Work in Progress
        Rating – R+
        Category – M/L, M/M, A/I
        Disclaimer – I don’t own them, as much as I’d like to.
        Summary – The FBI comes to arrest Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Alex during their graduation prompting them to go on the run.
        Author’s Note – Thank you Creedgirl and Gem you’ve helped this story move along so much!
 

    “Do you have any idea exactly how screwed we are?” Maria yelled over-excitedly.
    “Calm down, Maria,” Liz said evenly, effectively masking her own internal hysteria, “we’ll lose them.”
     “Hello?” Maria exclaimed between sniffs of her cedar oils. “We’re in a Jetta! We couldn’t lose a bicycler in this thing!”
     “Liz, if you can’t get her to shut up could you at least look for some tape or something to keep her mouth shut?” Michael spat exasperatedly from the driver’s seat.
     Maria laughed in a curious mixture of anger and incredulity, “I imagine I’d be of little use to you with my mouth taped shut, Michael.”
     “Damn it! Maria, I’m trying to evade two cars of FBI agents while driving your crappy car. Can we shove this conversation so I can concentrate here?” Michael yelled while spinning the wheel in an abrupt turn to the left.
     Liz grabbed the ‘oh-shit-bar’, as Michael had oh-so eloquently put it, and held on for dear life. Maria flailed for something to grab onto and eventually settled on Michael’s bicep.
     “Do you mind?” He asked, more worried than annoyed.
     “Sorry,” Maria said sarcastically, “a little warning might help next time.”
     “Warning? Maria, do you not get that this is a high-speed chase in which we are running for our lives?” Michael yelled, never taking his eyes from the road.
     “Don’t yell at me!” Maria screamed. “Oh, God, I’m hyperventilating.”
     “Maria,” Liz sighed as she handed her an old McDonald’s bag from the back seat, “breathe.”
     Maria obliged, breathing heavily through the bag while absently wondering exactly how long it had been sitting in her car. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone to a fast food place.
     “I think I just inhaled a French fry,” she said coughing as she finally set the bag aside.
     Liz smothered a smile, “Just keep calm and everything will be fine. Hand me my cell phone, will you?”
     Michael grabbed Maria’s hand as she went to give the phone to Liz. “Who do you think you’re calling?” He asked.
     “I’m calling Max and Isabel to make sure they got out alright,” Liz stated.
     “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Michael said, checking his rearview mirror. “What if they’ve been caught and the FBI has their phone-line tapped. What if they trace the call?”
     “Cell phone’s can’t be traced, Michael,” Maria interrupted. “I saw an article on 20/20 about this lady who was shot and didn’t know where she was and she called 911 on her cell phone and they still couldn’t find her because they couldn’t trace the call because it was a cell phone,” she said nervously, in one breath.
     Michael glanced at her quickly. Her frazzled chin-length hair lay plastered on her nervously sweaty forehead.
     “Are you gonna be alright?” He asked.
     Her face lit up at his concern, “Yeah… I’ll be fine, I think.”
     “Give me the phone, Michael. Traced or not, we need to know if they’re all right… I need to know Max is all right,” Liz demanded, reaching for the phone.
     “Call them,” Michael resolved, taking the phone from Maria’s hand and placing it in Liz’s.
     Liz dialed the numbers to Max’s cell phone as fast as she could. It only rang once before a familiar voice answered the phone.
     “Isabel? Are you all right? Is Max there? Where are you?” Liz asked quickly, shaking.
     “Liz?” Isabel asked, to which Liz could hear Max ask if she was all right in the background. “Liz, we’re fine. Max, Alex, and I are heading due east just past Caprock on state road 380. Where are you? Are you ok? Are Michael and Maria there?”
     “Yeah, we’re all here,” Liz smiled, “and we’re fine. Some of us are hyperventilating, but fine. We’re heading northeast on state road 70. We’re about ten minutes out of Elkins.”
     “Damn…” Isabel muttered. “No, Max, they’re fine,” she reassured him, covering the phone. “Ok, when you hit 206, go south. We’ll go north and try to meet up in Dora. Are you still being tailed?” Isabel asked.
     Liz turned to look around behind the car. “Looks like neither of them had a full tank. I can’t see anyone.”
     “Good,” Isabel muttered, “if you get another one tailing you and you can’t lose him head southeast on 214 instead and we’ll catch up again later.”
     “Ok,” Liz agreed, “sounds good. See you soon… Good luck,” she added.
     “You, too. I’d hand you over to Max, but he’s driving,” Isabel told her apologetically.
     “So’s Michael otherwise I’d hand you off to him,” Liz said, smiling.
     Isabel laughed, “Better make sure you’re buckled up.”
     “With Michael driving in a high speed chase? It was my first instinct,” Liz confirmed.
     “Later,” Isabel said as she hung up.
     Liz smiled and handed Maria the phone as she pushed an errant stand of hair from her face. “They’re fine. Turn south when we hit 206. We’re going to meet up with them in Dora.”
     “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Maria asked, “after all, if we’re both being chased the last thing we want is to be all    together in the same spot at the same time. Not to mention time is sort of important and waiting for them or them waiting for us could give the Feds the time they need to catch up with us.”
     Liz nearly laughed, “You sound like Michael.”
     “Well, she’s right,” Michael agreed. “It’s far to dangerous to meet up with them so soon.”
     “The sooner we come up with a plan and get moving, the better chance we have and that’s not going to happen with us split up.” Liz rationalized, “It’s worth the risks.
     “What do you expect us to do? We can’t go home, probably ever again. We have to disappear. How are we going to do that? Where are we going to do that? Are we going to go together or go our separate ways? How are we going to avoid the FBI? This is a big deal. This is bigger and scarier and more dangerous than anything any of us has ever faced. I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t do this alone. I don’t know how to,” Liz finished.
     Liz could feel Michael’s eyes staring at her in the rearview mirror. “All right,” he said, “we’ll meet them in Dora.”
     “Thank you,” Liz whispered.
 

     Liz, Michael, and Maria had been settled into a booth in the only diner that Dora, New Mexico seemed to have for nearly an hour before Alex, Max, and Isabel showed up to join them. Relieved hugs were exchanged all around.
     “Thank God,” Liz whispered, crushing Max to her in a crippling hug, “when I saw those FBI agents come into the auditorium, I was so scared Max. I couldn’t see you from where I was and I was just so scared.”
     “I know,” he whispered into her hair, “me, too.”
     Liz loosened her grip on him, suddenly aware of how strange it might seem to the locals for six teenagers, not from their town, to be hysterically hugging each other.
     “I can’t believe we finally graduated,” she said, a little louder than was necessary, hoping that their graduation would serve as a suitable explanation for any curious locals.
     “Slightly overshadowed by the rest of the events in the ceremony, but incredible none the less,” Alex agreed quietly.
     “I still can’t believe they let you graduate,” Maria said, looking at Michael.
     “Could say the same for you, DeLuca,” he countered.
     “I’ll have you know I had a perfect attendance record my senior year, thank you very much,” the blonde smiled smugly.
     “You’re proud of this?” He asked, to which she smacked his arm as hard as she could.
     “Ok, can you guys stop flirting for like five minutes?” Isabel asked, “It’s making me nauseous.”
     “We need to figure out what we’re going to do,” Max said, taking the seat next to Liz. “We don’t exactly have a lot of    time.”
     “We should split up,” Michael said quietly. “It makes the most sense.”
     “All of us?” Maria asked meekly.
     “But, then there’s the other side of that. We need to keep in contact to make sure everything is going ok for all of us. If one of us eventually gets caught the rest of us need to know right away,” Isabel added.
     “Whether we stay together, or in groups, or go off totally by ourselves, we need to go to big cities to blend in,” Liz mused.
     “You said cities, plural,” Max pointed out, “do you think we should all split up.”
     She was silent as she thought about that. The rest of the group fell silent with her and for what felt like forever, no one said anything. They just let the gravity of their situation fall upon them.
     “God, I can’t believe I’m sitting in a diner trying to decide the rest of my life as quickly as I can,” Maria sighed.
     “I can’t believe I’ll never see my Mom again,” Isabel added.
     And again the group fell into an uncomfortable silence.
     “I say we all stay together, for now. They’ll be expecting us to split up. They’ll be looking for that. Besides, I don’t think I can do this alone. We’ve all lost so much in this already. We can’t lose each other, too,” Liz whispered.
     “Why don’t we vote on it,” Alex suggested.
     “How many in favor of splitting up completely?” Max asked.
     “I am,” Michael said hoarsely, unable to watch the wounded look on Maria’s face as he did so.
     “How many in favor of splitting up in groups?”
     “I am,” Alex said.
     “Me, too,” Maria added.
     “Are the rest of us in favor of staying together?” Max asked.
     Liz and Isabel nodded.
     Max looked at Michael, “What are you going to do?”
     “The group decided we stay together,” he said. “I’ll go with the decision of the group.”
     “Good, that’s settled,” Liz said, looking greatly relieved. “Now, where are we going?”
     “Not anywhere in New Mexico, that’s for sure,” Isabel said laughingly.
     “Any ideas?” Max asked.
     “New York, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, LA, take your pick,” Maria shrugged.
     “How much money do you guys have on you?” Isabel asked.
     “Why?” Maria asked.
     “Because we have to get six people and two cars to wherever we decide to go and once we get there we’ll have to rent at least one apartment and feed ourselves. Not to mention buy fake IDs and who knows how much those cost.”
     “Usually about $100 for a good one,” Michael informed them. “And I already have two set up, one of you guys can have one of them.”
     “Great, this is great,” Isabel sighed, “it’s not exactly like I stopped at home to raid my shopping fund. I think I have about $40 on me and that’s it.”
     “Well,” Liz smiled, “the good news is that since Maria and I were going on a road trip after graduation we have our stuff packed in her car and a few hundred each in cash.”
     “Oh!” Maria said excited, “And my Mom was going to deposit all of my money for my first semester into my account today! That about $4,500 at least, plus my graduation presents.”
     “Great!” Max smiled, “But, you’ll have to close out your account soon and we’ll have to seriously move after you do that. The FBI might think to close our bank accounts at any moment and they’ll search whatever city we close them out in.”
     “We could go to Mexico,” Alex suggested, “get out of the US altogether.”
     “Like that won’t look suspicious,” Michael laughed, “six American kids trying to cross the border. No, I’m sure they have the borders covered.”
     “There’s always Canada?” He suggested.
     “Too far,” Isabel shook her head, “Maria’s car would never make it.”
     “Speaking of which, we should get rid of our cars,” Liz chimed in. “They stand out too much.”
     “Do we all have bank accounts to close out?” Max asked.
     Everyone nodded.
     “Ok, we’ll close them out in at least two separate cities so that they think we’re travelling separately. The only thing left to decide now is where we’re going.”
     “Somewhere with low unemployment rates,” Liz said.
     “I think LA has its fill of waitresses,” Alex said.
     “Ok, one down,” Michael said, “how many left?”
     “What about Denver?” Liz suggested.
     “I don’t know, that’s still pretty close,” Isabel said worriedly.
     “Where do you think we should go, Izzy?” Max asked.
     “Somewhere in California?” She suggested.
     “We’re getting nowhere,” Michael grumbled, “and we have to get moving. Does anyone have a map?”
     “I have one in my car,” Maria offered.
     “I’m gonna go get it,” Michael said, rising from his seat.
     Maria watched him walk out the door, towards her ailing Jetta. She couldn’t help but feel hurt at his willingness to leave her and the others behind.
     “You know, he was just thinking of our safety when he said we should all split up,” Liz said, touching her friend’s shoulder.
     “I know,” she whispered, “but that doesn’t help.”
    Michael returned with the map moments later. “Maxwell, close your eyes and point to a spot on the map.”
    Max sighed and did just that.
    “Ok, Kansas is so not an option,” Maria said as Max opened his eyes to see his finger somewhere northwest of Wichita.
    “Try it again,” Isabel offered, “and move the map around while he does it.”
    Max tried again.
    “Looks like we’re moving to Portland, Oregon,” Alex announced.
    “Doesn’t it rain there like all year round?” Maria asked.
    “Hope you brought your umbrella,” Michael smiled.
 

    After leaving a small tip to their mostly non-existent waitress, the group pulled their cars around the back to a more secluded area.
    “Liz was right about the cars being obvious, but we don’t need to sell them. We just need to play with them a bit,” Isabel smirked.
    She smiled as she placed her hand on Maria’s Jetta and it slowly went from a rusted red to a shining green. She then went around to the back of the car, changed the license plate number and removed the bumper stickers and dealer’s plate.
    “That is so cool!” Maria yelped. “It could have used a paint job years ago.”
    “What color do you want the Jeep,” Isabel asked Max.
    Max shook his head and smiled, though he excelled at healing others, in general his sister’s powers far surpassed his own.
    “Make it red,” he smiled.
    She repeated the same things she’d done to Maria’s car on the Jeep. And then she turned to Liz.
    “Liz, how do you feel about blonde?” Isabel asked.
    “Excuse me?” She asked.
    “Let’s try it,” Isabel smiled as she waved her hand over Liz’s hair, instantly shortening it to her shoulders and changing it to blonde.
    “Not bad,” Isabel judged, nodding her head as she waved her hand over Liz’s face, changing her eyebrows and eyelashes accordingly.
    “Oh my Lord…” Maria said, looking slightly peaked. “No wonder you always look so gorgeous!”
    “You thought she was a natural blonde?” Michael smirked.
    Isabel laughed, “What? Every girl has her beauty secrets, mine is just a big secret!”
    “Does anyone have a mirror?” Liz asked anxiously. Isabel rummaged through her purse and handed a pocket mirror to Liz.
    “Wow,” Liz said, examining her new tresses.
    “You look great,” Max agreed, running his fingers through her new hair. “Who’d have thought you’d look even better as a blonde?”
    “Hurry it up Is,” Michael said, “We’ve gotta get going.”
    “Fine,” Isabel agreed, “Maria, you’re next. What color do you want?”
    “Uh, I don’t know. What do you think?” She said.
    “Brunette,” Isabel said, “definitely.”
    And with a wave of her hand, she lengthened Maria’s hair to her waist and turned it a chestnut brown.
    “Very nice, you should have done that years ago,” Isabel pronounced, grabbing the mirror from Liz and handing it to Maria.
    “She still a blonde at heart,” Michael smiled tauntingly, “always will be.”
    Maria promptly stuck out her tongue at him.
    “Give me your driver’s licenses’” she said. She then changed the pictures to match and changed the names.
    “Elizabeth Richards and Maria Losada, your new licenses. Boys, your turns,” Isabel said, turning to the three men.
    In the wave of a hand, she made Michael blond with a shorter cut, gave Max a mustache and lighter brown hair, and shortened Alex’s hair, frosting the tips.
    “Very nice,” she smiled as they handed over their licenses and took turns looking in the mirror.
    “My turn,” she said. And in an instant, she was a vibrant redhead with curls reaching just past her shoulders. Alex gawked, much to Isabel’s amusement and elation.
    “Michael, you guys should head to Phoenix and close out your accounts there in the morning. We’ll go to Santa Fe and try to meet up with you guys in Salt Lake City tomorrow night. Okay?” Isabel asked.
    “Sounds like a plan,” Maria smiled, playing with then ends of her new hair.
    “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Max said, turning to Liz. The others took their cue to give the two a moment and walked over to the cars so Isabel could give Michael a crash course in how to change their appearances and the IDs.
    “Yeah, I guess so,” she said worriedly.
    “Why don’t you ride with us?” Max asked her, brushing her now blonde hair from her face.
    Liz smiled, “Because Maria has the worst sense of direction I’ve ever seen and I don’t think Michael’s is much better. Not to mention if we left the two of them alone they’d never get anywhere on time and we’d be stuck in Salt Lake City waiting for   them for forever.”
    Max nodded. He’s known all this, but really hadn’t wanted to admit it.
    “You could ride with us,” Liz offered.
    Max smiled, “Isabel’s driving would get them pulled over in a minute and Alex doesn’t have a license. We can’t attract that much attention.”
    Liz sighed, “I know.”
    “I’ll see you tomorrow night,” he smiled. “Be careful. And don’t let Michael drive now that it’s not a high-speed chase. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”
    “Ditto,” she whispered, smiling.
    He leaned in close and kissed her lightly.
    “I love you,” he breathed across her ear sending goosebumps up her arms.
    “I love you, too,” she said, hugging him tightly.
    “This is sweet, really,” Isabel said, as she approached the couple, “but we need to get moving. We have to get to the cities and try to get some sleep so we can get to the banks early, so wrap it up. Oh, and don’t forget to tell Michael to change back your looks and IDs.”
    “You sure that’s a good idea? Are Michael’s abilities that reliable? Maybe Max and Michael should switch cars,” Liz said concerned.
    “He can do it. And if he has problems with it we can always wait until you get to Salt Lake to close the accounts, though I’d rather not. But, I think he’ll be fine with it,” Isabel told her, much to her disappointment.
    “Look, someone has to be split up and Maria and Michael would be even bigger pills if they were separated. I’m not putting up with that. And I’m not willing to leave Alex. That leaves you two. Sorry, but deal with it,” Isabel said.
    “Great Iz, thanks for letting us have a say,” Max said angrily.
    Isabel shrugged, “We don’t have time to argue. Get in the cars and let’s go. We’ve got a long way to go before nightfall.”
 

