Maria and the others sat staring at Max as if he was something from another planet. "Max," Maria finally said. "It is two in the morning, two! There are lots of things I could be doing, but right now I want to sleep, so get to the damn point or you aren't going to have a head much longer."

"Thanks Maria," Max snapped. "Anyway." "How the hell can you say anyway? You haven't started!" Michael yelled.

"You two are totally meant for each other," Isabel said nodding her head.

"Anyway!" Max screeched, "I thought that we could maybe talk about what to do, cause well I mean, this is sort of like, close towards the end." "Max," Maria said. "I have a thought," she said smiling. "How about you tell us what the hell you are talking about, and we'll tell you want the hell we think, okay?"

"Are you always this cranky when you wake up?" Alex demanded.

"Yes," Michael replied.

"How do you know?" Isabel asked staring at Michael.

"Guys! I'm tired, it's late, maybe if we shut up, Max can talk," Liz offered.

"Sure take his side," Tess mumbled. "Oh, I'm sorry, do you want your job back?" Liz snapped.

"Guys!" Kyle yelled. "Shut up!"

"Thank you Kyle. Now, anyway, I think that we could maybe try to do something, now the time for waiting is over, it's our turn to fight back."

"Who!" Isabel yelled.

"Whom," Maria muttered.

"Nicholas, I mean you guys, he doesn't die!" Max yelled.

"No shit Sherlock," Michael mumbled. "I've been saying we have do something but I doubt we can do anything, cause now he's got a psycho alloy with him."

"Who? I mean whom?" Liz asked.

"The guy, the one tried to kill Maria," Kyle said. "Right Maria?" he asked.

Maria's head lay on Michael's shoulder and her hands around his stomach. Michael's head had fallen onto Maria's head lightly. His arms were around her shoulders.

"Maria? Michael?" Kyle questioned.

"Shh, let them sleep," Isabel whispered. "We can catch them up in the morning."

"It is the morning, I think, oh God, I'm disoriented!" Alex yelped.

"What do we do now Max?" Tess asked.

"Told you," Liz muttered to Alex who pulled five dollars out of his pocket and thrust his hand towards Liz.

"I think we should find the guy," Max said smiling.

"Maria!" Liz called to her friend who was quickly racing around on her crutches. "Yes?" Maria asked.

"Did you get filled in on the meeting last night?" Liz questioned. "Liz, I know that's not why you came to me, you never ever come to me about relations of the alien kind, or at least not that kind," Maria said staring at her.

"I wanted to see if you were okay, cause your ankle and stuff," Liz asked.

"Ribs and ankles, heal, what do you really want, I have to get down to the library for my gym class," Maria said staring at her.

"I should of known better," Liz muttered. "Okay, what do I do about Max? I mean Kyle told him, and now he knows, and he's going to want to know why, and I have to tell him something."

"Did it ever occur to you to tell him the truth?" Maria asked. "After all I'm sure Max will understand, and maybe you two will stop morning in front of me and get back together."

"Yeah, I'll do that, wait! What about Tess?"

"Tess is with Kyle now, you have nothing to worry about that," Maria said.

"Thanks Maria, you always know what to do," Liz said and rushed off in the opposite direction.

"Maria!" Max yelled behind her. "Ugh!" Maria cried.

"Hey, I was wondering how's your ankle?" he asked grinning.

"Max, Tess or Liz?" Maria questioned.

"Liz, I sort of just found out that she and Kyle didn't do "the deed" so now I was wondering what should I do about it, should I call her on it or not?"

"Max if it's making you have to think this much, you should definitely ask her about it," Maria said smiling warmly.

"Your right! I'm gonna go find her right now!" Max yelled and ran off in the other direction Liz had gone.

"God, what fools love makes us," Alex said behind her.

"Ask her out!" Maria yelled and took off before Alex could begin his problems.

Michael watched Maria said in the library and type away at the computer as if she was looking at a report. He smiled.

"Stalker," Isabel teased behind him.

"I'm not stalking," Michael snapped.

"You are, you've been staring at her for like an hour," Isabel said grinning.

"Dear Candy Advice," Maria read the letter a loud. "I really like this guy and I want to be with him, but," she said. She looked up from the paper, "there's always a but, I should have never taken this stupid job as the advice columnist. Its way too depressing, but it pays extra cash!" she cried. "I'm not having a conversation with my self," she sighed and continued to read, "but, there's another, guy, one I'm supposed to be with. My dad says stuff, like if we aren't together, I won't get my college money, but I have a scholarship, but I need the tuition, money, so I don't know what to do, please help, Fourth Child." Maria clasped her hands together and grinned. She began to type: Dear Fourth Child, as usual I will start off with my same advice, follow your heart. I'm sure this guy threatens you dad because he doesn't want to lose his "little girl" he wants you to be always his. Next, if you take a job then you can pay the tuition. Yes I know work sounds hard, and according to your name, your daddy has three other little kids to support, so follow your heart, because true love comes once in a blue moon. Maria smiled as she printed the letter.

