bed, feeling the cool breeze waft through her open window.

Suddenly, she felt someone enter through the window, a cold chill spread through her back, and she told herself to calm down. It was probably just Michael, he still used the window. She looked around and an all-too familiar face stared back at her, James.

She sat up and tried to scream, but it was like her vocal chords had frozen or something, not a sound came out.

"Well, Maria, nice decor," he took in an exaggerated sniff. "Smells like roses. And eucalyptus, if I'm not mistaken. Very unusual combination."

He moved towards her, and she backed away.

"Go away," she warned, "Leave me alone."

"Come on Maria! You're feistier than that, I've seen you in action. You've always been the regular hyperactive hurricane," he taunted. "I'm missing the DeLuca spunk, or should I say the DeLuca/Valenti spunk." "You know?" "You don't think that a detail like that would pass me by, do you? I'm an observant person, you could say." "What do you want James," Maria growled. "You know what I want baby!" "Why are you doing this?!" "It's just a little crush, I like a girl, and she's with another guy. Your friend Max had a similar situation I believe. Of course his methods weren't as extreme. I like you. You're with Guerin. You could do so much better," he teased.

"I love him James. Michael and I are a couple, so get over it!" "Oh! I almost forgot, I have a little piece of info for you. If you don't date me, I tell your dad that your boyfriend isn't from around here, '47 crash huh? Never knew you liked older guys." "No! You are not going to blackmail me!" "Why not? It's easy. You aren't exactly able to worm your way out of this one," he sneered.

"So, we on? Dinner, Saturday night. Oh and if this conversation leaves this room, lets just say that it wont be a coma you're in."

Maria stared at him in shock.

"See ya sweetie!"

He climbed back out the window, and Maria burst into tears, 'what the hell am I gonna do?' she thought to herself. * * * Maria sat alone at a table in the Crashdown. Michael walked over to her, but before he got there, James walked over and sat down. He kissed her on the cheek, and she looked totally repulsed. Michael sat down at the counter and watched them.

They sat for a while, she said something. and he whispered in her ear. She froze, and James smiled. He got up, kissed her cheek and left. Michael jumped up and walked over to her.

"What was that about? he asked. She glanced at him. "Michael... I can't go out with you anymore." "What? Why?" "Look, I cant tell you why! Just... it's... look I'm sorry. I want to, but if I do, he'll..." she trailed off, realising she'd said too much. "Maria, what the hell is going on?" "I gotta go."

Maria ran off, and he sat down at the booth. Tess and Kyle came over and sat down across from him. Tess glanced at Maria's retreating form.

"What's up?" "Don't ask me, its weird." "How?" Kyle enquired.

Michael explained. Kyle narrowed his eyes.

"James Kaye, Skeeze extrodanaire!" Tess said, " And I'm new!" "Tess do you have any idea's how to deal with this?" Michael asked hopefully. "Well I could pay Maria a visit. I can do the dream thing almost as well as Isabel." "What dream thing? Is that your power?" "Among others." "What else can you do?"

Suddenly Michael and Kyle saw Kirsten Dunst in a bikini, sitting on the table, smiling flirtatiously... "Guys? Uh hello?" Tess snapped her fingers in front of them, they snapped out

of it, and Kirsten disappeared.

"Yeah I knew that was a bad image to send," Tess muttered under her breath. "Your powers are a little weird!" Kyle commented. "Hey, I'm space cowgirl! I rule! I'll do what I want woozle!" "What's a woozle?" "Hmmm... I'll tell you one day!" * * * Tess sat in her room, Michael by her side.

"Michael if I'm in over an hour, wake me up," she instructed. He nodded.

Tess touched the picture of Maria lightly and concentrated. She felt herself slip into the dream.

* Maria sat in her room and someone was coming through the window. Tess watched. The person... James Kaye, Tess shuddered, the psychopath. He cam over to Maria, who sat on her bed. She backed away.

"Maria, I like you. A lot. Now, I know all about your little boyfriend and his friends. Crash of '47 huh? Never knew you like older men! I'll tell the sheriff. I'm sure your dad wont approve of 'lil' Maria dating E.T. So I suggest you go out with me. I'll keep quiet. "You can't blackmail me!" "Oh, and word about this conversation to anyone? Lets just say that there's worse things than a coma."

Suddenly Maria's room swirled and disappeared. They were in a dark alley way and James was beating Maria up. She fell to the floor. Then she was in a black hole, squirming and screaming.