    The drive to Phoenix turned out to be far longer than anyone had expected. Twelve hours and four coffees later, Maria was trying to keep awake so she could talk to Michael, who was driving, to help him stay awake.
    Maria glanced to the back seat. “How long has she been out?” She asked, wishing it were her rather than Liz who was getting some sleep.
    Michael shrugged, “Three hours or so?”
    Maria sighed, “That’s just not fair.”
    “What? I’m not good enough company?” He asked playfully.
    She grinned, stifling a yawn, “Who said I couldn’t have both?”
    He smiled broadly and chuckled, never taking his eyes from the pitch-black road in front of them. “You are something else, Maria DeLuca.”
    “That’s Maria Losada to you, Michael Kennedy!” She laughed.
    Michael winced, “I can’t believe she picked that name. In no way can I pass for Irish.”
    Maria grinned, “You just need to practice. Repeat after me. ‘Aye, they’re after me lucky charms!’”
    Michael tried not to laugh, failing miserably.
    “Thank you,” he said after a moment, “for a minute I forgot where we were and what was going on. I needed that.”
    “We both did,” she admitted.
    “Are you scared?” she asked quietly.
     “Of course I am,” he said, taking a moment to glance at her, “how could I not be?”
    “I guess. You just, you always seem so unafraid of anything… I’m so scared Michael. How are we going to do all this?” She whispered.
    “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. That’s a promise,” he said, tearing his eyes from the road ahead to steal a glimpse of her eyes. He reached over and took her hand.
    “I know,” she said as his fingers inter-laced with her’s forming a silent bond between them.
 

     “We should have driven further, Max,” Isabel said, standing in front of the motel mirror brushing her hair.
    “We have a 17 hour drive tomorrow, Iz, plus we need to close our accounts. We all need some sleep. We should try to be out of here by five in the morning so we can get there by ten at night,” Max pointed out.
    “I still say we should have driven further and cut down on the drive time for tomorrow,” Isabel insisted.
    “I’m too tired to argue Isabel and too tired to drive. So’s Alex,” Max said, pointing to Isabel’s boyfriend sleeping on the bed.
    Max sat down on the cot.
    “And,” he continued, “I don’t want to run the risk of you falling asleep behind the wheel, so, please, just get some rest. This is already pretty much my idea of hell, sharing a cheap motel room with my sister and her boyfriend, separated from my girlfriend, while running for our lives, so can you please just let me go to sleep and try to forget about it?”
    Isabel paused and looked at him for a moment. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s been a really bad day and you don’t need me complaining on top of it. Go to sleep Max. I’ll set the alarm for 4:30.”
    Isabel walked over to the alarm clock and set it. “Why don’t you call her Max?” she suggested.
    “Because, if she’s lucky she’s already asleep,” he grumbled, trying to get comfortable on the small, squeaky cot.
    Isabel set her jaw and glared at her brother, though he couldn’t see. “Fine,” she muttered climbing into bed next to Alex, “I was just trying to be nice. Forget it.”
    He didn’t reply, much to her annoyance. He was already asleep.
 

    Maria yawned, rubbing her eyes in a reluctant attempt to wake up.
    “I don’t know if four hours of sleep helped or hurt my ability to stay awake now,” she muttered.
    Michael smiled and kissed her softly on her forehead, his eyes never leaving her face.
    “We don’t have much choice,” he reminded her. “If we leave right now we might be able to get to Salt Lake City by 10 tonight.”
    “It’s 7 a.m., no FBI agent in their right mind would be awake right now. So why do we have to be?” Maria whined.
    “Because of the ones that aren’t in their right minds. Those are the ones I’m more worried about,” Michael whispered in her ear.
    “You’re paranoid,” Maria groaned, ignoring the shiver that ran down her spine at the touch of his breath upon her ear. She knew if she paid any attention to that shiver and all the emotions it stirred up, they would never leave on time.
    “I’ll bring the bags out to the car while you wake Liz,” Michael told her, smiling ever so slightly.
    As Michael grabbed the bags and left, Maria got up and shook Liz’s shoulder to wake her. Liz mumbled something about 10-more minutes and rolled over, nearly falling off the pint-sized cot.
    “Max is waiting,” Maria said loudly.
    “I’m up, I’m up,” she grumbled, opening one eye. “That was a dirty trick.”
    Maria smiled, “But it worked. Get dressed, we need to hurry. You, my dear friend who slept half the drive here, get to drive first shift!”
    Liz groaned, “Fine, fine. I guess it’s only fair.”
    Michael re-entered the room, greeted by a warm smile from Maria.
    “The bags are in the car except for your little bag with your toothbrush and all that girlie stuff that's spread all over the bathroom counter, Liz. Why don’t you two finish getting ready and make sure I got everything while I go check out?” Michael suggested.
    Liz laughed, “I will finish getting ready and put my ‘girlie bag’ in the car.”
    “Meet you at the car in 15 minutes?” Maria asked him.
    He nodded, walked over and kissed her lightly, as though she might break if he wasn’t careful.
    “See you in 15,” he smiled and left.
    Liz looked to her best friend, then to the door and back again.
    “Wow. Having a very on-again day I see?” she asked.
    Maria blushed, her fingers trailing over her lips as if she was trying to make sure they were really still there. “We had a good talk last night,” she admitted.
    “Well whatever you said, good job!” Liz grinned. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so open and emotional before.”
    “You know what? Even though we’re being chased by the FBI and we don’t know how we’re going to live and all that, I think I’ve never been happier in my whole life than I am right now,” Maria smiled.
    Liz laughed, nearly choking on her toothpaste.
    “You’ve got it bad, girl!”
    “Oh, like you should talk!” Maria laughed.
    “Speaking of the guy I’ve ‘got it bad’ for,” Liz smiled, “let’s hit the road.”
 

    “Well, thank God that went smoothly,” Isabel sighed, leaning up against Alex in the back seat of the Jeep.
    “Yeah, I was really worried they’d have our accounts frozen by now,” Max admitted, sliding into the driver’s seat.
    “How much do we have, Alex?” Isabel asked, looking up at him.
    Alex tallied their cash mentally, “Just over $11,000.”
    Isabel sighed and relaxed some, “Thank God. I wonder how long that will last us.”
    “Considering the cost of gas right now? About 11-miles,” Alex joked.
    Max laughed to himself as he pulled into a gas station.
    “I’m going to go pay for the gas, then we’ll get moving again. I’m sure the FBI has already traced us to Santa Fe, we need to get out of here as fast as we can,” Max told them as he finished pumping the gas.
    “Hold up a second, Max,” Isabel said. “I’m starving and now that we actually have money, I’m stocking up.”
    She kissed Alex quickly and hopped down from the Jeep.
    “Isabel?” Alex called as she opened the door to the gas station, “Don’t forget we need to, um, change everything and all.”
    Isabel nodded, trying not to laugh, as she realized he meant she needed to use her powers to alter their looks back from normal again.
    “We’ll do that as soon as we get on the road,” she smiled, blowing him a kiss.
    “Izzy, hurry up,” Max called, standing at the cash register.
    “Hold on, Max,” she replied, slightly annoyed, as she walked over to peruse the junk food aisle.
    Max was drumming his fingers on the countertop when the sound of the television behind the gas station attendant caught his ear.
    “The FBI is searching for six teenage fugitives of justice today,” the anchor announced. “Local police and the FBI tried to arrest the six students, who are suspected in the attempted bombing of their school auditorium yesterday morning at their graduation from West Roswell High. Michael Guerin, Maria DeLuca, Elizabeth Parker, Alexander Whitman and Isabel and Maxwell Evans fled the scene and have evaded authorities so far. These six 18-year-olds are considered very dangerous and anyone with any information as to their whereabouts is encouraged to dial 911 immediately. We bring you live now to a press conference where Diane Evans, the mother of Isabel and Maxwell Evans, is pleading for her children to return.”
    Isabel nearly dropped the food she was carrying as her mother appeared on the TV screen.
    “Max, Izzy, I know this is all a huge mistake, but your father and I want to let you know that we will love you no matter what and we want you to please come home,” she sobbed. “We just need to know you’re safe. Please, please call me and let me know you’re alright.”
    Diane Evans looked as though she was falling apart at the seams and her husband, who stood behind her in silent support, looked just as hollowed. It only took one small glance at Isabel for Max to realize she was about to crumble as well. The gas station attendant seemed oblivious to the news report and to them in general. Max was just grateful that the current issue of People Magazine was enough to keep the guy’s attention.
    Thinking quickly, Max used his powers to fry the television set.
    “This is everything,” Max told the attendant, who finally glanced up from reading the latest article on Madonna.
    He rang it up quickly, “$32.26”
    Max calmly handed him the cash, trying to mask the overwhelming sense to flee that ran through his every vein.
    The attendant handed him his change and bagged the food Isabel had picked out.
    “Thanks,” Max said, helping Isabel toward the door, “oh, and I think your television is broken.”
 

    “I’m sure he’s alright,” Michael told Liz who was doing her best to concentrate on driving.
    “What?” she asked, shaking her head in an effort to banish the worries that plagued her.
    “He’s okay. I’d know if he wasn’t,” Michael assured her gruffly, sounding far more confident than he felt.
    “It’s just so hard,” she whispered. “I wish he’d call or at least turn the cell phone on.”
    Michael looked down at Maria whose sleeping form had started to drool through the shoulder of his t-shirt. He didn’t really mind. He was just grateful she was with him. He tried not to imagine how Max and Liz must have felt at that moment, separated in the middle of a crisis.
    “You’ll see him tonight,” Michael assured her, a little softer than before.
    Liz looked a little surprised at his uncharacteristic determination to reassure her.
    “You understand, don’t you?” she asked, slightly thrown by the idea that Michael could care about anyone enough to have an inkling of what she was going through.
    He brushed some of Maria’s long brown hair from her eyes and held her a little tighter, but he didn’t answer Liz. He didn’t have to. He didn’t feel the need or desire to make anyone else understand what he felt. His feelings for Maria were between the two of them and no one else and, that was exactly how he wanted it.
    Liz watched him for a moment in the rearview mirror before realizing she’d crossed the line and he wasn’t about to answer her.
    She was about to say something else when the wail of a siren broke the silence instead.
    “Oh my God,” Liz paled, seeing a cop car signal them to pull over.
    “Shit,” Michael freaked, “floor it Liz!”
    “No way,” she countered. “We aren’t those people anymore. We don’t look like them, there’s no way they’ll be able to identify us, and the last thing we want is another car chase. I’m pulling over.”
    Michael’s eyes darted around like a caged animal. He briefly thought about bolting from the car, but the damped shoulder of his t-shirt reminded him instantly of Maria. He looked down at her peacefully sleeping form. He couldn’t leave her. He’d promised he’d keep her safe and he couldn’t very well do that if he wasn’t with her.
    “Is there a problem, officer?” Liz asked as she rolled down the window.
    The pudgy, balding man surveyed the three teens silently for a moment.
    “License and registration, please,” he said.
    Michael paled, he’d changed the car and their licenses, but he’d forgotten all about the registration.
    Liz must have realized this also, because she gulped loud enough that Michael could hear it from the back seat.
    “Beth,” Michael said, obviously addressing Liz, “give the officer your license and I’ll find the registration. Do you remember where you put it?”
    She nodded, her eyes widened in fear, “It’s in the glove compartment.”
    Michael rested Maria’s sleeping form down on the seat and then leaned over into the front seat and opened the glove compartment. Finding the registration, he waved his hand over it, fixing the information to match Liz’s ID. Handing the registration to the officer, he silently laughed at the idea that the practice he’d gained cheating on all those tests over the years had just become more useful to him than any of the information he was supposed to have learned on them.
    The officer studied the license and registration carefully and again looked at each of the frightened teens.
    “You kids ever been to Roswell?” he asked.
    “Roswell? Not me, sir,” Michael said. “This is the first time I’ve ever left California. We just graduated and we’re on a road trip,” he added, pointing to Liz and Maria’s luggage.
    The officer nodded warily and handed Liz her license and registration.
    “You kids be careful. There are a couple of crazy teenagers who tried to blow up their school that are suspected to be driving around these parts. You all look a bit like them and you’ve got the same kind of car. Sorry to have bothered you. You all have a nice trip and congratulations on your graduation.”
    With that he walked back to his car and drove off, leaving Liz hyperventilating.
    “Do you want me to drive?” Michael asked her.
    She nodded, unable to speak. As he moved to take the driver’s seat, Maria woke up.
    “What happened? Why are we stopped?” she asked.
 