"Maria," Michael asked behind her.

"Ahh!" Maria screamed. "I'm sorry, Michael, you scared me," she sighed. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, no, I just thought I'd say hi, cause you know, I saw you, and, um, I like your hair like that," he said, his cheeks going red.

"Thanks," Maria said laughing. "So did you want something?"

"Nope, do you need a study buddy?" Michael questioned quickly.

"Since when do you study?" she asked. "Since, if I flunk any of my classes, then I'll get held back, and that doesn't sound like fun," Michael sighed. "So, since finals are next week, I figured that we could you know study, this being the, uh."

"Library?" Maria asked.

"Right!" Michael yelled.

"Shh!" someone from the front desk called to the both of them. "Quiet, this is a library."

"Duh," Michael snapped back.

Maria grabbed his hand, "seeing since school gets out in five minutes, lets go get our things together, and leave, we can study in your apartment," Maria said smiling and pulled him out of the library before he could do any more damage.

Now…

"Maria?" Liz asked tugging her out of her own, deep thoughts. "Yeah?" Maria asked.

"Do you want anything to eat?" she asked.

"Sure," Maria said shrugging; "how about some fries?" she asked grinning.

"Good choice," Liz said and rolled her eyes. Maria turned to look at Max, Michael, Alex, and Kyle were all in some argument over some football thing. "Guys," Liz and Maria said together.

"Maybe I should go get our children," Maria yelled into Michael's ear. "Does that sound good?"

"Sure," Michael said, and then proceeded to say something about the Giants.

Maria grabbed his ear, "and your helping me," she added after a moment.

"Ow," Michael said.

10 years ago…

Maria hobbled into the Crashdown as quickly as she could, before she realized that she couldn't be a waitress, with a broken ankle. "Mr. Parker!" she yelled.

"You are late," he said and stared at her ankle. "What did you do?"

"I fell out of a tree," Maria said smiling.

"I don't think you'll be able to wait tables on that, go upstairs, Liz keeps calling your house anyway," he said.

"Liz?" Maria called when she got upstairs to the Parker's house.

"Yeah?" Liz called. "Maria?"

"Hey, your dad said you were trying to call me all night, what was up with that?"

"Well I told your mom you were here, but you weren't, where were you last night?" Liz asked.

"Uh, I fell asleep at Michael's we were studying for finals," Maria said smiling.

"Yeah, right, Michael studying?" Liz said unconvinced.

"No, we really did study!" Maria yelled. "Where is Michael anyway? Did he show up to work?"

"Yeah, he came," Liz, said. "What did you guys study?" she asked.

"We studied biology, math, and American literature," Maria said.

"I'm going to go quiz him to see if you guys were really studying," Liz said.

"We did!" Maria yelled. Then Maria rushed over to the phone. "Hi, is Max there?" she asked. "It's Maria, tell him it's about our school project, and I need to talk to him. Thanks Mr. Evans. Hi, Max, Liz wants to talk to you, you should come down to the Crashdown," Maria said and hung up the phone. She clasped her hands together and headed down stairs.

"Where is she?" Max demanded almost as quickly as Maria got down stairs.

"Back there, changing, I don't think she's ready to show you the bod, just yet, so my advice to you, is wait until she comes out," Maria said smiling.

"Amy is going to drive my insane," Kyle sighed.

"Why?" Maria asked not sounding too upset.

"She wants me to eat at the table, to use a fork, to put the toilet seat down, where does she come up with this stuff?" Kyle demanded.

"Do I even have to answer that?" Maria asked rolling her eyes.

"No, I'm just not used to this merger, marriage, whatever, I mean it's weird, your mom, my dad, that would make you and me step brother and sister, how nice is that?" Kyle asked. "I'm not used to having a mom."

"And I'm not used to having a dad, so I guess we are all even," Maria said laughing. "Dad," she thought and paused for a moment.

"Huh?" Kyle questioned.

"Nothing," Maria lied, "see you later." She said and began to walk out of the Crashdown.

"Hi," Maria said when she got into the hospital. "I'd like to look up a man, I need to speak to him. He is, uh, working with me!" "Okay, can I have his name?" a tall blond woman asked.

"Andrew, DeLuca," she said smiling.

"Uh, okay, may I ask who this is?"

"It's, his ex-wife, Amy DeLuca," Maria lied.