Part 9

'Why did you come here,
You weren't invited,
You were on the outside,
Stay on the outside,
And now you want to ask me why,
It's like how does your heart beat,
And how do you cry,
How does your heart beat?

"Well obviously I can't go crawling back to him, I don't even think I can crawl now. I still don't feel so well. That surgery really takes a toll on a girls body. But anyway, he probably wouldn't even take me back. Part of that whole guy-ego thing, the worst thing is, is that I am just so confused I don't even know what I'm saying!" Maria scrunched her nose and flopped backwards on her bed.

Liz was sitting there with her best friend, doing the best she could to help her out. "I still think you should go back with him. I mean he's going through the same loss and discouragement you are now. I mean it was his baby too. Give Michael some credit, he's changed a lot this year, and I think you need to remember that Maria."

"I do remember that, It's just being around him makes me so much weaker than I usually am, and I know this sounds like an excuse Michael gives me, but it's the truth. I don't want to talk about this any more, how are you and Max?" She asked changing the subject and sitting back up.

Liz gave a little smile and a laugh. "Well, things are good. I can't really complain." Liz stopped talking when she saw a figure standing outside Maria's window. Maria still hadn't seem him, she had her back turned towards the window. "Maria, I'm going to go now, I have to...clean my room. Call me later." With that she quickly got to her feet and scurried out the door.

Sitting on her bed, Maria was totally baffled. With hardly no explanation Liz just got up and left, right in the middle of a conversation? Maria was in the middle of her mind frustrations when she heard the light tap on her window. At that moment her heart stopped, and so did her breathing for a short while.

Michael saw Maria tense up the moment his hand hit the window. "Come on Maria, turn around." He breathed quietly against the window. Relief washed over him as he saw her begin to turn, and before he knew it their eyes were locked.

Maria was so ecstatic that he had come to her, and yet she shouldn't be. She was the one who broke it off with him, she shouldn't be expecting him to come to her 'so much for the male ego' she thought to herself. "Michael" She said out loud so he could hear her through the window.

He didn't say anything but Maria knew my his eyes that he wanted her to open the window up, and she did. "What are you doing here Michael?" She asked softly.

"I came to talk, sort things out between us. I mean, I thought things were going well between us. We seemed to be getting along fine, with the exception of our baby. And I don't think that I did anything to upset you, so I just don't understand this. I do know that I don't want us to break up." Maria could tell he wasn't joking, because he didn't fiddle or look nervous, he looked comfortable with what he was saying.

"Michael, you know I don't want us apart either." Well it was the truth, she just hoped she wasn't confusing him at all.

Michael didn't get it, "then why did you say we needed time apart!?" his frustrations were starting to surface. "Sorry, what I meant was why are we like this, why aren't we together now?" By the look on her face, he knew that she didn't know either.

She thought harder than she ever did, and all the reason why she had broke things off with him had disintegrated in her mind. "I don't know! I don't remember, ok? At the time it seemed like a suitable thing to do! But I don't know any more." She was obviously just as frustrated as he was.

"Well, ok Maria, here I am, do you want us to be together, or do you want us to stay apart." It was the question Maria was hoping he wouldn't ask.

Part 10

'I still recall the words you said to me
It's what you did not say that sets me free
Now how how can I find piece of mind
when you keep coming back again
It's not ok, for you to play
this game of see-saw with my head
now it hurts to much
and it hits to hard
and I won't play this part.' -Sozzi, letting go.

Maria looked at him for a long time in the eyes. "Michael, that's a stupid question. Of Course I want to be with you. There is nobody else in the world, er...universe that I would rather be with. But there are just some things that aren't so simple. I'm still coping with what's happened, between us, and just everything that has been going on, that's all really." She again tried to read the expression that was played out on his face.

His face could be read as confused and hurt, both at the same time. "This still makes no sense Maria, we can be together and I can help you get through this, and you can help me too. Your not the only one who lost that baby you know. It was mine too, did you think I didn't care about it at all? Can't you think about me? I want to help you Maria, but your not letting me in at all. I can't help you if your so closed off from the world." He walked over to her and sat next to her on her bed.