    By the time Isabel and Max had reached the car, Isabel was uncontrollably sobbing.
    “What happened?” Alex asked, jumping out of the car and immediately pulling her into his arms.
    “Get back in the car,” Max ordered. “We have to get out of here right now.”
    Alex obeyed, leading Isabel gently to her seat. As soon as they were all in the car, Max speed away from the gas station, pressing down on the gas as if sheer distance from that place would lessen the pain and fear it brought him.
    “Max, slow down,” Alex said in no uncertain terms, “the last thing we need is a speeding ticket.”
    It took a moment for the words to register in Max’s head, but as soon as they did he slowed down.
    “Isabel,” Alex soothed, “honey, what happened?”
    “The news,” she whispered. “My Mom, she begged us to come home. She was crying Alex. I’ve never seen my mother cry.”
    Alex sighed heavily and held her tighter. “It’s okay. It’ll be all right. Just take a deep breath.”
    “I hurt her, Alex. Just being who I am hurt her,” Isabel sobbed, clinging to him.
    “The FBI hurt her, Izzy. They just used you to do it,” he told her.
    She looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen, her hair a disheveled mess, and the only thought in his head was trying to think of ways he could lessen the pain of this incredible woman he loved so much.
    “You really believe that, don’t you?” She asked in disbelief.
    “Yes,” he told her, leaning down and kissing her lightly on her eyelids.
    “Thank you,” she sighed, calming a bit and wiping the tears from her eyes. “I feel really silly for crying like this. I can’t believe I got this worked up. I mean, I know this is what I have to do. I don’t even have a choice.”
    “Don’t feel silly,” Alex chided, tipping her chin up so she looked up at him. “Your reaction was completely normal. If I’d seen my Mom sobbing for me to come home, I’d have cried, too.”
    Isabel laughed between sniffles, “It takes a real man to admit he’d cry.”
    “Well, then I’m one very, very real man,” Alex joked.
    “You’re a real enough man for me,” Isabel smiled, pulling his head for a long kiss.
    Max did his best to ignore his sister and her boyfriend kissing in the back seat of his car. Watching his sister make-out with anyone was at the bottom of his things-I-want-to-do-before-I-die list, but at least Alex was a pretty decent guy. He was really glad she’d found someone she could trust wholly and not worry about what he’d think of her. He knew what that felt like and he wouldn’t want to deny anyone that feeling.
    For the umpteenth time that day, Liz entered his thoughts. The brunette, scratch that, the blonde, petite woman with a smile that made his heart leap into his throat had been haunting his every waking thought and, to be honest, most of his sleeping ones, too.
    Every few moments, he found himself wondering where she was, what she was doing, worrying if she was okay. That particular moment, he found his urge to know undeniable and he turned on his cell phone.
    The phone started ringing before he had a chance to dial anything. The shrill sound of the phone was enough to pull Alex and Isabel from each other’s arms.
    “Are you going to answer it?” Alex asked.
    “No, Max, don’t. We don’t know who it is, it could be the FBI or Valenti for all we know,” Isabel protested.
    “Or it could be Liz,” Max replied hitting the send button. “Hello?”
    “Max?” A frantic voice asked. “Are you okay? Where are you?”
    “Mom…” Max said, unsure of anything else appropriate to respond with.
    He knew he should hang up the phone right then and there. He should just ignore her, like all the other ties to his past. But, she was his mother and he felt he owed her this much.
    “We’re all right, Mom. We didn’t do it. We love you. I’m sorry,” he said, turning off the phone and throwing it out the window.
    Isabel stared at him blankly and she could feel the tears return to her eyes against her will.
    “We can’t talk to her, Isabel. Not now, not ever,” Max said.
    “You could have let me say good-bye,” she said meekly before turning back to the silent comfort of Alex’s arms.
 
 

    The phone’s caller ID flashed Liz’s home number and before anyone had a chance to even think about answering the phone, Michael threw it out his opened window.
    “Michael, why did you do that? Now we have no way of contacting Max,” Liz shrieked.
    “Liz, I’d be willing to bet Max has already ditched his phone and that’s why we can’t get through. Not to mention, we can’t keep that thing anymore. Sooner or later we’d pick up the phone assuming it was Max or Alex or Izzy only to find Valenti on the other line, or your parents. Do you really want to go through having to hang up on your parents?” Michael asked, “Because, that’s what you’d have to do. Hang up on them, while they were crying and begging you to come home. Could you do that?”
    Liz bit her lip. “No,” she whispered, “I couldn’t.”
    “Liz,” Maria said, resting her hand lightly on her friend’s arm. “It’s ok. We’ll be in Salt Lake City tonight and you’ll see Max then. Everything will be fine.”
    “You’re forgetting something,” Liz sighed. “We never arranged where we would meet and now we have no way for them to contact us.”
    “Yes, we do,” Michael spoke up from the driver’s seat. “We dream and hope that Max and Izzy think of the same thing.”
    “Um, no offense Michael, but I’d really rather Max and Isabel don’t see my dreams,” Maria said, blushing. “Is there any way I can, like, block them or something?”
    A wide grin broke out over Michael’s face, “What exactly are you dreaming about that you don’t want them to see?”
    Maria giggled, blushing harder, “I’ll show you later.”
    Liz groaned, “Get a room, you two. Can’t you concentrate for like five minutes? We have a serious problem here.”
    “Liz, it will be okay. I’ve never had a problem finding Max or Isabel’s dreams before and I won’t tonight either. We’ll just have to meet up with them in the morning instead. Don’t worry about it, everything will be fine,” Michael insisted.
    Maria yawned, “Three more hours to Salt Lake City, Liz. Just three more hours.”
 

    Max pulled a tattered photo of Liz out of his wallet. It had been there for two years. Being the first picture of the two of them ever taken, it held a special place in his heart.
    She was enchanting. He’d said something to make her laugh, which, if he remembered correctly, had been his goal that day.  He’d wanted to see that intoxicating sparkle in her eye that she got only when something amused her. He couldn’t for the life of  him remember what he’d said, but whatever it was he was glad he had.
    He touched the picture, caressing the side of her face as he slid into her dream.
    She ran to him the moment she could see him through the billowing haze that danced across her dreamworld floor. Her arms pulled him as close as they could physically be without melding into one person, which, considering it was more or less a dream, Max was actually surprised didn’t happen. Her small body, pressed so tightly to his, was racked with sobs of relief.
    “I’ve been so terrified, Max, so scared I’d never see you again,” she whispered.
    “I know,” he replied, surprised to find his voice choking as he did so, “I was scared too, Liz.”
    “Where are you right now?” She asked.
    “Holiday Inn on 89th on the southeast side,” He answered, holding her even tighter, if that was possible. “You?”
    “Marriott on 197th, northeast side,” she sighed.
    He nodded, “We’ll meet at your hotel room tomorrow morning.”
    “I don’t want to think about tomorrow, Max. I just want right now. I’ve been so worried for days. Let’s just forget anything else exists, just for now,” she begged.
    He looked into her pleading eyes and knew instantly that no matter what she asked of him, he’d do it.
    “You are the only thing that exists for me right now,” he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her.
    As their mouths met in a slow and familiar, but incredibly intense passion of long-time lovers, Liz felt sure she was melting into him entirely. She could practically feel every cell in her body joining with his in an inseparable, eternal union. She could feel his hands move from her waist up to the small of her back and rest against the bare skin that was slightly exposed.
    As the sensations continued, she realized she could no longer physically feel him or his hands on her or even the feelings of her own body. Her dreamworld had removed the images of their bodies and left only the airy wisps of their souls, their true selves, to mingle in a passionate haze unclouded by the trivialities of appearances.
    Max had always known it was their souls that loved each other more than anything else. He’d known since the moment he’d really gotten to know Liz Parker that it was that unique spark that made her who she was that he loved even more than her incredible smile and silken hair. For the first time, in Liz’s dream, their souls were stripped of all the insignificant physical aspects of themselves and were allowed to love each other in a pure and perfect selfish moment.
 
 

    By the time Michael had fallen asleep, Max and Liz’s dream orbs were merged and he knew there was no need to contact Max or Isabel. Liz and Max would figure something out, as usual.
    He was about to let himself dream when he saw a violently turbulent orb not too far from him, shaking in the fear it created.    He instantly recognized it as Maria’s and without so much as a second thought, he entered her dream.
    He was immediately assaulted by the violent imagery and the look of extreme pain on Maria’s paled face.
    “No, you can’t leave me,” she wailed hysterically, sobbing over the image of his bloodied body.
    He watched, his mouth open in horror, as she cried, clinging to the dead image of himself that her mind had created.
    Her eyes blurred with tears, Maria looked around herself and saw the dead bodies of everyone. Max. Liz. Alex. Isabel. And of course Michael.
    The real Michael walked over to her and gently pulled her to her feet, averting her eyes from the gore that surrounded her.    She clung to him, as hard as she could, in a desperate terror.
    “Shh,” he calmed her, rubbing his hands over her back in slow, rhythmic, calming circles. “This won’t happen.”
    “But it could,” she insisted, looking up at him.
    “It won’t,” he said more forcefully. “I won’t let it.”
    She sniffled a laugh, “You can’t control everything, Michael.”
    “You’re not alone, Maria. You’ll never be alone,” he insisted.
    She let out a choked sob and clung to him as tightly as she could, hysterically sobbing.
    “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you,” he barely heard her mumble into his chest.
    “Maria, look at me,” he said, holding her face in his hands. “In the past three years you have single-handedly managed to get me to trust you, need you, and love you. You are the most important thing in my life and I promise you I will always be here for you, no matter what. If I died tomorrow, you’d still have to deal with my ghost haunting you for the rest of your life. I’m never going to leave you, Maria. You’re stuck with me.”
    “That’s really, really good, Michael, because there’s no one in the world I’d rather be stuck with,” she smiled, pulling his head down and kissing him with all the fervor she felt.
    He responded in equal measure, capturing her bottom lip with his mouth. In that moment, he found himself unable to concentrate on anything but her.
    He heard her moan lightly as their tongues dueled playfully. His eyes never left her face, full of desire, as his lips trailed down her neck and suckled on her collarbone. She trembled under his touch and, to his delight, leaned in even closer to erase any of the air left between them. He tasted the salty sweat of her skin as he tugged lightly on her earlobe. Her sweet breath brushed across his face, intoxicating him, as she tried to utter his name, but little more than a whimper escaped her lips.
    He reveled in every detail about her, failing to realize the rest of her dreamworld had faded, leaving nothing but them, kissing passionately.
 

    “Rise and shine!” Liz smiled, far too widely considering the hour, and pulled open the blinds allowing sunlight to pour in.
    Maria groaned loudly and tried to position a pillow so it blocked the light from her eyes.
    “We have to start getting separate rooms,” Michael muttered, burying his head in Maria’s neck.
    “Most definitely,” Maria sighed, playfully rubbing his feet with her’s underneath the covers.
    “You two! Get up! They’ll be here soon. Who wants dibs on the shower?” Liz asked perkily.
    “You suck!” Maria yelled, pulling the sheets up over her head.
    “What? It’s seven o’clock! Did I like interrupt a really good dream or something?” Liz asked, jokingly.
    “Or something,” Michael muttered just quiet enough that Liz couldn’t hear, but it took everything Maria had to keep from cracking up.
    “Take the first shower, Liz,” Maria yelled from underneath the covers.
    “Ok, but we really do need to get moving. Do you promise to get up?” Liz asked.
    “Sure, promise,” Maria answered.
    Liz grinned, though Maria couldn’t see it, and practically skipped all the way to the shower.
    “Not,” Maria added as soon as she heard the bathroom door close.
    Michael snickered and pulled her tightly to him, “Want to go back to sleep?”
    “Nah, couldn’t now if I tried,” Maria sighed. “But, I’m sure as hell not getting out of bed yet.”
    “Good,” Michael smiled, kissing her.
    Both of them shortly pulled back, Maria’s nose scrunched in distaste and Michael looked like he’d just bit into a lemon.
    “Morning breath,” she winced.
    He nodded, laughing, “I don’t have any Scope.”
    “Well, well, well. You come unprepared and still expect to get something?” Maria joked.
    Michael laughed at the double-entendre. “I was sort of hoping you’d have the needed supplies,” he quipped, adding to the joke.
    Maria broke down in a fit of giggles, eliciting a smile from Michael. As her laughed died down, Michael brushed her hair from her face.
    “You need to laugh more often,” he informed her.
    “Give me a reason to and I will,” she challenged.
    His eyes widened and a smirk grew across his face as inspiration struck. She saw the look on his face and began to protest.
    “But, no tickling!” she amended. “Tickling’s not allowed!”
    “Too late,” he smiled evilly and reached for her partially bare stomach.
    He tickled her mid-section mercilessly as she shrieked with mock-terror until they both heard a voice very loudly clear their throat. Michael immediately stopped tickling her and the couple peeked over the edge of the blanket to see an amused Max,    Isabel and Alex looking down at them.
    “Nice to know you were so worried about us,” Isabel said sarcastically, poorly masking the amusement that hid in her eyes.
 