That too swirled and disappeared, and the Crashdown took the alleyways place. Michael, Maria and James were standing on the floor, no-one else around. Michael had his arm protectively around Maria's waist. James pulled a gun out from under his jacket and aimed it at Michael.

"Come to me Maria, or I shoot E.T. over there." Maria pulled away from Michael, and walked over to James.

"Maria, no!" Michael cried out, "Stay with me!" "He'll shoot you if I do." Maria's voice was dead and dull. James wrapped his arm around her.

"That's my girl." He squeezed the trigger. Michael fell to the floor, and Maria raced over.

"Michael, please don't die!" she pleaded. Maria turned him over, his dead, lifeless eyes staring at her. Tess stood rooted to the spot.

"Hey, Maria, I got tired of him. Don't want my girl preoccupied by an alien! So I'm solving the problem."

Maria stood, and faced James, fury all over her face.

"I'm not your girl! I hate you!"

She raced at him. He aimed and fired. Tess saw blood seeping through Maria's top. Maria stopped, touching the blood. She crumpled, and hit the floor. Tess ran over.

"Maria!"

Maria's voice came out in starts, "Tess... help..." *

Tess woke up, and screamed. Michael stared at her in shock.

"OH MY GOD!" Tess shrieked. "Tess, calm down. It's okay, just calm down. Tell me what you saw!"

Tess quickly filled Michael in, and she could see the anger in his face, and clenched fists.

"He did what?!" "Blackmail. Somehow he found out about us being aliens, and now he's blackmailing her into going out with him. That's probably why she broke up with you, he made her too."

Michael tensed, "Kyle."

"No, Michael he's my boyfriend. And Maria's brother! He would never..." Michael cut her off, "How long have you known him?" "Only a while but-" "My point exactly." "Look, I'm going to go into James' dream, get some hard facts, prove that it wasn't Kyle!" "Okay Tess, get a grip, this is a pyschopath!" "I have to find out the truth!" Tess said stubbornly. "Okay, but you be very careful! this guys twisted, warped! Who knows what he's capable of!"

Tess walked over to the book case and grabbed the Roswell High year book. She sat back down on the bed, found his picture and concentrated. Soon, she was in his dream.

* James stood in a room filled with Maria's. All giggly, flirty, and all over him- total ditzes. Tess watched as they all covered him. Then they all disappeared, all except one lone Maria. She was standing in suggestive clothing, advancing on James in a very stripper girl way. Tess had an idea.

She made the Maria clone disappear, changed her appearance, so she looked like Maria, then made her way to James. She pulled out a box of chocolates, and began putting them into James mouth, one by one. Just the thought of James made Tess want to throw up, and now she had to act like she was madly in lust with him. Yick!

"Oh Maria," James moaned, making Tess want to retch. "James?" she said in a sing-songy voice, " Just how did you find out my ex was an alien?" "Well, I've known since the shooting. I was in the room, hiding, when Max told Liz. I'd been madly in love with you since second grade, but you always turned me down. So when you hooked up with Michael, I figured he must be one too. You don't usually go for guys like that. And after that the rest was easy, because I could blackmail you. I didn't want to, but you left me no choice. I thought you were under some kind of alien spell." "I'm sorry for making you wait," Maria/ Tess purred, " But I'm here now!"

James leant into kiss her, and she snapped awake.

'And now I'm gone,' she thought wirely, 'Thank God.' * * * Maria and James sat at a table in Senior Chaws. She hadn't bothered to look nice, what the hell was the point. Maybe if she pulled a 'worlds-worst girlfriend' act on him he'd dump her.

That could be option B. Option A was to kill him. "So my dad has a cabin in Colorado. We could always have a weekend away," he said, leering at her. "I'm too busy at the Crashdown," Maria replied, "Sorry." "Well I guess I'll have to have a talk with your boss then." "Don't bother, I'll ask." In your dreams! "Good."

James ran his fingers down the side of her face.

"We can have a lot of fun," he said suggestively.

Maria suppressed a shudder and tried to pull away, but James pulled her closer and kissed her forcefully on the lips.

"Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom," and find a way out of here and away from you!

"See you in a few minutes babe," he gave her a grin that sent shivers down her spine. Maria quickly walked to the bathroom and got there just before the tears started.

"I have to get in control! He cant see that he's getting to me, or he'll have more power over me, more to torture me with..." Maria trailed off as she remembered the awful nightmare she'd had the night before. The one where James had shot Michael.