Mentally, Maria laughed at how far Michael had come from since she had first known about his species. At first she had thought he was a creepy, weird guy who didn't care about anything but himself. Now she realized that she had pegged him all wrong. You just had to break through Michael's tough surface. "I know, I honestly don't know how to react right now. It's so hard for me because I want to be with you."

"Then what is stopping you?!" He said quickly, moving closer to her.

Going through all the files in her head, Maria couldn't think of the reasons she had said to him a few minutes ago. "No-, nothing, I guess." She had been defeated and Michael had been right.

Making a bold move, Michael inched as close as he could to her and he swooped in and kissed her. He was a little tense at first, not knowing whether or not she would accept it, or reject it. He eased a bit when he realized that she wasn't pushing him away. Michael, knowing that she wasn't pushing him away any more stopped the kiss. "So, are we ok now?"

Maria went down to grab his hand and gave it a little squeeze. "Yeah, yeah we're good." A smile, that only a person in love could have crept up on her lips. "I don't know what I was thinking before."

Michael had said he agreed with her, but for some reason Maria couldn't hear what he was saying. She felt very tired all of a sudden so she leaned her head on Michael's shoulder.

"I still don't get what you were doing taking a break from us, especially when we were getting along so well. But that's all over with now, right Maria" Michael looked down at her and saw her eyes closed on his shoulders. "I can't believe she fell asleep. Maria, Maria." He repeated shaking her. When he realized that she wasn't waking up and that she wasn't sleeping his heart beat raced. "Maria! Maria wake up!" 'Oh no.' He thought to himself.

His fist instincts were to call Max, so he dialed the number that was so familiar to him. "Max!" Michael's voice screamed over the phone after he had heard Max's brief 'hello'.

"Michael, can this wait? Liz is over and we're kind of in the middle of a dinner date." Max sounded slightly agitated.

Michael huffed out loud. "No, Maxwell, this cannot wait. There's a problem with Maria. We were here and we were talking then she passed out. I think she's unconscious and I don't know what's wrong so I can't fix it...even if my powers were under control. Just get down here.

Part 11

'If you could save me
From the ranks of the freaks
Who suspect
I could never love anyone
It's struck me down
Like radium
Like Peter Pan
Or Superman
You will come to save me' -Aimee Mann, Save Me (I'm not sure exactly of these lyrics, I'm going by ear on these.

Max and Liz rushed right over to Michael's apartment, where Maria currently lay on his couch. "I think we need to take her to the hospital." Michael said the minute they got there.

A half an hour later Max, Michael, and Liz resided in the waiting room while the doctors were in a room with Maria. Michael was probably more nervous than anyone else. He would blame himself if anything ever happened to her.

"Michael, you've got to be calm. I'm sure she will be alright." Max said, trying to calm his nerves. He was surprised that Liz was handling this so well.

"Calm down? I'll calm down when a freaking doctor gets his ass out of that room to tell me what the hell is happening!" It was apparent to everyone that his frustrations were getting the better of him.

Yet, almost as if on cue, after Michael said that a doctor emerged from her room. "Any news?" Michael asked eagerly.

The doctor shook his head, "Yes, it seems that Maria's blood pressure and all occurrences of stress have been a real toll on her body. She's still unconscious at the moment, but we're confident it won't last very long. Possibly minutes, or an hour tops. I suggest that for the next few weeks, she does no physical work, or something that will get her worked up. Try and keep her calm and happy and she should be back to normal soon. If you'll excuse me I have some other patients to attend to." Then the doctor departed, after Michael thanked him.

Michael took a deep breath of relief in. 'Thank God she's ok.' He thought to himself.

"See Michael, she's going to be ok." Liz said as she walked over to him.

A small smiled appeared on his face. "I wish they would let me see her." Was all he said.

Michael had realized that day, that all the things Maria said were true, how she would need some time and space to cope and deal with everything that has happened. But Maria was just going to have to share that time and space with him as well.

After a little while, a nurse walked over to the three and announced that Miss DeLuca is awake and one person at a time could go in and see her. Max and Liz voted Michael should go in, and he didn't deny it.

As he walked to her room, he turned quickly back, gave Max and Liz a small smile, and then walked in to greet his girlfriend.

THE END!