 

    Liz emerged from the bathroom wearing her robe and a towel wrapped around her hair to find Max, Isabel and Alex had already arrived. She instantly threw herself into Max’s arms and kissed him desperately.
    “Somehow it’s just so much better in reality,” she smiled, in reference to their dream, when she finally surfaced for air.
    “Ugh,” Isabel shuddered, averting her eyes. “Can you wait to devour my brother until I’m not around?”
    “Izzy,” Max said, never letting his eyes leave Liz’s face, “pretend for a moment that you haven’t seen Alex in the past two days.”
    Isabel looked at Alex and bit her lip.
    “Michael, Maria, why don’t the four of us go grab breakfast,” she finally said.
    Liz smiled, “That’s an excellent idea. You go and we’ll… make out plans.”
    “You’ll make out, alright,” Maria snorted.
    Max and Liz were too busy cuddling and kissing to pay any attention to Maria, but Michael snickered, stood up and grabbed Maria’s hand, helping her out of bed.
    “Let us get dressed and brush our teeth first, at least,” Michael insisted.
    “Anyone bring any Scope?” Maria laughed, making Michael actually smile in front of other people.
    It was a completely uncharacteristic public display of emotion. Usually his public emotions were limited to mild contempt, annoyance and disinterest.
    “Oh, my God,” Isabel said, in shock. “What’s that on your face, Michael? Is that actually a smile? Maria, what did you do to him?”
    Maria giggled, “You don’t want to know.”
    With Isabel gaping, Maria sauntered haughtily towards the bathroom. It was just too tempting for Michael who, grinning, reached forward and slapped her butt. She turned around with an indignant look of surprise.
    “You!” She shrieked, launching herself at Michael, slapping his chest in fake annoyance, pushing them back onto the bed.
    “Maybe we should just go get breakfast ourselves,” Alex suggested, putting his arm around Isabel’s waist.
    Isabel smiled, “That would be nice, but we just don’t have time for all this.”
    Isabel put her fingers to her mouth and let out a shrill whistle.
    “Alright, who let loose the hormone Gods? Reality check people, FBI, on our trail. We need to get our asses out of here as fast as humanly, uh, as fast as physically possible,” Isabel reminded them.
    It was enough to sober the other two couples out of their personal little worlds. Max sighed heavily as Liz rested her head back against his chest.
    “You would have to go and remind us about that,” Maria groaned, sitting down on Michael’s lap and securing his arms around her waist.
    “Reality sucks, I know,” Isabel admitted. “Don’t you think I’d much rather be nibbling on Alex’s ear right now? But, we have some really important things to worry about at the moment.”
    Alex looked painfully disappointed.
    “Later,” she whispered to him in promise.
    “I think we should drive to Boise today and wait until tomorrow to try to make it to Portland. I know we could make it the    whole way today, but I think we’re all pretty exhausted,” Liz suggested.
    “That’s only like 6-hours today and 8-hours tomorrow,” Maria said. “That’s not so bad.”
    They all nodded in agreement.
    “Now, about the driving arrangements,” Max said, his voice trailing off as everyone groaned.
    “I’m so tired of driving,” Maria whined.
    “We could just stay here,” Liz suggested.
    “No,” Isabel asserted, “we said Portland. We’re going to Portland.”
    “Fine,” Max said, “we’ll go to Portland. I was going to say I think we should sell the cars and get a van or an SUV. Something we can all ride in together. At least that will put an end to the ‘who rides with who’ debate.”
    “Definitely a good idea,” Michael agreed.
    “Alright,” Alex spoke up, “then we’ll sell the cars, buy a van and hit the road. Sounds like a plan.”
    “Idaho,” Maria muttered, looking up at Michael, “I hope you like potatoes with your Tabasco!”
 

    Isabel drove their new Dodge Durango through the mountains of southern Idaho, but her thoughts were far from the winding country road that lay before her.
    The six of them had talked at length about how to get to Portland, but no one had so much as touched upon the subject of what they were going to do once they got there. Oh, sure, someone had mentioned that they needed to get an apartment and someone else had mentioned the need to find work, but no one said anything about what their lives would be like. She suspected it was because no one really had any idea.
    What were they going to do there? She guessed that they’d probably change their names again and live their lives as best they could. Maria and Alex would have little trouble finding gigs in the local coffee house scene. Liz and Max would more than likely fake high school records and try to get into a college somehow. Michael would undoubtedly find some blue-collar job and try to sell some artwork on the side. But, she had no idea what she’d do.
    Max and Liz had always had their love of science. Maria and Alex were all into that music stuff and Michael had just discovered his passion for art. What the hell did she have a passion for? Well, other than Alex. She really didn’t know. It wasn’t like she could professionally cruise the mall for the rest of her life.
    The more she thought about it, the more it ate away at her. It seemed to Isabel that everyone had direction in their life except for her. She had nothing to anchor her, nothing fixed that she knew she could always cling to. Nothing except for Alex.
    That thought made her smile. And she cast a sideways glance to her boyfriend chattering away with Maria about how difficult it would be to keep up a secret identity once they were world famous musicians. He swore that “Behind the Music” or   “Before They Were Stars” would figure them out.
    Isabel knew he’d said it for everyone else’s benefit. The sheer ridiculousness of it had sent Maria into a fit of giggles, much to Michael’s amusement.
    She marveled at the idea that Alex always seemed to know just what to say to make everyone else feel at ease. For the first time in what felt like forever, they were all together and smiling and laughing. It made her so proud to know it was her boyfriend who had made sure they were all so happy.
    But the laughter did little to lift her spirits. If anything, it made her feel more apart from her friends. They could cling to each other and to who they were, she felt like she was drowning. She didn’t even know who she was. How was she supposed to cling to uncertainty?
    She tried to banish the thoughts from her head and sighed heavily, inaudible underneath the laughter around her. Shivering with the cold, she rolled the windows up and turned on the headlights to help her find her way through the increasing darkness.
 

    Isabel’s feelings of uncertainty and worry plagued her as much during the night as they had earlier in the day. Despite Alex’s calming presence next to her in bed and her exhaustion, she found herself completely unable to sleep.
    Grateful that, for once, they’d gotten a decent suite of hotel rooms, Isabel wandered into the living area and plopped down on the couch. The haughty pride she’d exuded as part of the popular crowd had always seemed so obviously and painfully fake to her. She’d never been particularly self-confident and recent events had made her downright insecure.
    Isabel had always known the pains of being different, an outsider, but never this pronounced. She was screaming inside and no one else seemed to hear it.
    Alex had asked her if anything was wrong when they’d reached the hotel, but she’d said she was just tired from the drive. He’d accepted it and suggested they get some sleep. His blind acceptance had made her want to scream at him to look at her, really look at her, and see that something was wrong, but she didn’t and he fell asleep.
    As his breathing had slowed to a soothing, gentle rhythm of sleep, Isabel knew she was about to cry. But, she’d always been such a private person and she couldn’t bear the idea of the humiliation she’d feel if Alex were to wake up and find her sobbing. She was the strong one, the one who never let anything get under her skin, and that was the only thing she was sure of about herself anymore. She needed that. So, she’d left their bed for the living area where she could cry alone, in peace.
    She muffled the sounds of the sobs that racked her body with a throw pillow and tried desperately to make all thought flee her mind. Try as she might, she couldn’t forget why she was crying. It plagued her, haunted her, reminded her she was something different than everyone else, something less.
    She jumped at the sensation of a hand rubbing her back lightly. The hand was warm and strong and it was familiar enough that she knew who it was without looking.
    “What’s wrong?” Alex asked her.
    It was a plea, on his part. A desperate beg for her to let him in, to allow him to help her. She couldn’t.
    “It’s nothing, Alex, PMS. Don’t worry about it,” she forced a laugh. “I’ll be fine in five days or so.”
    She hesitated before looking up at him, wondering if he would buy it. The look on his face was one she’d never seen before and for some reason it just looked wrong on Alex. He was hurt and disappointed and it killed her to know that it was her who made him this way.
    “You could have just said you didn’t want to talk about it,” he whispered. “You didn’t have to lie.”
    She gaped at him in surprise. She’d never realized how easily he could see straight through her.
    “I’m sorry,” she replied in a low mumble.
    “It’s okay,” he told her. “We don’t have to talk about it. I know when you’re ready you’ll open up.”
    She wanted to kiss him for that. He’d always been patient with her, about everything. She’d been the one to hold his hand on that first date, kiss him that first time, drag him into the eraser room during prom. He never pushed anything. Anyone else would have goaded her into telling them what was wrong, he was content to just hold her.
     “I’m so scared,” she whispered, pulling him to her tightly.
    “We all are, Izzy,” Alex said soothingly. “That’s natural.”
    “You don’t understand,” she insisted, her head buried in his shoulder. “I’m afraid I’m nothing. I don’t have anything I’m good at, Alex, nothing that sets me apart. I feel like I’m not good enough.”
    “Oh, Iz,” Alex breathed, “don’t ever think that, not ever. You’re special because you don’t just have one thing you’re good at, there are so many. You’re incredible. You bring magic to everything you do.”
    She laughed through her tears at that. Trust Alex to wax poetical as she waded in insecurities.
    “It’s cheesy, but I mean it,” he said softly.
    “I know,” she admitted, sighing. “You have so much faith in me that it scares me sometimes, but it’s also one of the reasons I love you so much.”
    He smiled at that and kissed her atop her head, “I love you, too, because you’re kind and smart and gracious and beautiful and eloquent and giving. Do you want me to go on because I could write a book."
    “You’re amazing,” she smiled, pulling away to look at him.
    “Aw, shucks,” he grinned.
    As usual, she was the one to initiate their kiss. What started as sweet and comforting, soon turned fiery, passionate. In moments, the two were intertwined, lying on the couch. She moaned, fairly loudly, as his teeth tugged at her lip.
    “Ahem,” a voice pronounced loudly.
    Startled, Alex and Isabel pulled back and looked over to find Maria and Liz trying not to stare at them.
    “Get a room you guys,” Maria laughed.
    Alex looked at Isabel. “Actually, we already have one. Come on Izzy.”
    She grinned broadly, “Have a great night, guys.”
    Liz stifled a laugh, “Not as good as you, I’m sure, but thanks.”
    Maria broke out into giggles as Alex and Isabel’s bedroom door shut.
    “Ew,” she shivered, her nose scrunched in distaste, “that was like finding your brother and his girlfriend going at it, you     know?”
    “I know,” Liz confirmed, “that was just weird. I’ve never seen Alex in any position, if you’ll pardon the pun, other than that guy pal and to be honest I’ve never wanted to!”
    Maria laughed hysterically and fell into a chair. “Girl, you are so bad.”
    Liz just chuckled and shook her head.
    “So, what are you doing up anyhow?” Maria asked her.
    “I couldn’t sleep and I thought I’d come see if there was any ice cream in the mini bar,” Liz confessed, walking over to check out the small fridge. “You?”
    “Michael’s snoring sounded like a herd of elephants were running around the room. I was going to see if I could get some sleep on the sofa, but after that little display we just witnessed I’d rather not sleep there.” Maria scoffed.
    Liz squealed, pulling vanilla ice cream from the tiny freezer, “My favorite!”
    “Only you, Liz. Only you,” Maria laughed, shaking her head.
    Liz stuck her tongue out at Maria indelicately. “Fine, you can’t have any then!”
    “Oh, no girl. You had better grab two spoons!” Maria insisted.
    “So,” Liz said in between heaping spoonfuls of ice cream, “I’d think you’d be used to Michael’s snoring by now.”
    Maria laughed, “You’d think, wouldn’t you? It’s not like I’m a light sleeper either, but it’s gotten worse since we got to Idaho. I think he must be allergic to something blooming up here. I’ve been trying to convince him to try one of those nasal strip thingys, but no, Mr. Freight Train has to look cool even in his sleep.”
    Liz giggled, handing Maria a spoon. “At least Max doesn’t snore, but he does talk in his sleep sometimes. Let me just tell you that if the government ever captured us all, all they’d have to do to get some answers is give Max a huge dose of Nyquil.”
    “Ah, men, alien men” Maria sighed. “Gotta say it can be nice when they dream, though.”
    A slow grin grew across Liz’s face.
    “Oh, you so are not allowed to have a look like that on your face and then not talk about it. Come on, what gives?” Maria demanded.
    Liz paused for a minute and then leaned forward as if she was about to spill a huge secret.
    “Ok, well, when we were in Salt Lake City and Max needed to find us he got into my dream. Oh, Maria, it was so great.    When he was kissing me I just felt like my whole body melted away and then it did. I mean, in the dream it did. It was just our souls merged together. It was very…” Liz’s voice trailed off in thought.
    “Erotic?” Maria suggested.
    Liz nodded, “That works.”
    Maria grinned, “Good for you, two! Michael got into my dream that night, too, but I’d been having a nightmare. He just said the sweetest things and calmed me down and then it got intense and everything else disappeared.”
    Maria sighed with a dreamy look in her eyes.
    Liz laughed, “With dreams like that it’s really weird that neither of us can sleep.”
    Maria paused, her spoonful of ice cream stopped halfway to her mouth, and she cocked her head slightly to the side in thought.
    “That’s true,” Maria said slowly. “You know what? Now that you mention it, I think I am getting really tired.”
    She forced a yawn. “Yup, I definitely need some sleep.”
    Liz smiled, “You know, I think it just hit me, too. I’m going to, um, go try to get some sleep.”
    Maria nodded and both girls practically sprinted from their chairs back to their respective rooms.
    “Liz?” Maria called, peeking her head out from her room.
    Liz could hear Michael’s snores from her doorway, “Yes?”
    Maria smiled evilly, “Sweet dreams.”
 

    Maria brewed a full pot of coffee the next morning. She knew they’d all need it due to the lack of sleep everyone had gotten. She had to laugh about that one. For once they were in a decent, no a nice hotel with comfortable beds and not a one of them got a good night’s sleep.
    “Something funny?” Max asked, reaching for the pot of coffee.
    Maria yawned, “No, sorry. I just must still be punchy from lack of sleep. Is Liz up yet?”
    Max shook his head.
    “We’ll have to wake her up soon, it’s already 11,” he said. “Is Michael up?”
    “Nah,” Maria smiled, “I think he’s pretty worn out. Um, from the drive yesterday. It was a long drive. Long car rides can be so tiring, you know? Pass the sugar?”
    Max chuckled, “I should thank you.”
    “For what?” she asked, wiping some sleep from her eyes.
    “For making Michael happy, helping him open up. I don’t know how you did it, but thanks,” Max said, sipping his coffee.
    Maria blushed. “No biggie,” she muttered.
    “Maria, can I ask you something?” Max said, looking deadly serious.
    “Ask away. Can’t guarantee I’ll answer, though,” Maria said warily, thinking his question would have to do with her and Michael. Their relationship was something she was intensely protective of. She didn’t like to talk about it much, even to Liz, it just seemed too personal for discussion.
    “If I asked Liz to marry me do you think she’d say yes?” Max asked.
    Maria dropped her coffee mug in shock and just stared at him, gaping.
    “What?” She squealed after a moment of shocked silence.
    “Well, do you?” He asked, nervously wringing his hands.
    “Duh!” Maria yelped. “She only adores you more than life itself! Oh, I had better be maid of honor! I wonder what colors she’ll pick. She’s too nice a person to pick sea-foam green, don’t you think?”
    Max laughed, “Well, I’m glad you’re so confident.”
    “Totally! Max, Liz would walk across fire for you. I am so sure she will say yes. When are you going to ask her?” Maria said excitedly.
    “After we get settled in Portland,” he confided. “I think everyone’s mind is just a little overloaded right now. I don’t want to make anything more difficult. Maria, you can’t tell anyone, not even Michael. You know that, right?”
    “Totally!” Maria smiled, “I swear, I wouldn’t even dream of telling anyone.”
    “Telling anyone what?” Isabel asked, emerging from her room and making a b-line straight for the coffee.
    “Um, telling anyone that he doesn’t like potatoes. These Idaho people take their potatoes pretty seriously, they might like, skin him or turn him into french fries or something, you know. I think there was an episode of X-Files where they did something like that. Actually I’m not really sure. Cream?” Maria bumbled.
     “Sure,” Isabel said slowly, looking at Maria as though she’d just grown another head or something. “Exactly how many cups of this have you had, Maria?”
    Maria laughed nervously, “Oh, too many. You know, me, caffeine, very bad mix. Just ask Michael, there was this one time… oh, no, wait.” Maria started to blush violently, “Don’t ask him. In fact, forget I said anything.”
    “Excuse me, I have to use the bathroom,” she blurted out, creating an escape.
    Max rolled his eyes. Isabel looked after her, thrown by Maria’s extreme display of eccentric quirkiness.
    “Anyone who ever gives that girl coffee again will have to answer to me,” she pronounced.
    Michael chose that moment to join them in the kitchen. His eyes were more closed than they were open and his hair looked even more unruly than usual, if that was possible.
    “Just so you know, Michael, your girlfriend is on a massive caffeine high at the moment and is blathering on about nothing even more than usual,” Isabel told him, pouring more Tabasco sauce into her coffee.
    A huge grin took over Michael’s face, “She had coffee?”
    Isabel groaned, “Oh, I so don’t want to know. Please, whatever it is with you two and caffeine, don’t tell me.”
    “Well, from what I hear, Maria and Liz got an eyeful of more than they wanted to know about last night, Izzy, so you shouldn’t talk,” Michael smirked.
    Max’s eyes flew to his sister. “Exactly how much of an eyeful did they see, Izzy?”
    Isabel looked supremely annoyed. “None of your business, Maxwell,” she replied tartly.
    The look on Max’s face showed he wasn’t about to give up. She was his sister, after all, and he was the only family she had left to look after her. He took the job very seriously, too seriously in Isabel’s opinion.
    “Whatever, Max. I’m going to go take a shower,” she snapped before stalking off to her room.
    Michael snickered, “You have such a way with women, man.”
    “What did they see Izzy doing last night, Michael,” Max demanded, ignoring his friend’s taunts.
    Michael shrugged, “Some heavy making-out on the sofa with Alex. Maria didn’t go into details, thankfully. Max, she’s a big girl. She can take care of herself. Besides, knowing Alex, Isabel probably had to practically jump him.”
    Max looked more than a little ticked at that idea. A mental image of his sister jumping anyone was just about the last thing in the world he wanted to picture.
    Michael watched as Max wrestled internally with trying to get that image out of his head and laughed.
    “Morning,” Maria called as she emerged from the bathroom.
    “Morning,” Michael replied walking towards her. Suddenly, Max was the farthest thing from his mind.
    “I see lightening struck,” she smiled, running her fingers through his hair.
    “Cute,” he smiled, “I hear you had a few cups of coffee.”
    She blushed wildly as she grinned, “A cup or two.”
    He grabbed her around her waist, unexpectedly, and dragged her into the bathroom with him, leaving Max alone in the kitchen.
    Max rolled his eyes as he heard Maria’s bubbly voice coming from the bathroom.
    “So, Spaceboy, have you had your Scope today?”
 