She pulled in one last shuddering breath, checked her make-up, and walked back out to the table. When she slid into her seat, she realised that James had already ordered dinner. At her place was a plate of Chilli Con Carne, with Nachos and salsa.

"Hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of ordering for you, as you were in the bathroom so long," he said sleazily.

"No, of course not," Maria forced herself to smile, then quickly went back to looking blank. Otherwise he might get the wrong idea. * * * Dinner finally over, Maria and James were heading home. James was trying desperately to keep a conversation going, but it wasn't happening. Maria was staring blankly out the window.

When James noticed this, he grinned, and took a right turn. James had always dreamed about going out with Maria, then driving up to Buckly Point for some major action. And now it was happening. Okay, so he'd had to blackmail her to do it, but so what? Guerin was finally out of the way, for good, he hoped.

"Buckly Point sound good babe?" he said.

She didn't answer, so he took her silence as a yes. He parked the car in the most secluded spot he could find. He lunged towards Maria, and she froze.

'Eww, eww, eww!'

But she realised that she had too, to keep him from hurting Michael. She kissed him lightly, and taking this as an invitation, he shoved his tongue down her throat. The she had an idea, pretend he was Michael. It made things a little easier, even though her body was screaming out that it was James.

James began to run his hand up her thigh, his other hand reaching round and locking her door, then going for her bra strap. Maria felt panic rise in her throat, but pushed it down. He was kissing her aggressively, his hands everywhere, or that's what it felt like.

Maria heard a car pull up next to theirs, and considered signalling for help, then realised that there was no way she was able to. James started to undo his pants, pulling Maria's skirt up as far as it would go. Bile rose in her mouth, but she continued to kiss him anyway, pretending that she was enjoying this. * * * Michael parked his jeep next to a little yellow VW. He hoped out and saw Maria and James doing some serious making out. He had been following her the whole night, worried about her.

'No,' he told himself, 'Maria loves you, she hates him. this is all blackmail because he knows about you.'

As he watched James started to undo his pants, shoving his hand further up Maria's thigh. Anger coursed through him, and he strode over to the door. He pulled, it was locked.

Maria and James looked up at him, James had a look of pure anger on his face, Maria, terror. It ripped through Michael's heart, making it ache. Seeing that he was making Michael angry, James kissed Maria even harder. Using his powers, Michael unlocked the door, opened it, reached in and yanked James out. "What the hell were you doing?!" Michael yelled. "Just having a perfectly legal kiss with my girlfriend," James replied, with an evil smirk.

Michael glanced at Maria, who was crying and straightening her skirt and top.

"James, you leave Maria alone, from now on, you hear?" "Why? Maria's great!" he challenged, "Not that you'd know anything about that, would you?" "You have no idea what I can do!"

Michael punched James, knocking him out. He dropped him on the ground, and reached into the car, pulling Maria out.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she sobbed, "Michael, oh my God! I am really, I'm really sorry!" "It's okay," he said, taking her into his arms, " Tess went into your dream and saw that he was blackmailing you." "What are you going to do with him?" Maria gestured at the unconscious scumbag.

Michael leaned over. Placing his hand on James head, he erased all of James' memories about the aliens, the shooting, everything, except for what he'd done to Maria. The scumbag deserved to rot in his memories for what he'd done. Besides, he needed those memories if he was going to confess to the sheriff.

Michael shook James awake.

"What are you doing here, with her?" James asked, confused. "You are going to go and confess to the sheriff about what you did. Or I will kill you!"

James jumped into the car, and quickly made his way to the sheriffs office, where he confessed to everything, and got 10 years. Without a trial.

Michael took Maria's hand and led her to the jeep.

"What did you do to him?" "I erased all of his alien memories. Everything else is still intact, even what he did to you. And he is going to pay." "Good, he cant blackmail me anymore." * * * Maria looked around the table at her 7 best friends.

"And now it's all over. Michael erased his memory files of you guys, and he's in jail."

She looked back down at the table. This had to have been the hardest thing to do. Everyone knew that, and made it easy on her, by just listening. Liz, Isabel and Tess leaned over and hugged her, while Michael and Alex grabbed a hold of her hands and squeezed. She squeezed back, looked up and gave them all a smile.

"Now that's the DeLuca we all know!" Kyle said.

Maria smiled over at him, her brother. She felt the happiest she had in a long time. She had a great group of friends, her Mom, and a dad, and a brother! this was definitely a great place to be, here with the people she was closest to.