TITLE: THE RETURN CHAPTER TWO

CATEGORY: M/M

DESCRIPTION: after DEPARTURE, the aliens left earth with Tess. Fastforward seven years and now they are back.  This is the second part of my fic, the first was how Max and Liz deal with it, this part is how Maria reacts when she finds out the Michael is alive because…things have definitely changed

A/N: feedback if very welcome pls pls pls.  There are like ten parts to this fic, so if you're interested like majorly, just email me and I'll send all the parts to youJ

 

 

Maria picked up the phone on it's fifteenth vibration, with her perfectly manicured nails, she accepted the call.

"Hey Liz, what's up?"

"Maria," the urgency and excitement of her tone made Maria apprehensive, she sounded exactly like she had during her Max hallucinations.

"What's wrong?", she asked as images of Liz walking around the streets of Boston chasing after an invisible Max Evans filled her mind.

"It's Max…he's here."

The confirmation made Maria inwardly groan.

Not again, she thought.  It had taken Liz, her…all them affected by the Czechoslovakians, a long time to get over them.

And now…it's back.

"Liz, we had this discussion, Max, Michael, Isabel and psycho-killer Tess left Earth-"

"Mari-"

"they are gone"

"but-"

"not of this earth-"

"Maria!" she shouted cutting her off. "Max is alive, he is here, with me…now"

"Liz-"

"I'll put you on the phone with him"

"Wha-"

"Hey Maria".  The familiar warm voice hit Maria's eardrums with such force that she moved her head away from the phone.

Tentatively she placed it back to her ear, "Max, is that you?".

"It's me" he confirmed.

This is too unbelievable.  If this is Max, then-

"Hello?"

"How do I know this is really Max Evans?" she asked dazed.

"You're kidding," he said.

"Humour me," she replied.  As her breathing became more urgent and shallow.  She had to be sure, because if it really was Max, Liz's Max, then her life was suddenly going to get a little more complicated.

"Okay, during the summer after we found out about our destiny, we hung out a lot, me and you and talked about Liz and figured out ways to win her back"

"Oh my gosh," she whispered as the inevitable steamroller feeling began running its way up her body.

"…then you told me to do something instead of you doing all the work especially after Liz saw me walking with Tess, so I did…do you need me to continue?"

Maria quickly reached for her trusty cedar oil and took a deep calming sniff.

"Maria, you there?"

Her reply was an ear splitting scream, "Totally!, Max, it is soo good to hear your voice!"

"You too, listen I'm gonna hand you back to Liz now, okay?"

"Okay, but we will definitely talk later mister," she smiled

"Maria?"

"Liz!" she shrieked, "Oh-my-gosh, how, what, where, when?"

Maria still in shock could practically see Liz smiling, she didn't blame her, she had every right to be.

"Okay," she began her voice lowering to the level of gossip mode, " Max, Michael, Isabel and Tess left earth-"

"been there got the emotional scars Liz," she interrupted.

"So anyway, turned out Tess had made a pact with Kivar to…well have them killed when they got there-"

"Bitch!"

"I know," added Liz, "luckily the resistance on their planet rescued them, in short they defeated Khivar, got Max's son Joshua who by the way is a complete angel and came back to earth."

"And Tess?"

"Totally dead," she replied joyously then caught herself, adding "that wasn't a nice thing to say."

"Well Tess, wasn't exactly doing anyone any favours alive,"

"Maria!" she gasped.

 "It's true," she shrugged, "So anyway, Max came looking for you and you guys got together huh?"

"yeah, it feels so good to have him back again"

"I'm happy for you Liz,".

Maria waited out the long silence following.

"Aren't you going to ask about Michael?"

"Well, since you brought it up, how is he?"

"He's here, on earth…I told Max,"

"I would have been surprised if you didn't and did he tell Michael?"

"he didn't tell him everything, just that you had something to tell him."

Suddenly the world stopped, her heart stopped, "What!"

"I figured you wanted to tell him yourself."

She jumped off the couch and started pacing, this could not be happening.

"Oh my gosh Liz, how could you do this to me," she babbled, "I'm not ready, when is he coming?"

"In about five minutes"

Again her heart stopped, there was too much information, her head felt like it was about to explode.

"You didn't, Liz you are my best friend how could you do this to me!"

"because I'm your best friend and I know that you would have left it for years…you have to tell him Maria."

"I know," she sighed.

I just kinda hoped I wouldn't have to, she thought.

Then the doorbell rang.

"Liz, it's him!" she squealed as she listened fervently for footsteps walking across her marble floor towards her living room.

"Maria, keep calm, deep breaths"

Maria took a deep breath, hoping to calm her nerves, but it wasn't working. Michael was here, in her house, alive…here!

"What am I going to tell him?"

"The truth" said Liz, "now hang up and go talk to him" she ordered.

"Okay, call you later?"

"Good luck."

Just as she pressed end on her cell phone, there was a swift knock of the door.

"Come in" she called out in what she hoped was a stable, confident tone.

The door swung open to reveal Rita, her maid and Michael.

Maria inwardly gasped.  He cleaned up nice.  He was no longer wearing his grungy clothes and 70s hair do.  No Michael Guerin was wearing a suit, probably armani, his hair was short, spiky but not gel overdo.  His face, the same but more…experience was etched in his every movement, the only thing that was the same were his lips, defiant, dangerous and oh so alluring.