    “I can’t believe we got on the road so late,” Maria sighed, leaning against Michael in the back seat of the car.
    “Well, if someone hadn’t taken forever doing God knows what in the bathroom, the rest of us might have been able to get ready a little faster,” Isabel snapped.
    Maria blushed deeply. “Whatever. If you hadn’t taken an hour and a half in the bathroom we’d be there by now,” she mumbled.
    “Stop bickering,” Max ordered, “we’re almost there.”
    “Thank God,” Isabel replied tartly.
    As the car made it over the hill, the group could finally see Portland’s city lights, framed by a few of the sun’s rays still peeking over the West Hills.
    “Home, sweet home,” Alex murmured.
    “Guys,” Liz said, “now that we’re here, what do we do?”
    “I guess we find another hotel for the night and try to find a place to rent in the morning,” Maria said.
    Isabel groaned, “I am so sick of hotels.”
    “We don’t have much of a choice, Izzy,” Max pointed out. “It’s a little late to find a place tonight.”
    “I know, I know,” she sighed.
    “Should we change our IDs again?” Liz asked.
    “That’s probably a good idea,” Michael said. “We can’t be sure if anyone’s tracked us or not.”
    Isabel sighed, “Hand me your IDs.”
    She changed their names again and handed their IDs back as they pulled into the parking lot of a Holiday Inn.
    “Max,” Isabel called as her brother got out of the car. “Get separate rooms with their own bathrooms this time!”
    He nodded, smiling, and went into the office.
    A few moments later, the three couples parted and left for their rooms with the promise to meet at the Denny’s downstairs at nine the next morning.
 

    “Ok, we cannot go house-hunting all together, because Maria would never even let her eyes leave Michael’s butt much less actually look at the house,” Isabel said, nibbling on her fruit salad.
    “Nah, I wouldn’t let her walk behind me,” Michael smiled, “then I wouldn’t be able to stare at her butt.”
    Maria’s jaw dropped and she elbowed Michael who sat snickering loudly next to her.
    “That is so not fair, Isabel! You’d totally be mooning over Alex the whole time, too, you know,” Maria fumed.
    “Exactly my point,” Isabel said. “Which is why I think we should house-hunt separately, in two groups, guys in one group, girls in the other.”
    Liz groaned, “Do we have to?”
    “Do you want to find a place or not?” Alex asked in between bites of his omelet.
    “I guess you’re right,” Liz sighed, “but I don’t like it.”
    “No one said you had to,” Isabel pointed out. “We’ll take the North side, you guys take the South side. We’ll meet back at the hotel at six, pretty much everywhere should be closed by then.”
    “I don’t like that we can’t contact you if we need to,” Michael said gruffly. “We should get new cell phones.”
    Maria smiled at him and squeezed his hand, “We’ll do that today, too, then.”
    “Sounds like a plan,” Isabel said, kissing Alex and moving to get up. “Ready to go, ladies?”
    “What? Now?” Maria whined, looking at Michael and then back at Isabel.
    “Yes, now,” Isabel confirmed.
    Liz pouted, kissed Max and scooted out of the booth while Maria grabbed Michael and kissed him and kissed him and kissed him and kissed him.
    “Anytime, Maria,” Isabel said annoyed.
    Maria and Michael seemed totally oblivious to her and after another moment Isabel literally grabbed Maria and pulled her out of the booth.
    “Hey!” Michael protested loudly.
    “You’ll see her in eight hours, Michael,” Liz smiled as Isabel dragged Maria from the restaurant.
    Isabel sighed and rolled her eyes as she saw Maria blowing kisses in Michael’s direction.
    “Damn, and she’d just had coffee, too,” Michael smiled.
 

    Equipped with the classified section of the newspaper and a rental car, Liz, Maria, and Isabel checked out houses and apartments all afternoon.
    “Have you guys seen anything you liked?” Liz sighed.
    Isabel laughed, “Oh, you mean aside from that house in West Hills that was going for something like a million dollars a    month?”
    “Isabel, what would we do with eight bedrooms and two pools anyhow?” Liz rationalized.
    “So not the point, Liz,” Maria sighed.
    “It’s got to be what, like three in the afternoon by now?” Isabel asked. “We’ve been at this for five hours straight. Let’s go get some ice cream and take a break.”
    “Sounds good to me, who knew it could get this hot this far north,” Maria muttered.
    As they pulled into a Baskin Robbins, Isabel moved to turn off the radio.
    “Oh my God! Wait, turn it up,” Liz yelped as she cranked up the volume.
    “Um, Liz? Sarah McLachlan is not exactly the type of music you blast,” Maria yelled, trying to be heard over the music.
    Isabel attempted to turn the song down, just a little, but Liz shrieked no and blocked the volume control.
    “Ok, what was that all about?” Maria asked as the song finished and Liz turned off the radio.
    “‘Fumbling Towards Ecstasy’ is Max and my song,” Liz sighed.
    “Oh,” Isabel smiled understandingly.
    “He dedicated it to me at the beginning of our junior year when he swore to me he wouldn’t walk away from me again. He    hasn’t,” Liz sighed contentedly.
    The three girls left the car and started towards the ice cream shop.
    “What’s your song with Alex, Isabel?” Liz asked after ordering a vanilla shake.
    “Um, ‘Let Me In’ by Save Ferris,” Isabel blushed lightly. “It was the song we danced to when I went dreamwalking into his dreams that first time.”
    “That is so sweet!” Maria squealed, nearly dropping her rainbow sherbet. “Michael and I don’t have a song, of course,” she added a little dejectedly.
    “Oh, come on. There must be some song you associate with your relationship. Even if he doesn’t know it,” Liz smiled. “I have never known you to not have a song with a guy. Remember third grade? You and Tony Johnson. It was ‘Ice, Ice Baby.’ So, I know you and Michael must have a song.”
    Maria laughed and blushed a little, “You had to remind me about ‘Ice, Ice Baby?’ My Vanilla Ice phase was embarrassing enough! Now I don’t want to tell you.”
    The other two girls just stared at her for a moment with blank, unwavering looks on their faces.
    “All right! All right. If you’re going to torture me!” Maria said, throwing her hands up in protest. “‘Even Angels Fall’ by Jessica Riddle. There’s this one part of the song that says ‘It's a secret, that no one tells. One day it's heaven one day it's hell. And it's no fairy tale, take it from me. That's the way it's supposed to be.’ That part just really reminds me of our ups and downs. Which, granted, are wild, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Making up is just too much fun!”
    “That’s sweet,” Liz smiled. “But, it can be a fairy tale. Trust me on this one.”
    “Speaking of wild, Maria. What exactly is up with the whole caffeine thing?” Isabel asked curiously.
    “I, um, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maria muttered, shoving as much sherbet as possible into her mouth.
    “Oh, no you don’t!” Liz laughed. “We want answers!”
    “It’s just a bad joke, that’s all,” Maria said, sounding anything but convincing.
    “Liar,” Isabel glared. “You never could lie.”
    “This almost feels normal, doesn’t it?” Maria asked. “Like old times, back home.”
    “Don’t try to change the subject,” Liz smiled.
    “Ok, she can’t lie, but she’s great a diversion,” Isabel observed.
    “I really don’t think Michael would want me to say anything. It’s kind of personal, between us, you know?” Maria asked.
    Liz laughed so hard she snorted, “Whatever! Like that’s ever kept you from telling me something before.”
    “This has got to be really good if it’s making her squirm this much,” Isabel smirked.
    Maria groaned and banged her head down on the table, “This is so not fair you guys.”
    “We know,” Liz grinned. “Now spill it!”
    Maria bit her lip. “You can’t laugh and you can’t tell anyone.”
    “Got it, no problem,” Isabel smiled.
    “Well, um, we discovered, totally by accident by the way, that there’s something about massive amounts of caffeine that… enhances the mental bond you get when making out. It pretty much doubles the sensations because, well, I feel everything I’m feeling and everything he’s feeling. It’s a rush, but it’s also exhausting. Not to mention caffeine makes me super hyper so I don’t have it often. So, when I do have caffeine it’s a, um, real treat,” Maria mumbled, her blush spreading from her ears to her toes.
    Liz and Isabel sat gaping at her.
    “I can’t believe you hid this from us!” Isabel yelled after a moment. “Being the health nut she is my mother never had caffeine in the house. Something about calcium retention or something. Oh, I am so switching from caffeine free cola!”
    “Iced tea is suddenly losing a great deal of its appeal,” Liz murmured.
    “Why in the world did you think we’d laugh at that?” Isabel asked incredulously. “I could hug you for that! I mean, I won’t, obviously, but I really could!”
    Maria laughed, “Well, um, I’m glad to have done you a favor. But, we should get going. We still need to look at apartments in the Pearl District and it’s already 3:30.”
    As they left Maria barely heard Isabel mutter something under her breath.
    “I have never wanted to get back to a hotel quite so badly.”
 

