“Are you sure you’re going to be alright?”

“Yes, Iz. Stop worrying about me, go out and have fun.”

Isabel came over to sit on Maria’s bed.

“Have you talked to him at all?”

Him would be Michael of course, and no, Maria hadn’t talked to him. Not since she had healed him. That day in the hotel they had all slept until nightfall, well everyone except Maria, then they had started the long drive back to Roswell. As they approached the site where they had been captured they saw the burned out remains of Alex and Max’s vehicles on the side of the road, courtesy of their captors no doubt. They ditched the van just outside the city and walked the rest of the way. They told their parents that they had been in a car accident and gotten lost in the desert trying to walk home. They had the car wrecks as proof.

Now it was a week later and while Isabel was continuing her relationship with Alex, Liz and Tess were nurturing budding romances with Max and Kyle. Only Maria and Michael couldn’t cross the chasm that had formed between them. Maria supposed it was just as well. She wouldn’t want to be with someone who was afraid of her.

“No, I haven’t.” Maria answered Isabel.

“Well, maybe you should call him.”

“Isabel, he doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“How do you know that?”

“Put yourself in his shoes. Would you want to talk to the person who got you kidnapped, broke your arm, mutilated your face, and led you on a high-speed escape across two states?”

“Ria, stop it. You did not DO any of those things to Michael.”

Maria shook her head sadly. “No, but I was still responsible.” She rolled over to bury her face in her pillow. “No wonder he hates me.”

The doorbell rang and Isabel hesitated, knowing it would be Alex.

Maria lifted her head, “Go, have fun.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Maria smiled at her sister and threw one of her pillows across the room at her. She laughed, “Go!”

Isabel smiled back. It hurt her to see Maria so sad but she had to let her and Michael find their own way—if it was possible for them to get together at all.

“Okay, I’m going.” Isabel ran down the stairs and opened the door for Alex.

He stepped forward to give her a small peck on the cheek. “Ready m’lady?”

“Yes,” Isabel smiled back at him but had a distracted look on her face.

“What is it?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Isabel hated this. She knew that Alex and Michael were best friends and that she probably shouldn’t say anything but… “It’s Maria. Her and Michael haven’t talked since…”

“I know.”

“I just, I don’t know, I want her to be happy.”

“I think she will be.” Alex had a small smile on his face.

“What?” Isabel looked at Alex questioningly. “What did you do?”

“Me?” Alex feigned innocence. “I did nothing. I know nothing. I AM nothing.”

Isabel wasn’t buying his innocent act but she let it slide. Whatever Alex was up to she just hoped that it made Maria happier.

~~~~~

Earlier that day Alex had called Michael to see how he was doing.

“What’s up man?” he said when Michael answered the phone.

“Nothing.”

“What’re you doin’ tonight?”

“Working, why?” It was a lie, Michael didn’t have to work but he didn’t want to do anything else either. He just wanted to be left alone.

“Oh. I was just wondering if you wanted to do something with me and Isabel.”

“With you and Isabel?” Michael asked. “Alex you do understand what ‘date’ means?”

Alex sighed, “Yes. I just meant that maybe you could call Maria and…”

“No.” Michael cut him off.

“But why not? Have you even spoken to her since…”

“No, I haven’t and that’s the way it’s going to be. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well I think you’re being stupid.”

“Thanks, but I still don’t want to talk about it.”

“But…”

“Alex.”

“Just let me say one thing, okay?” Alex hurried before Michael could cut him off again. “I was talking to Isabel and she said that Maria is doing the same thing you are—moping. I just figured that whatever was wrong maybe the two of you could get together and work it out.”

“Well thanks but it’s not going to happen.”

“Okay, I’m hanging up now. But I’m serious about what I said. I really think you should call her.”

“Okay, Alex. Good-bye”

Michael hung up the phone and thought about what Alex had said. Maria was moping? Why? He had got a pretty good sense of how she felt about him—what was there to mope about?

~~~~~

Maria had finally worked up the energy to do something. She turned up her radio, loud, and was attacking her Math homework with a vengeance. Anything to stop her mind from racing with thoughts of Michael. About an hour into it she went downstairs to get a drink. As she was passing the front door the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” she called to her parents who were watching TV.

Maria opened the door to reveal Michael standing there.

She just stared at him, unable to make her brain work her mouth.

“Hey,” he mumbled.

Maria took a deep breath, “Hey.”

Michael exhaled slowly. “Um, can we, like, talk or something.”

“Oh, um, yeah sure.” Maria slipped some shoes on and stepped outside, closing the door behind her.

She walked with Michael along the balcony that wrapped around the Parker house. At the back they stopped and Maria sat in the two-seat swing that hung from the porch. Michael tentatively took the seat beside her. Maria’s feet barely reached the floor and she pulled her legs up under her when Michael started to swing back and forth gently.

They sat quietly for a while, each unsure of what to say.

“I…”

“Um…”

They looked at each other and smiled a little.

“You first,” Michael said.

“No, it’s fine.”

“No, ladies first.” He smiled genuinely at Maria.

Maria returned his smile and inhaled deeply. “I just wanted to tell you that I understand that you’re angry at me for not telling you what was going on, but you don’t have to be afraid or anything. I mean, I would never, I could never… I mean, I’d never do anything to hurt you.” Maria paused and then smiled sadly, “At least not on purpose.”

