He smirked at his waking lover and she snuggled into his chest, not wanting to wake up from the best dream that she had ever had.

The dream that she had finally found her soul mate, the missing part of her soul.

But then she realized that she was living her dream. A smile of realization crossed her face.

"Morning," he whispered into her hair and she giggled, tickling his chest ever so slightly.

"Morning to you, too."

"Sleep well?" he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

She laughed and mock punched his arm as he pulled her closer.

"I never want to get up," she admitted.

"You don't ever have to."

There was a knock on the door and a second later, the Goddess of Destiny burst into the chamber, dragging the servant boy by the hand behind her.

When she saw the couple lying together in the bed, who were desperately trying to hide themselves under the sheets, she screeched.

"Why is it always me who bursts in on the lovers?" she grimaced. "Why me? I have told you your destinies *time* and *time again* and yet, you refuse to listen to me and make me put up with this MESS! Can't a girl get some privacy?"

"Tess, this is MY room," Michael stated matter-of-factly.

"Indeed it is."

"Why, then, are you looking for privacy in it?" Maria piped up.

"Did the Big Man give me my own room?" she asked, pausing for a second, "No! Don't I get a chance to have a little fun every once in a while?" again, she paused. "No! And when I do want to have some fun, I have to go to the servant's quarters, the SERVANT'S QUARTERS, for God's sake."

"You're telling me this... why?" Michael rolled his eyes.

"Just... God!" she exclaimed, trying to articulate what she was about to say. "I can blackmail you, you know. Right now, I have seen an example of a MORTAL sleeping with one of the few gods of the land of Roswell. What would the Big Man think of this? What would the people think of it?"

Maria paled and slipped back under the covers in silent prayer.

"You wouldn't."

"I am," was the last thing that she said before she skipped out of the room, the servant boy trotting closely behind her at her heels.

As the door slammed shut, Maria climbed out of the bed, tears running down her rosy cheeks.

"Maria, it'll be all right," her lover tried to reassure her.

"No, it won't be! It will never be all right again. Everyone will know about this and I'll be known as the girl who slept with the God and will be shunned for the rest of my life. I'll get the looks that my mom still gets because my father ran away before I was born. And there is *nothing* that we can do about it now. I knew that this was a bad idea... I knew that I was going to have to pay for this and God! How could I be so irresponsible!" she sobbed as she pulled on the dress that she had worn to the wedding last night.

He just stared at her, the realization sinking in.

"I need to get home," she stated, wiping the tears from her eyes.

He nodded slowly and stood, facing her.

"I love you," he whispered as he kissed her lips softly, wishing that he could take away the shame and embarrassment that she was experiencing.

A single tear slid down her cheek and she sobbed, "Please, send me home."

With a twitch of his nose, thunder clattered throughout the room and she vanished into thin air.

Gone from his life, just as quickly as she had come into it.

* * * * *

As Maria walked into her house, her mother rose slowly from the sofa.

"Young lady," she said sternly, "We have some… things… to talk about."

"God, news gets around fast, doesn't it?" she sighed, plopping down on a chair and dropping her head in her hands.

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it. I want explanations, you do realize this."

"Mom, I don't want to talk about it now."

"Why, Maria? Why do you find it amusing to make laughing stock of our family? After all that I have done for you, you still find it amusing to make everyone in our land know our name because you have slept with someone, a God, at that, before marriage. We have had this talk so many times, but I never thought that the day would actually come when you did lose your innocence."

"Mom, I didn't do it on purpose. I love him!" she cried desperately, knowing that her mother was not going to believe her.

"Mr. Parker and I talked this morning after we heard the news and we both agreed that it would be best if you went to boarding school… somewhere far away, outside the land of Roswell. We thought that you would want to get a new start, considering you have ruined everything that you could have *ever* had here in Roswell."

Maria stared at her mother, disbelief in her eyes.

Her mother was condemning her.

Her own mother was going to send her away from the one man that she loved with her whole heart.

"You and Mr. Parker decided this or did you come to this decision, seeing that something like this happened to you quite some time ago?" Maria spat.

Her mother's face turned a ghostly white.

"You *know* that this is not about that."

"Then what is it about? Is it about me actually being happy in a relationship? Are you spiteful because you never got a chance to experience it?"

"No, Maria. We are worried about your safety around that God of Chaos. He is not a trustworthy character."

"Mom, you haven't trusted any boys that I have seen before."

"True."

"Give him a chance, please, Mom. This is not just physical. We love each other. I love him, Mom. Can't you trust me enough to give him a chance?" Maria cried as the tears began to run down her face, falling like raindrops onto her new dress.

Her mother just stared at her.

"All right. I'll give him a chance. But any of his goofy stuff and powers and he's gone. Got it?"

"Thank you!" Maria exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and they both laughed with joy.

Maybe things wouldn't turn out so bad.

* * * * *

"Michael," the Big Man stated as the God of Chaos slunk into the chamber.

He nodded.

"We need to talk."

The god stared at his feet as he approached the throne that the Big Man was seated on.

"I'm not even going to deny it. It was all my fault and now, because of my blinding love for the girl, she is going to be put to death by the Royal Guard because she is a mortal and she gotten too close to a god."

"Actually, I wasn't going to say that, but if you want me to…"

"No! I'll do anything!" he pleaded.

The Big Man laughed, now knowing that what he was about to ask was the right thing. He had proof of the love that the God of Chaos had for this mortal girl.

"Good because I didn't want to condemn her to a fate like that. I just wanted to know if you thought that she was the 'one.' I see that you do."

Michael nodded, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

"Then you shall marry her."

"Thank you! Thank you!" he exclaimed as he sank to his knees in reverence of the greater god.

"So I shall send a messenger down to her family and arrange the marriage. Does this sound good to you?"

"Yes!"

"You may go," the Big Man dismissed the God of Chaos. "I will send a messenger of the gods this afternoon and hopefully, we will be able to plan the wedding very soon, seeing that her mother agrees."

And the other god practically skipped out of the chamber.

Right before he was out the door, the Big Man spoke.

"I knew that you would find her eventually, Michael. And in all your stumbling around and through a little matchmaking, you found her. I knew that you would."

And Michael smiled as he went back to his room, exhilarated so much that he could not even play a trick on the passing servant boy or change his sister's hair purple as she strolled with her new husband down the hall.

* * * * *

There was a knock on the door.

Mrs. DeLuca rose from the couch and answered the door, unsuspecting a messenger from the gods to be standing on her doorstep.

"Mrs. DeLuca?" the heavenly being asked.

"Yes," she replied, shading her eyes from the light that the messenger shone.

"I come bearing good news from the Palace of the Gods."

She nodded.

"The God of Chaos and the Big Man have agreed that it is time for the God of Chaos to marry. And your daughter, Maria, has been chosen, for obvious reasons. The God of Chaos sends his love to her. And I have come here, to your lovely home, to ask if you will allow your daughter to marry this god who has fallen madly in love with her."

Maria had approached the door as the angel was speaking and she beamed.

"Well, I don't know," Mrs. DeLuca thought out loud.

"Mom!" Maria moaned. "He loves me! Please, mom!"

Mrs. DeLuca turned around and wrapped her arms around her only daughter, grinning.

"Did you think that I would actually have to stop and think about the answer to that question? Of course I will allow you to marry the God of Chaos! It is only he that makes you happy and I will not deny you of your joy."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Maria exclaimed as she did her little 'happy dance,' as she and Liz called it, with her mother and the angel joining in.

He loved her.

Really loved her.