     “It’s a little small for six people, but it’s definitely in your price-range and there are a lot of young adults your age in this neighborhood,” the perky realtor told Max, Michael, and Alex as she let them into what seemed like the millionth house they’d seen that day.
    It really wasn’t anything special, three bedrooms, one and a half baths, and a den. But, the great room was a decent size, the kitchen had good appliances, the view was incredible, and the price was right: $950 a month.
    “Can you give us a moment to talk it over?” Max asked the hovering realtor who immediately backed off.
    “This is perfect,” Alex said as soon as the realtor was out of earshot.
    Max nodded, “We should call the hotel and leave a message for the girls to get over here as soon as they get back. We need to sign the papers as soon as possible.”
    “I’ll call,” Michael said, pulling out the new cell phone the guys had gotten.
    Max and Alex stood silently observing the house they hoped to soon make their new place as Michael dialed their hotel    room.
    “Oh, Izzy, hi. We thought you guys would still be out house hunting. I was just going to leave a message,” Michael said.
    Alex watched the phone closely, hopefully, as if perhaps Isabel would somehow emerge from it.
    “Um, okay… Well, we actually found a place, so if you guys could get over here we want to sign today,” Michael said through the phone, nodding.
    “5025 North Willamette Boulevard, it’s right across from University of Portland. Okay, see you then,” Michael said, hanging up the phone.
    “What did she say?” Alex asked, far too enthusiastically.
    “They’ll be here in 20-minutes. They were laughing a lot and I distinctly heard each of our names in the background,” Michael said.
    Max paused for a minute, “Well… what do you think they were saying about us?”
    Michael shrugged, “How should I know? You know girls, they were probably giggling and debating which one of us kisses best.”
    “They are far more grown up than that, Michael,” Max berated his friend.
    Alex laughed, “Yeah, right. You forget that I’ve known them for pretty much forever. I’m sure they would do that.”
    “It’s really stupid of them to do that to us,” Michael said.
    “Really, what basis of comparison would they have, anyhow?” Max pointed out.
    There was a long, uncomfortable pause.
    “Well, which one of them do you think would be the best kisser,” Alex asked.
    “Liz,” Max said without hesitation.
    “No way,” Michael snorted. “Little-Miss-Perfect-Parker? Max, how intense could it possibly get? Now, Maria is another story…”
    “Speaking from experience, as I kissed them both in the fourth grade, I can say with absolute certainty that neither can compare to Izzy. She can do things with her lips I’d never even dreamt about,” Alex said.
    Max and Michael looked at Alex uncomfortably and Alex suddenly realized he was talking about his girlfriend’s kissing techniques with her brothers, neither of whom looked the slightest bit amused by Alex’s assertion.
    “Ok… we are never having this conversation again,” Michael said slowly. “In fact it never happened this time, right Maxwell?”
    Max looked like he didn’t know whether to puke or pummel Alex. Sure, he liked the guy and all, but this was his sister the guy was talking about.
    “Right,” Max agreed, tearing his eyes from a very relieved looking Alex.
    “Honey, I’m home!” Maria called as she flounced through the doorway and into Michael’s arms, giving him a long, playful kiss.
    Michael grinned, “You’re the best Maria.”
    Max and Alex scowled at him. Maria looked a little surprised, but smiled at him.
    “You are too,” she replied after a moment, standing on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his nose.
    “Maria, you are never again allowed to drive somewhere to meet Michael,” Liz said as she and Isabel walked into the house.
    “What?” Max asked, confused.
    “Road-runner over there went about 110 the whole way here. We’re lucky we didn’t have the entire Portland Highway Patrol after us,” Isabel said indignantly as Alex put his arm around her.
    “So sue me, I drank a Mountain Dew on the way over,” Maria grinned.
    Michael smirked and was about to kiss her when Alex’s voice intruded on the moment.
    “Mountain Dew? So what? I don’t get it. What’s up with the caffeine?” Alex asked.
    Michael smiled, there was no way he was going to tell the guys about this. “My lips are sealed, Alex.”
    Isabel snorted, “With Maria around? Never.”
    “Caffeine and all that aside,” Liz said, narrowly avoiding the pending argument, “we have to decide a few things and there’s an impatient looking realtor sitting on the front stoop. So, why don’t you guys show us the house?”
    Max smiled, as usual Liz had single-handedly managed to avert disaster and get the group back on track. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head.
    “That’s a great idea, Liz,” Max smiled.
    The six of them went through the house, room by room, and everyone looked pretty pleased with it.
    “So, we’ll take it?” Alex asked the girls.
    “Definitely,” Isabel smiled. “God, that view is incredible. I bet you can see Mt. Hood on a really clear day.”
    Liz agreed, “It’s definitely the best we’ve seen. Plus, with six people we’ll definitely use the dishwasher and the washer and dryer.”
    “Yes!” Maria squealed. “Oh, I want the room on the end! Please, Michael? Can we take that room?”
    Michael tried not to look amused at her enthusiasm. “Sure, Maria. Whatever you want.”
    “We never did discuss living arrangements,” Liz pointed out.
    “Do you really think that’s necessary?” Max asked worriedly.
    “Well, I think we should make sure everyone’s on the same page and all, Max, yeah,” Liz nodded.
    Max visibly tensed and looked very concerned. Did she not want to room with him? He was terribly confused. He was going to ask her to marry him later that week. If she didn’t even want to room with him, he didn’t think she’d want to marry him. The sound of Liz’s voice shook him from his thoughts and he saw Maria giving him a sympathetic, supportive smile. She knew. She knew exactly what he was thinking and she didn’t look upset. That had to be a good sign. Right?
    “Alex, Isabel, are you comfortable living together?” Liz asked.
    Isabel paused and looked at Alex. They’d come so far in their relationship, but they still had a long way to go and she knew it. So did Alex.
    “We’ll be fine, Liz,” Alex said. “We can get two beds or something. I mean, first and foremost we’re friends, right? So we should be able to live together.”
    Isabel smiled at that. Friends. First and foremost. That was certainly not all they were, but behind everything they had a strong friendship that she valued more than anything.
    “Thank you, Liz,” Isabel said. “We’ll be fine.”
    “You two should take the Master Bedroom,” Max said. “There’s the most room there and you’ll need it for two beds.”
    Max was highly relieved, not only that Liz’s concern about the living arrangements seemed focused on Isabel and Alex, but also that Isabel and Alex weren’t sharing a bed. The very idea of his sister sleeping with someone, in any sense, made him want to kill any guy within a mile of her.
    “With that settled, what are we going to do with the den?” Liz grinned as she walked into the room.
    “The lighting is great in here,” Michael said. “It would make a great art studio. I’d like to try to get some art up in a few local galleries, maybe make a little money at it.”
    “A good idea, but your room has good light, too, and since there’s only one bedroom near the den I think we should make it a music studio slash practice room. Maria and I were going to try to find a drummer and a bass guitarist and get a few gigs in some coffee houses around here,” Alex said.
    “True,” Max said, glancing at Liz, “but I’d like it to be a library. Liz and I talked it over and we’re going to fake high school transcripts and try to get into a college.”
    “There’s a college library right across the street, Maxwell,” Michael argued.
    “Well, I don’t care what we do with it, but can I decorate it?” Isabel asked.
    “Sure, Izzy,” Max consented. “It really is a great room, isn’t it? It could be anything.”
    “It could be an art studio,” Michael grumbled.
    “It could be a music room,” Alex countered.
    “It could be a library,” Liz said.
    “It could be a nursery,” Maria said, looking around the room.
    Everyone shut up and stared at Maria. Michael paled visibly. The silence was deafening.
    “What?” she asked, perky and confused.
    “Is there something you want to tell us, Maria?” Liz asked slowly.
    “Huh? What are you talking…?” Maria’s voice drifted off.
    Suddenly she started laughing hysterically. “You thought I meant now?”
    “No, no, I meant eventually. That’s a long ways off, at least we all hope. I mean, no one’s even married yet,” Maria said.
    Max looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming Mack truck. Maria saw it and realized her mistake.
    “I mean, not that anyone will necessarily get married even. It was just a thought. Who knows? Maybe humans and Czechoslovakians can’t even have kids. But, it’s not an issue because no one’s pregnant and no one’s married or has even been asked. Not that anyone is going to ask. I mean, anyone could, I guess, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. Take Michael for instance, he’s never going to ask me. That doesn’t bother me or anything it’s just, you know what, forget it. Excuse me, I have to go get a drink of water,” Maria finished, rushing from the room.
    The other five stood there, confused more then than they were before her clarification of what she’d meant.
    “She is so strange,” Isabel muttered.
    “Michael,” Max said slowly after a moment. “You go talk to her, we’re going to go tell the realtor we’ll take the house    before she starts peering in the windows.”
 

    Maria was drinking water out of her cupped hands while leaning over the faucet when Michael walked into the kitchen. She knew he was there, but she also knew he’d have questions. Questions she wasn’t quite ready to deal with yet. So, she stayed silent as he perched himself on the counter next to the sink and just watched her.
    She sighed heavily and splashed the remaining water onto her face. Wordlessly, Michael handed her the dishtowel that had been hanging right next to him.
    “Thank you,” she murmured.
    “You’re welcome,” he replied, pausing for a moment after he said it. “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “Yes, no, I don’t know. Can I have an easier question?” She asked weakly.
    “Ok,” he said, never taking his eyes from her face. “Which part of that had been bothering you the most?”
    Maria laughed, “None of it, I don’t think. I mean, maybe the kids thing had crossed my mind once or twice, but like I said it’s not even close to an issue right now. Why dwell on it?”
    “Does it bother you a lot that I’m never going to want to get married?” He asked her softly, reaching over to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear.
    Maria laughed at that and looked at him for the first time in their conversation.
    “If you asked me, I’d say no,” she said.
    He looked at her, highly surprised, and asked the obvious question. “Why?”
    “I saw what it did to my parents,” she said as she moved to join him sitting on the counter. “I don’t ever want us to be like that. And who we are, now, is nothing more than a well documented lie, Michael. If we can fake the existence Maria Domingo and Michael Wagner, what would their marriage mean? It would just be meaningless. Nothing more than a sheet of paper the state has and a break on our taxes. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with you. Not that I’ve decided that, yet. Anyhow, I think we feel pretty much the same way about this issue.”
    He smiled and put his arm around her as she leaned in to rest her head on his shoulder. It was a loving, caring gesture, one that would have been completely foreign to them a few months before. Their sometimes rocky, always-passionate relationship had mended itself, for the most part, since leaving Roswell. In truth, it had been getting better for months, but their close call with the FBI was a catalyst for them and there was no turning back. And Michael knew it.
    “Maria,” he said, tilting her head up to look at him. “I’m not real great at talking about anything, much less my feelings, but I want to tell you something.”
    She nervously licked her lips and nodded for him to continue.
    “You may not know yet what you want for the rest of your life and that’s okay. But, I want you to know that I am absolutely positive that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
    His voice cracked as he said the words and she found herself gaping in awe at the sentiment. She kissed him, as softly and loving as she could, with a passion deeper than the frenzied lust of their eraser room encounters years before. She didn’t realize she was crying until he ran his thumb over her cheek to push away a tear.
    “I think you said it just fine,” she pronounced finally, her voice husky with emotion. “I love you.”
    “I know,” he breathed, his mouth hovering inches from her’s. “I love you, too.”
    He could feel her smile as their lips met. It was a tender kiss they shared, one of promise and compassion and love. Maria would refer to it later as a Max and Liz kind of moment. She also knew, years later, she would think back on this moment and consider it her wedding.
    Maria laughed as they pulled apart.
    “What?” He asked.
    “I was just thinking. That’s probably the closest to a proposal I’m ever going to get out of you,” she smiled.
    He grinned widely, “A safe bet.”
    Growing serious, he took her face in his hands. “I meant it when I said I’m never going to leave you. You know that, right?”
    She placed her hand lovingly on his cheek.
    “I do now,” she breathed.
 

    A week after they’d signed the papers to rent their house, the power had yet to be turned on in their new place and the six friends found the heat almost unbearable. The only up side to the ninety-degree weather was the notably skimpy clothing everyone was sporting. All of them were finding it more than a little difficult to concentrate on getting the house fixed up.
    Isabel had volunteered to be the interior designer of their house. Little had anyone known that her definition of that job meant instructing everyone else what to do while she fanned herself and sipped lemonade.
    “At least the water’s on,” Liz said, wiping some paint from her cheek as she stood atop the ladder, “even if it is cold.”
    “A cold shower is exactly what I’ll need,” Max grumbled a little too loudly as he stared up at Liz who was wearing khaki shorts and a small, black tank top.
    Michael snickered at Max’s comment until Maria walked into the room, carrying a battery-powered fan she’d gone to buy.   When she’d left she had been wearing a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved shirt, nothing really unusual. When she returned, she was wearing a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a bikini top. Michael found he was physically unable to pick his jaw up off the floor.
    It was Max’s turn to laugh.
    “I get dibs on the shower, man,” Max smiled.
    Michael tore his eyes from Maria and looked at Max.
    “That’s all right, Maxwell. With any luck I won’t be needing one,” he grinned.
    Maria caught his comment and gave a feral grin from across the room. He grinned back with an anticipatory hunger in his eyes. Isabel laughed at the scene, disturbing the rather inventive daydream he’d been having.
    “Trust me, Michael, you need a shower regardless of how lucky you get,” Isabel snickered, dabbing her neck with a cold, wet paper towel.
    “Isabel, we’re done with the base coat,” Liz called as she descended the ladder.
    “Good!” Isabel said gleefully, springing from her seat.
    “Ok, so now we’re going to sponge the walls with three different shades of blue, like this,” she pronounced as she lightly patted a sponge soaked in sky blue paint on the wall. “Make sure they’re fairly evenly spaced, but without a pattern or anything.”
    “That’s going to be really nice,” Liz smiled, turning to Max. “We should do something like this for our room.”
    Max beamed a brilliant smile back at her. He loved the sound of those words: our room.
    “Anything for you, Liz,” he said sincerely.
    “I love these shades!” Maria exclaimed as she opened the paint canisters.
    “This should be your bridesmaid dress color,” she added, looking at Liz.
    “Whenever you end up getting married, that is. I mean, you won’t necessarily ever get married, but you could and if you did then this should be your color. I would use it for mine, but I’m never getting married. Izzy, you could use it, too. Well, both of you couldn’t use it, cause that would just be weird, then again it would save me from buying another dress. You know what? This should be everyone’s bridesmaid dress color, because then I’d only have to buy one bridesmaid dress, ever,” she finished, effectively stumbling all over herself.
    Max was an ashen white, which no one seemed to notice because they were all looking at Maria as though she was incredibly insane, and he was incredibly grateful for the heat because no one was likely to realize he was sweating profusely due to nervousness.
    Michael just stared at Maria for a moment before the pieces started falling into place.
    “Can I talk to you in the other room for a minute?” He asked.
    She nodded meekly as he dragged her into their bedroom and shut the door.
    “Liz going to ask Max to marry her, isn’t she?” He asked her.
    Maria just stared at him for a minute before bursting out laughing hysterically.
    “No! Why would you say that?” She asked.
    Michael looked confused for a moment. “Well, something is going on because you’ve nervously babbled your way out of some comment about weddings or kids twice today and you only do that when you have a secret you aren’t supposed to tell.”
    Maria looked at her feet and tried to concentrate on her wiggling toes rather than what Michael was saying. He was right, of course. She only rambled on like that to avoid other topics she wasn’t supposed to talk about. But, she’d promised Max she wouldn’t say anything, even to Michael.
    “So, what’s this about Maria?” He asked her.
    “I can’t say,” she mumbled, making a mental note to repaint her toenails later.
    “You can’t tell me?” He asked, slightly thrown and a little annoyed.
    “Michael, I swore,” she implored. “Don’t make me break a promise, please?”
    “Is it Max?” He asked suddenly, after a moment. “Max is going to ask her?”
    Maria couldn’t say anything. She knew denying it would be pointless. As Isabel had noted earlier, she couldn’t lie for anything.
    “Why did he tell you and not me?” Michael asked, trying to sound angry but coming off just plain hurt.
    Maria shrugged. “I don’t know why he didn’t tell you, but he told me because he wanted to know if I thought she’d say yes. Which I do, for the record.”
    “I can’t believe you kept this from me,” he said quietly.
    “Michael, it’s not like I didn’t want to tell you. I did. I really did, but I swore to Max and you know more than anyone that I take a promise very seriously,” she said softly, pleading.
    “I know,” he muttered. “And I understand, I guess. I just don’t like being left out like that. It hurts, you know?”
    “I know,” she nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck. “From now on, every time someone asks me to keep a secret I’ll tell them that I share everything with my Michael, ok?”
    He smiled, amused. “Your Michael?”
    She looked at him with a grin, feigning anger, “What? You got someone else?”
    “Never,” he smiled, kissing her deeply.
    Someone pounding on the door interrupted the couple.
    “You guys, Isabel says we have to finish before the paint dries,” Alex’s voice called out timidly.
    “Tell Isabel to paint the damn wall herself,” Maria growled at the intruder as Michael concentrated on kissing her jawline.
    Alex took the not-so-subtle hint and left the two alone.
    “There’s no way we’re getting them out of there,” Alex told Isabel upon his return. “I actually heard Michael groan and Maria whimper. Now, I don’t know exactly what they’re doing in there, but I already know far more than I ever wanted to about the sex life of my bestest childhood friend, thank you very much.”
    “I thought I was your bestest childhood friend, Alex!” Liz protested.
    “You’re my bestest toddler friend,” Alex amended. “We’ve known each other since we were 4, remember? We met Maria when we were 6. Besides, it doesn’t matter, you’re both my girls.”
    Alex felt a wet paper towel slam into the back of the neck and turned to see Izzy looking slightly ticked.
    “They’re your girls?” She asked, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for an answer.
    “Yup, they’re my girls,” Alex said. “But, you’re my woman.”
    Isabel laughed. “Your woman!  I, Alex Daniels, am my own woman!”
    With that she flung a paint-soaked sponge at him, hitting his squarely on the side of his face and leaving a lovely royal blue print on his cheek. He looked at her, dazed for a moment, before he picked up a roller brush, dipped it in the sky blue paint and slowly advanced toward her.
    “Alex, honey, you wouldn’t do anything, really. Would you?” Isabel pleaded, backing toward the door.
    “Why darling, whatever would make you think that?” He asked, grinning as he lunged for her.
    At the last second, she grabbed the cerulean blue paintbrush and the two proceeded with what amounted to a paint war. Isabel shrieked as Alex got paint in her hair and she managed to cover his bare chest with the cerulean blue.
    “Take it outside, you two, you’re going to mess up the walls,” Max demanded, opening the front door.
    Liz laughed as Alex pushed the protesting Isabel out the door leaving Max and Liz alone in the den.
    “Isabel is going to be spitting mad when she realizes how difficult it will be to get that paint out of her hair,” Max chuckled.
    “I hear the Smurf look is in this season,” Liz smiled.
    Max laughed harder, “Well, Izzy will be glad to hear that.”
    They both fell silent for a moment, save for their laughter, as they stared out the window to see a very sky blue Isabel chasing a mostly cerulean blue Alex with both the paintbrush and the roller.
    “It’s good to see her so happy,” Liz smiled. “Isn’t it amazing? After everything we’ve been through, we can still laugh.”
     “It’s incredible,” Max agreed, “and it’s because we’re together, all six of us. We depend on each other so much.”
    “Can you imagine what would have happened if we’d made a different decision back at that diner in Dora?” She asked.
    “I’d rather not,” he replied. “We might have been safer if we’d split up, but I’m positive none of us would be laughing.”
    “Yeah,” Liz agreed, nodding absently. “And Michael wanted everyone to go off on their own. Can you imagine him and Maria separated?”
    “Unfortunately, yes. Remember last summer, when they had that big fight right before she left to visit her grandparents in    Florida for a month? I never, ever want to see Michael like that again,” Max said.
    Liz smiled, “Yeah, I remember. How could I forget? Maria called me every day and wouldn’t hang up until I told her how he was, but she never got the nerve to ask flat out. Every time I told her he was okay, but more grumpy than usual, she’d just say   ‘Like I care.’”
    Max laughed, “You never told me that. They’re both so stubborn.”
    Liz nodded, “So, what do you think is going on with Maria? I mean, she only trips all over herself like that when she’s trying to hide something.”
    Max gulped before looking her in the eye. “I don’t know. What do you think?”
    “I think she wants Michael to ask her to marry him. I mean, she keeps dropping hints about it. The nursery comment, the whole bridesmaid thing. I kind of feel bad for her, you know? I mean, he’s just not the marrying type,” Liz said as she finished sponging the wall.
    “And how can you tell a marrying type from a not marrying type?” He asked softly.
    “I don’t know, Max. But when I think non-marrying type, Mr. I’m-a-loner’s face pops into my head,” Liz smiled at Max.
    Max nodded and paused for a moment before realizing she was waiting for a response.
    “You’re probably right,” he nodded, suddenly feeling nervous.
     “Liz, can I ask you something?” He asked, his palms sweating profusely at the thought of what he was about to do.
    What if Maria was wrong?
    “You can ask me anything, Max. You know that,” Liz answered sweetly, a little perplexed by the sickened look on his face.
    Max could feel his heart beating in his throat. It was so loud he was surprised Liz didn’t notice it. His mouth was suddenly dry and he knew when he spoke his voice would be hoarse.
    “Just focus on her, Max,” he thought to himself. “Everything will be fine, just watch Liz.”
    Max shuddered, taking in a deep breath before he bent down on one knee and pulled a box from his pocket. He opened the box slowly to reveal a small, delicate, but beautiful diamond ring.
    Liz’s eyes widened in shock and her hand flew, involuntarily, to her mouth.
    “Elizabeth Anne Parker, will you marry me?” He asked, his voice breaking with emotion as he said her name.
    For a moment, she didn’t say anything and Max was very, very nervous. It was the longest moment of his life. Liz had started crying, silently, and her hand covering her mouth hadn’t stopped shaking since he’d knelt before her.
    “Yes,” she whispered and it took a moment for the word to register in his brain.
    “Yes?” He asked. “Did you say yes?”
    “Yes,” she nodded vigorously.
    His heart leapt and he knew he was crying, but he didn’t care. He swooped Liz up in his arms and kissed her with all the passion, relief, love, and awe he felt for her.
    After some time, when they finally parted, something dawned on Liz.
    “Maria knew?” she asked. “She knew and she didn’t tell me?”
    Max laughed, kissing her atop her blonde head. “She can keep a secret, you know.”
    “I’ll kill her,” Liz laughed, in between kisses.
    “Later,” he smiled as he led her toward their bedroom.
    Liz giggled.
    “What?” he asked, curiously.
    “Looks like you won’t need that cold shower after all.”
 