Michael looked at her quizzically. “Who told you I was angry? Or afraid?”

Maria stopped for a second. Did he understand how the connection worked? Probably not, she thought. “Well, you did… sort of.”

“When?”

“When I healed you. The healing works because two people connect with each other and their… like their energy, their everything, just flows between them. I just knew, like I felt you, you know?”

Michael had a stunned look on his face. “Okay, I know what you mean because I felt stuff too but I wasn’t angry at you. You were angry at me.”

Now Maria looked stunned. “What?”

“Well, I felt something, I’m pretty sure it was anger.”

“Wait, I wasn’t angry at you. I was just mad at the situation. It was so frustrating not being able to tell you and I was so afraid that you wouldn’t understand.”

Maria stopped and put her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God. You thought I was angry at you?”

“Well, yeah.” Michael laughed a little.

Maria returned his laugh but then stopped again. “So, you were still upset though. I mean those feelings had to come from somewhere.”

Michael’s eyes clouded over a little, “Yeah they did.” He paused and then continued softly, “You know I live on my own, right?”

Maria nodded.

“Well, do you know why?”

“Um, yeah, you had a choice to go to another foster home or get your own place or something, right? Easy choice if you ask me.”

Michael shook his head. “Not exactly. I mean, that’s what everyone thinks happened, that’s what I told everyone happened, but no one knows the truth. Well, except Alex. And Max. I don’t even think Kyle knows the full story.”

Maria was looking at Michael intently as he took a deep breath and continued.

“When I was five my parents dropped me off at the orphanage one day. They told me I was going on a trip with these other kids only when I got there, there was no trip. Just a bunch of sorry-ass kids like me.” Michael paused to find the right words to say. “I was there when you came, you know?”

Michael looked at Maria. “I was there when they brought the four of you in. It was such a big deal. There were so many people coming by to ‘get’ children then. You guys made being an orphan popular.” Michael stopped as he saw tears form in Maria’s eyes. “No, don’t cry. I… I didn’t mean anything.”

“I remember you.”

“What?”

Maria shook her head slowly. “I never would have placed you but I remember you being there. You were so skinny and you had wild hair.” Maria smiled at him. “You were shy too, kept to yourself. God, I can’t believe I didn’t remember that sooner. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Michael lowered his eyes. “It’s not something that I like to talk about.”

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments and then Michael continued. “So, it was only a few days later that you were adopted. And there was so much interest drummed up in the kids that a whole bunch of us were adopted or put in foster homes. I was the lucky kid who got to go home with Hank.”

Michael grimaced at the thought of Hank. “The very first night he beat me.” Michael paused, shook his head, he couldn’t lay all this on her.

Maria reached her hand out and gently laid it on his arm. “It’s okay, you can tell me.”

Michael placed his hand over hers and continued. “I was just so happy to be away from the orphanage that I didn’t realize how bad it was right away. It was a few years before I understood that it wasn’t normal for fathers to beat up on their kids but when I told someone they told me that I better keep my mouth shut or they’d send me back to the orphanage.”

“Who told you that?”

“Hank’s girlfriend. I should have known better but she was the first person to come around the house in years and I figured she’d know what to do.” Michael paused again, “She used to watch.” His voice cracked as he uttered the last sentence.

Maria was fully crying now, tears coursing down her cheeks. Michael struggled to regain his composure, “So one day I realized that I really didn’t have to take his shit anymore. It was my sixteenth birthday and I told him that I was leaving and that if he tried to stop me I’d tell the cops what he’d done. I always had bruises. That day I had a real good shiner and I knew they’d believe me. So he let me leave. Max’s Dad is a lawyer and he helped me get my own place and everything.”

Michael turned to look at Maria. “I was so scared that you’d run away if I told you about me. I think that’s what you felt when we connected. And the anger?” Michael smirked, “I have a lot of that. I guess that’s what you were feeling because I certainly wasn’t angry at you, or scared of you.”

Maria sat back in her seat and wiped away her tears. She stood up and turned away from Michael. “God, I feel so stupid.”

Michael stood up and held her by the shoulders. “Why?”

“Because I was so caught up in wondering what you would think when you found out about me and I never thought about what you were feeling.”

“Well it sounds to me like we’re both guilty of that.”

Michael gently turned Maria around by the shoulders. Through Maria’s open bedroom window the first notes of Hero by Enrique Iglesias could be heard. Michael lifted his head toward the music and then smiled down at her. “I believe we were dancing…” he stepped back and held out his hand for her.

Maria stopped for a moment and then remembered the school dance. They had been dancing to this song with Alex interrupted them. God, had that only been a week ago? It seemed like a lifetime away. She took Michael’s outstretched hand and stepped into his embrace.

Would you dance if I asked you to dance?
Would you run and never look back?
Would you cry if you saw me crying?
And would you save my soul, tonight?

Would you tremble if I touched your lips?
Would you laugh? Oh please tell me this.
Now would you die for the one you loved?
Hold me in your arms, tonight.

As the words wrapped around them Maria thought about how true they were.

I can be your hero, baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.

Would you swear that you’d always be mine?
Or would you lie? Would you run and hide?
Am I in too deep? Have I lost my mind?
I don't care you're here tonight.

I can be your hero, baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.