Okay Maria, cool down, she coached herself as Rita left, be cool and collected.

"Michael"

Great start.

"Maria" he replied equally cool.

"So", she began crossing and uncrossing her arms, " Liz just called me to tell that you're…well alive, so why don't you fill me in on how you got to be standing in my living room."

He stood staring at her for what seemed like eternity.  He didn't speak, just stared, just when Maria was about to repeat her question, his lips moved.

"Okay.  We left, got there, turned out Tess was going to ship us in, got rescued by the rebels, kicked Khivar's ass, set up a government, came back to earth.  Max went off to find Liz, Isabel to university, wants to be a social worker.  I got a job as a security guard, got promoted, the company boss took a liking to me.  Referred me to a body guard service, got in with old man Hartley.  He died, left me the business."

Maria almost burst out laughing.  Now this was definitely not real.

"Wait you expect me" she pointed at herself, " to believe that you" she pointed at him, " own a company?" she asked incredulous.

"What's so funny about that?" he asked defensively.

"Michael, if you wanted to impress me, you could have at least come up with a believable lie"

He looked at her expressionless, "I'm not here to impress you," he replied as he showed her his business card.  Sure enough there was his name in small print Michael Guerin.  Maria looked closer at the two names next to his and their emblem.

"Wait a minute", this was just too out-there to be true, " you're the Guerin of Hartley, Fish and Guerin Bodyguard services?"

"Its what the card says," he shrugged.

"The same company who have been giving me bodyguards since I went global?"

"Don't freak-"

Maria freaked.  "Oh, don't worry I won't, it just strikes me as interesting, no scratch that, selfish and soo typically you that you'd know where I was and not stop by to say hi, guess what Maria, you don't need to worry anymore cause I'm alive!."

Before Maria could launch into another tirade, a wave of loud laughter filtered through the room, reminding her suddenly of why Michael was there.

"Is that your kid?" he asked as he moved to the partly open playroom door.

"Yeah," she replied stepping up behind him.  He quickly moved to let her get a view.

"What's her name?" he asked, his eyes fixed on Michelle.

"Like you don't know," she whispered.

"I don't," he replied flatly, "I don't directly handle client intel."

"Oh, her name's Michelle."

"Who's the loser, the father?"

"Ray, is not a loser," she whispered harshly as she shut the door, "he's one of the nicest, most considerate people on the planet and you could learn a lot from him."

"Doubt that," he replied.

Okay, this was not going the way she planned.  Him being here, being near him had sent all the words and explanations she had planned fleeing out of her mind, the who's , how's and where's all went out the window; instead she asked the only question she really needed an answer to.

"Why, Michael?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"why no call, no email, saying Maria I'm okay, was your schedule that busy?"

He looked at the closed playroom door, then back at her, "Things change Maria."

"I'm sure they do," she replied heart pounding wildly against her chest.

"Look, I didn't come here to argue with you.  Max said you had something to tell me, so what is it?"

She stared at him, the person he had become and shook her head.  This wasn't going to work, how could she have thought that it could.

"You what Michael, it doesn't matter."

"What?"

"Sorry to waste your busy schedule and all but thinking about it, it's not that important."

She saw his eyes flare; Oh here it comes

"So I got dragged all the way here, for you to rag on me and tell me to go?"

"Pretty much" she shrugged folding her arms.

"Well if its not so important, tell me"

Maria avoided those eyes, she knew that with one look he could tell if she was lying. She knew, she knew that if they kept arguing like five year olds; him asking and her consistently saying no, she would crack.  She just wasn't ready to tell him, she needed time to prepare. 

" Michael" her tone icy she continued, " things change like you said, so I have decided that it's not so important, so thanks for stopping by but go."

Maria figured he'd just get mad and go like the old Michael, but like the old Michael he was stubborn and just stood there.

"I didn't come all the way here just to go back with nothing," he said trying to catch her gaze.

"Well I'm sorry but I have nothing to tell you. So go".

Maria could see his eyes were on fire.  That was it, she had pushed it.

Good, she needed him mad, too mad to ask or try to penetrate through her lie.

"Fine," he said and turned to leave.

Against her better judgement she called out to him, "Michael".

"What?" he asked through gritted teeth.

She smiled a small smile, "Its good to know you're alive"

He stared at her, shook his head, walked across the marble floor, opened the door and disappeared into the night.  The only trace left of him was the echo of the slammed door.

 

Michael cursed silently as he strode over to his car.  Now he remembered why he'd never bothered to make contact with Maria, she drove him crazy.

That and other things, his mind corrected him.

The phone in his pocket vibrated.

Great , he thought…Max.

"Hey Maxwell," he said dryly

"What happened?"

"Well, she went crazy on me-"

"What did you say?"

"Why do you assume that I did something?".  Max ignored the question.

"Did she tell you?"

"No, she didn't think it was too important."

"Michael," he sighed.

"Max", he countered, " if it's not that important or life threatening then I don't need to know."

"You do"

"So you tell me"

"I can't…Maria has to."

Michael rolled his eyes, this was going no where, if he kept talking to Max he'd just get frustrated and go back to Maria to shut him up.  That however was not an option, at least not tonight.

"Well, then I wouldn't hold my breath…listen Max I gotta go, got a date tonight call you later."