    Maria was somewhere between awake and asleep, lying on the air mattress in her and Michael’s room. She’d technically woken up about twenty minutes ago, but she had yet to open her eyes.
    She’d awakened to Michael’s hands lightly tracing every curve of her bare back. Having finished outlining her spine, ribs, and shoulder blades, Michael proceeded to lightly trace circular patterns across her back.
    Little more than a punctuated sigh of contentment escaped Maria’s lips. Michael knew she was awake, more or less, but neither said a word. They didn’t want to ruin the moment with the clumsiness of inadequate words. Maria’s head was in a haze, like she was buzzed or at least slightly tipsy. Michael was her drug of choice, and she was completely addicted.
    “Maria!” Liz yelled as she barged in the room without knocking.
    Maria and Michael were thrown from their surreal, emotional moment and, on instinct, Maria grabbed the blanket and pulled it up around, her leaving Michael sitting in front of Liz wearing nothing more than his boxers.
    “Liz!” Maria yelled in protest, as Michael grabbed for the sheet.
    Liz’s jaw dropped.
    “I am… so sorry,” she pronounced slowly.
    “Yeah, well, why don’t you try knocking next time, Liz,” Michael snapped.
    Liz nodded, “You’re totally right, and I’m probably just as sorry that this happened as you are, but this is really, really important.”
    Maria’s head snapped up as she realized what Liz was so excited about that she’d forgotten to knock.
    “Max asked me to marry him,” Liz grinned, holding up her engagement ring.
    “Hello? A diamond?” Maria squealed, jumping up, still holding the blanket to her tightly, and running over to get a better look.
    “Ooooh! Liz, that is gorgeous! So what if it’s not that big, it’s so pretty!” Maria cooed over the ring.
    Michael looked totally exasperated and completely uncomfortable sitting on the mattress with nothing more than a thin sheet to cover his nearly nude body.
    “Do you mind, Maria?” He asked.
    “What?” She asked, turning to look at him.
    “The blanket?” He said exasperatedly.
    Maria started giggling.
    “I’m sorry, babe. I totally didn’t even think about… oh, never mind. Liz, sorry, I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Maria pronounced, still giggling as she closed the door behind Liz and turned back to Michael.
    “You find something about this amusing?” Michael asked.
    “No,” she said, continuing to laugh. “I’m laughing because I’m nervous and embarrassed. Well, that and the look on your face when I took the blanket. That was just funny.”
    “Funny?” Michael asked. “How would you feel if that had been Max instead of Liz who barged through that door?”
    Maria paused and thought about that for a second.
    “Well,” she said slowly, “seeing as it’s a far bigger deal that I’m shirtless than it is that you are, I would have been highly embarrassed and blushed every time I looked at him for the next, oh, I don’t know, 8 years or so.”
    “Maria, all I’m wearing are my boxers,” he pointed out.
    “I noticed,” she grinned. “Try to remember that all I’m wearing are your boxers, also.”
    He groaned as he laughed, “Right, like I could forget that if I tried.”
     “Michael, if you are trying to forget that then I think we have a problem,” she smiled flirtingly, as she advanced on him.
     “As much as I would like to vividly remember that fact, at the moment we should probably be congratulating Max and Liz,”  Michael pointed out, playing with the edge of the blanket she had wrapped around her.
    “Right now?” She whined. “Michael, all I want to do at the moment is curl up against you and fall back asleep… Ok, so technically that’s not all I want to do, but it sounds really, really nice.”
    “What else do you want to do, Maria?” He asked, half-teasingly.
    She smiled, silently accepting his dare.
    “I want your arms to be tangled around me, tracing patterns on my stomach. I want your leg draped over mine with your foot running up and down my calf. I want to feel you get goosebumps when I reach back and play with the hair at the nape of your neck. I want to feel your breath shuddering against that spot right behind my ear that sends chills up and down my spine,” she finished, watching him as he got up off the bed and circled her.
    She leaned back against him and dropped the blanket as he ran his fingers over her stomach as lightly as he could. He ran his foot over her’s and shuddered a ragged breath against her ear as she reached back around his neck and fingered the short, spiky hair she found there.
    This was heaven. It had to be. The sensations running through her body made her head spin and she thought she might collapse against him from the dizziness.
    “Oh, God,” she whispered as he captured her ear with his mouth.
    Michael brushed some of her hair behind her ear as he slowly turned her around to face him. She looked so incredible in that moment. Not that he wasn’t usually of that opinion, but this was phenomenal.
    She stood before him, her eyes still closed, savoring the remnants of the sensations he’d just caused her. Her face was crisp and without any make-up to mar her natural beauty. Her long, dark hair curled at the ends from having gone to sleep while it was still wet. She was smiling, and when she opened her eyes they sparkled with genuine happiness. On top of all of this, she stood before him, her breasts heaving with her ragged, shallow breaths that he’d induced. And she was wearing nothing more than a pair of his boxers.
    “You’re breathtaking, Maria,” he whispered. “I’m sorry if I don’t tell you that enough.”
    That took her by surprise. Michael rarely used words to express his feelings. He’d never needed to. He’d always found other ways of letting her know how he felt.
    “You tell me every day, Michael. When you stare at me when you think I’m asleep. When you kiss me so lightly, so gently that I’m not even sure if our lips are even really touching. You tell me when you rescue me from nightmares, real or imagined, and just hold me for hours. You tell me every day in ways that words never could,” she reassured him.
    He could scarcely believe how well she knew him. How very tuned into each other they really were. He couldn’t believe that anyone could actually understand him. He’d never dared to hope for it.
    Before having told her that he loved her as he comforted her in her nightmare the week prior, Michael had only once before uttered those words.
    His foster mother, Grace, had been the closest thing to a real mom that Michael ever had. She had loved him just as she would have loved her own sons, if she’d had any. And, she’d been a great mom.
    She’d taken him to the zoo and baseball games and helped him with his homework. She’d let him help make cookies and taught him how to swim.
    She’d said “I love you, Mike, good night,” every single night.
    “I love you, too, Grace,” he’d said back.
    She was the only one he’d ever let call him Mike.
    She’d been his only emotional tie until Maria entered his life, not counting his bond with Max and Isabel which wasn’t quite   love, but wasn’t quite not, either. He’d always kept a cautious, emotional distance from them. He didn’t think he could stand to lose them as he’d lost his mother. She’d left him; not willingly, albeit, but the result was the same anyhow.
    The cancer took her slowly, painfully, and 8-year-old Michael had tried not to watch as Grace faded away. Her death had destroyed him in more ways than one. He’d shut off his feelings. They hurt too much. And, it had left him alone with Hank, who couldn’t bear Michael because he reminded him so much of his dead wife. Michael supposed he couldn’t stand Hank for the same reason. Grace had meant so much to both of them.
    He’d sworn to himself when she died that he would never again let himself become so vulnerable. The pain was just too intense and he’d never wanted to feel that way again.
    But, Maria had changed all that. Somehow, she’d made intense a good thing and his fear of losing her was overcome by his need to be with her. Despite what she’d said about him not needing words to tell her how he felt, he knew she needed to hear it every once in a while.
    “Maria,” he whispered reverently as he placed one hand on her cheek and one on her waist, running his thumb gently over her hipbone. “I know I say it in other ways, but I need you to hear the words, to know that it’s real. You are my best friend and I am, completely, in love with you. I always will be. You are the one good thing that has happened to my life and I can’t begin to understand why I am lucky enough for you to love me back.”
    She couldn’t form a coherent sentence to save her life in that moment. He’d changed, they’d changed, more than she would have thought possible since leaving Roswell. This Michael hadn’t even existed two weeks ago. The most she’d dared to hope for back then was an impassioned stare that he tried to keep her from noticing. Maybe it had been the thought of losing her as the FBI stormed their graduation. Maybe it had been her confession of her fear on the road that night to Phoenix. Maybe it had just been time for them to open up to each other. Whatever it was, he’d acknowledged to her that he loved her, that he needed her. More importantly, he’d admitted it to himself. The very thought left her near speechlessness. There was only one word her mind could even process. So, it was the one she murmured as she pulled him to her in a softly passionate kiss.
    “Michael,” she breathed.
 

    “What is taking them so long?” Isabel muttered.
    “Maria said they’d be out in a minute,” Liz told her.
    “Well, this is the longest minute I’ve ever heard of,” Isabel snapped.
    “You want to go in there and get them? Cause I’ve already seen them practically naked once today and that’s enough to last me the rest of my lifetime,” Liz answered.
    Isabel scoffed and shook her head, “I should have known. God forbid Michael ever be the least bit responsible.”
    Liz wasn’t positive what Isabel’s problem was, but she had a pretty good idea. The fakeness of Isabel’s congratulations on her and Max’s engagement had been so obvious that Liz wondered why she’d bothered to say anything at all.
    “Sorry I took so long, guys,” Maria called, hurrying down the hallway as she pulled back her long, dark hair. “I couldn’t find my, um…”
    “Pants?” Isabel supplied, smiling fakely.
    “Shoes,” Maria countered, confused by Isabel’s sudden hostility.
    An awkward silence overtook the group. It was uncomfortable and unusual, and no one was sure what to say. The tension was palpable.
    “Liz, don’t forget to get groceries on your way back,” Max asserted, entering the room and breaking the uncomfortable silence.
    “What?” Liz asked, shaking off the feeling that whatever the problem was ran deeper than anyone realized.
    “The power is being turned on today and we can only eat so much pizza. We need groceries. Are you all right?” He asked, concerned.
    “I’m fine. We’ll drop by Safeway on our way back,” Liz said. “Isabel, Maria, you ready to leave?”
    The girls tore themselves from an awkward stare down to face Liz.
    “Yeah, let’s get this over with,” Maria muttered.
 
 

    “So, what exactly are we looking for?” Maria asked, picking up a soap dispenser.
    “Everything,” Isabel said tersely.
    “Everything we need,” Liz amended. “Basic furniture, linens, food, dishes… that sort of thing.”
    “I am getting sick of sleeping on an air mattress,” Maria admitted.
    “Sleeping?” Liz asked, raising her eyebrow. “You sleep?”
    Maria grinned, “Well, I’m tried of the air mattress. Okay? How’s that?”
    “Now this is a bed,” Izzy grinned, running her fingers along the frame of a king-sized, four-post bed. “Of course I’d have to… you know,” she said, waving her fingers in the air, “and make the wood dark. But, still, this is next to perfect.”
    “Keep in mind we’re on a tight budget here. We’re looking at a step up from Goodwill at this point,” Liz reminded them.
    Isabel sighed and tore her eyes away from the bed longingly, “Reality bites.”
    “Good movie,” Maria smiled, a peace offering.
    Isabel smirked slightly, “Ethan Hawk is a very attractive man, I’ll give you that.”
    “Even they had beds,” Liz pointed out, trying to get them both back on track.
    “Not Ethan Hawk!” Maria protested. “He slept on the sofa… well, that and once in Wynona Ryder’s bed…”
    “Forget Ethan Hawk for a minute, Maria. The guy is like twice your age and you seem more than satisfied with your current guy. So, let’s go buy beds!” Liz pleaded.
    “$89 and under,” Iz said, pointing to a sign over a pile of mattresses.
    “The air mattress is looking better and better,” Maria winced. “I think I can see springs poking out of that thing from here.”
    “How much money do we have left, total?” Isabel asked, staring at the mattresses distastefully.
    “Well, we started with about $22,000. We spent about $200 on gas, $800 on hotels, $350 on food, $100 on the rental car, $5,000 on the Durango after the trade-ins and $2,100 on the house for first and last month’s rent and the security deposit,” Liz tallied quickly.
    “Don’t forget the paints and stuff for redoing the den,” Maria chimed in.
    “Oh yeah, that was what? Like $100? So we’ve got about $13,000 left,” Liz said.
    “How she can do that in her head I’ll never understand,” Maria shook her head in amazement.
    “The point is that we can afford to splurge a little on furniture, right?” Isabel asked, practically begging.
Liz shrugged, “I guess. I mean, it is a one-time expense and we are all getting jobs as soon as possible. I think we should divide up $6,000 between the three couples to furnish their rooms and just keep as their own and all and use the other $7,000 for things for the great room and kitchen and bills and all.”
    The grin on Isabel’s face was huge. She quickly made her way over to the four-post bed and flopped down on it. It was    pricey, more than a month’s rent, in fact. It was also classy and looked expensive. Liz was absolutely positive that Isabel would buy it. She’d probably buy the matching dresser, too.
    Liz sighed and turned to say something to Maria, but kept silent when she realized what had Maria’s attention.
    Maria was staring in a way that could only be described as longingly at a cradle.
    Liz felt her breath catch in her throat as she put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. Maria jumped.
    “Are you okay? You looked kind of… lost there,” Liz asked.
    “I’m fine, you just startled me, that’s all,” Maria smiled.
    “You’re such a bad liar,” Liz shook her head.
    “It’s just… that’s the cradle I had when I was little. It made me think of my Mom and all, you know,” Maria said, turning her attention to Isabel who was grinning like a maniac as she ran her fingers up one of the bed posts.
    “She’s nuts. She’s going to spend all her money on that bed,” Maria laughed.
    “Your cradle was wooden, hand-made, passed down a generation or two. Your Mom still has it in the attic,” Liz whispered, ignoring Maria’s subject change.
    Maria paused and gulped.
    “What do you want me to say, Liz? That the idea never crossed my mind? Do you want me to lie and tell you that I’ve never thought about having kids? Or would you be more upset if I told you the truth, that I really want a baby,” Maria whispered softly.
    “Maria… Maria, listen to me. This is just a bad idea. You can’t support a kid right now. Forget the fact that we all could have to… travel suddenly. You’re still only 19 with a boyfriend who’s 19. You’ve only been back together for what? A week? Neither of you have jobs. It’s just a terrible idea,” Liz’s voice trailed off.
    “I know that!” Maria snapped. “I’m not stupid, you know. There probably will never be a worse time in my life to have a kid. But, I can’t help how I feel. I was just daydreaming, Liz. Let it go.”
    Liz hesitated.
    “Look, you wanted to buy furniture, right?” Maria asked. “Let’s go. You have a fiancé at home who’s probably dying to try out the new bed with you, so get moving.”
 

    Max had left for an appointment with a counselor at one of the area’s many community colleges around noon. It would be hell on earth to fake all the required information for college admittance, but Michael had no doubt that somehow Max and Liz would pull it off.
    Michael would be the first to admit that he and Max had little in common, especially when it came to their interests. Max was a brainiac, as far as Michael was concerned. A whiz kid, Mr. Congeniality and a poster boy for ‘The Gap’ all wrapped in one big package. Every mother’s dream for her little girl. Liz’s Mom would have been proud.
    Michael had never exactly been what you might call a good student. Hell, half the time he wasn’t even what you might call a student. But, as Maria had forced him to realize over the past three years, he did have a few redeeming qualities about him. He was artistic, passionate and good with his hands. All of which Maria said far out-weighed straight-A’s when it came to a relationship. Now, for the first time in his whole life, Michael had found a way to put his talents to good use outside of relationship with Maria.
    Liz and Max’s wedding would be as simple as possible, as finances dictated, and Michael knew most of them would have next to no money for any wedding gifts. But, he was determined to give his best friend and his best friend’s soon-to-be wife the best gift he could.
    As soon as Max left that morning, Michael and Alex dragged out an old, beat-up wooden coffee table they’d found at a yard sale down the block the morning prior. It looked like it had been through several wars. The wood was scratched, dirty, and dull and two of the legs were crooked. But, Alex volunteered to help get it standing and sanded, if Michael would stain and carve it by hand, literally.
    “We’re never going to get this thing level,” Michael frowned frustratedly as Alex attempted yet again to balance a marble on the obviously lop-sided table.
    “Think positively, Michael,” Alex ordered, his eyes glued on the marble as it rolled off the edge of the table. “Picture the smile on Max or Liz’s face when we give this polished, stained, carved and level table to them.”
    Michael thought about that for a minute.
    “You think we can really get it decent enough in time?” He asked.
    “Sure,” Alex replied as he adjusted one of the legs, “they haven’t even set a date yet. It could be months ‘til they actually tie the knot. You just concentrate on your part of the project and I’ll worry about mine. Got it? What are you going to carve?”
    “Just some stuff,” he answered gruffly.
    “Stuff… what kind of stuff?” Alex asked.
    “Just stuff, that’s all,” Michael answered.
    “Alright. Can I assuming we aren’t talking Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, as appropriate as they might be?” Alex grinned.
    Michael glared at back at him. “No. There will be no Sesame Street characters involved. It’s just designs.”
    “There’s the grouch we all know and love! What kind of designs?” Alex pushed.
    Michael looked back at him, exasperated.
    “Come on, I’m bored. Humor me or face the consequences. I may start singing the Sesame Street theme song,” Alex    warned.
    “Designs I used to see in my dreams when I was little,” Michael relented. “None of us have any clue what they mean, but they just seem right for this.”
    Alex smiled, “See? Was that so hard?”
    “Bite me,” Michael grumbled.
    “One more outburst like that and I may have to remove a table leg or two,” Alex smiled gesturing to the table with one marble, perfectly balanced, sitting atop it.
    “Not bad, Whitman,” Michael admitted grudgingly.
    “Thanks, Oscar,” Alex smiled.
 

     “We come bearing gifts!” Maria hollered as the three girls entered the kitchen, their arms full with groceries.
    “Tabasco?” Michael asked, entering from the backyard.
    “Like Izzy would have let us leave without it?” Liz laughed.
    “Thank you, Iz,” Max smiled, joining them from the den.
    “Who said you could have any?” She smiled, grabbing the bottle and a box of Chips Ahoy.
    “That’s why we got three,” Liz smiled, handing a bottle to her fiancé.
    “I missed you,” he smiled, hovering just above her mouth.
    “I missed you more,” she grinned, kissing him soundly.
    “Is it just me, or did it just get mushy in here?” Maria asked, but was interrupted by a ringing noise.
    Liz pulled away from Max and looked around, confused.
    “What was that?” She asked.
    “I don’t know,” Maria said, looking around curiously.
    The sound rang out again.
    “I think it’s the doorbell,” Isabel said, putting the Tabasco sauce down and heading toward the front door.
    “Hello? Who is it?” she called out as she shrugged to her friends.
    “Hello! It’s the Robinsons! Your next door neighbors,” a far too bubbly voice rang out.
    “Put the Tabasco away,” Isabel whispered as she unlocked the door.
    “Well hello there! I’m Maureen. This is my husband, John, he’s a professor of science across the street. And this,” the boisterous woman said, pushing an almost teenage girl toward Isabel, “is my little angel, Judy. We have another daughter,    Penny, but she’s off at soccer practice right, now.”
    “So, you’re Maureen, John, Judy and Penny Robinson?” Maria asked, holding back a laugh as she approached the group.
    “When John and I got married we decided it had to be fate, so we kept with the theme. We’re expecting now. I’m hoping for a little boy so we can name him Will,” the rotund brunette giggled.
    “Theme?” Isabel asked, clueless.
    “Lost in Space!” Alex said, looking at her shocked.
    “Lost in Space?” Max asked slowly, cautiously.
    “Yup,” John smiled, speaking up for the first time. “We met at a Lost in Space convention. It was love at first sight.”
    Judy rolled her eyes and shuffled her feet. She obviously wanted to be anywhere else.
    “Well, I’m Isabella and these are my brothers Max and Mike. This is Max’s fiancée, Beth, Mike’s girlfriend ‘Ria and my boyfriend Alexander,” Isabel said, gesturing to the group.
    “It’s so lovely to meet you,” Maureen smiled as she and John shook their hands and Judy continued to look bored.
    “Will you be attending the University?” John asked.
    “Not yet,” Liz smiled. “We’d all like to one day, but we’re all working in the real world for a while first. We’re just planning  ahead by living here already.”
    “See, Judy, what did I tell you! Plan ahead. It’s so nice to meet young people with such great heads on their shoulders,” Maureen smiled cheerily.
    “Plan ahead, that’s our motto,” Maria smiled.
    “I thought it was ‘run quickly,’” Michael muttered to her, receiving a sharp elbow to the ribs.
    “I must say, Isabella, your hair is just lovely. Is that your natural color?” Maureen asked.
Isabel smiled fakely, “Since the moment my mother gave birth to me.”
    “Well, dear me. If they could bottle that I’d buy it in a heartbeat!” Maureen declared.
    “Well, we just wanted to say welcome to the neighborhood!” John beamed.
    “Ooh! And to bring you some cookies,” Maureen added, taking a gift basket Judy had been holding and thrusting it toward Isabel.
    “It’s been great meeting you kids. Do come by and visit some time,” Maureen insisted.
    “You, too, and we will,” Liz smiled back as Isabel shut the door.
    “My name is ‘Ria?” Maria asked. “Do you have any idea how long I tried to get rid of that nickname?”
    “Wait two minutes before you say anything,” Isabel said through gritted teeth as she gestured to the bag of cookies.
    She promptly took them out back and dumped them in the garbage.
    “Probably either bugged or drugged,” Max said, rubbing Liz’s tensed shoulder unconsciously.
    “Could they have been more fake if they tried?” Isabel asked.
    “The Robinsons? Come on. No one is really that cruel to their kids,” Alex said.
    “So what do we do? Do we leave?” Michael asked.
    “No,” Max ordered. “That would just arouse suspicion and for all we know they really could be just clueless idiots.”
    “Just in case, we should keep our guard up,” Isabel said.
    “I’m glad we have a security system,” Liz added.
    “Other than three big, strong men?” Alex asked. “I think it’s kind of redundant, myself.”
    “Alex, I do love you and all, but you just used the word redundant in a sentence. I hate to tell you, that makes you an official  geek,” Isabel smiled, softly touching his cheek.
    “Haven’t you heard? Geeks rule the world, babe,” Alex waggled his eyebrows.
    Isabel giggled at that and kissed him playfully.
    “Come on, geekboy. Let’s go, uh, figure out where to put our new furniture,” Isabel grinned wickedly and led him to the bedroom.
 
 
 

    Michael hesitated for a few moments in front of Isabel and Alex’s door. It was early and most everyone was still asleep. But, Michael knew Izzy. She was an early riser. She was always quiet about it, but even back in Roswell, when he’d slept on Max’s floor, he’d heard her shuffling about around six in the morning.
    It was seven a.m., earlier than Michael had ever been up in his life, but he needed to talk to Izzy, alone, and he hadn’t been able to sleep.
    “Michael?” A voice asked from behind him, startling him.
    “Iz, I didn’t hear you,” Michael said, turning to see his friend, his sister.
    Isabel smiled, “Sorry. I just went to start the coffee before I took my shower. What are you doing up?”
    Michael shuffled his feet for a moment. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
    Isabel looked at him, silently questioning. Michael was a lot of things, but apprehensive was never one of them.
    She nodded her head toward the back deck, “Join me for some coffee?”
    He nodded silently and followed her.
    The coffee maker was one of the first things they’d bought for the place, as soon as the whole caffeine thing had been     revealed. But, they were still drinking the cheapest brew they could find out of imitation plastic Solo cups. It wasn’t great, but it was coffee and it had caffeine.
    “What’s on your mind?” Isabel asked as she sat on the railing of the back porch.
    Michael glanced over the next door neighbor’s fence to make sure no one was listening.
    “The Robinsons,” he answered.
    Isabel nodded, wincing as she took a sip of her coffee.
    “Why talk to me about that alone?”
    “You said my name was Mike,” he answered hurriedly.
    “I changed all of our names a little,” she replied. “As a cover. I figured if they’d already overheard one of us call another by name it wouldn’t totally screw things up.”
    “Grace was the only one who ever called me ‘Mike,’” he blurted out, a flash of pain at the memory ran through his face and disappeared as quickly as it came.
    “Grace?” Isabel asked confused.
    “My foster mother,” Michael answered. “You probably don’t remember her. She died when we were eight. I just can’t be called that. Okay? I just can’t.”
    Realization dawned on Isabel’s face.
    “I do remember her. She was tall, pale, very thin. She had kind hands and made great cookies. She smelled like vanilla, always,” Isabel murmured. “I’d almost forgotten about her.”
    “She was the closest thing to a mother I ever had, Izzy,” Michael said, unable to look anywhere near her as he spoke. “And, she was the only one to ever call me ‘Mike.’ I just can’t let it be a stupid cover name. Does that make sense?”
    “Total,” Isabel replied, slipping her arm around him in a half-hug.
    The two stood in silence for a moment, sipping their coffees and watching the mountain range to the east.
    “Does she know about her?” Isabel asked, suddenly breaking the silence.
    “Who?” Michael asked.
    “Maria,” Isabel answered. “Does Maria know about Grace?”
    Michael shook his head.
    “Don’t you think she’d like to? I think it would mean a lot to her,” Isabel said.
    “Maybe,” he replied and then paused for a moment. “I just don’t talk about her much, Iz.”
    “She and Maria would have liked each other,” Isabel said, certain of herself, as she leaned back against the railing, facing    him. “They had so much in common.”
    “Grace was a thirty-five-year-old woman who baked cookies, told bedtime stories and died of lung cancer. Maria’s my nineteen-year-old girlfriend who practices aromatherapy, wears fruity lip-gloss and rambles when she’s nervous. What did they have in common?” Michael asked incredulously.
    Isabel smiled.
    “They both love you,” she answered.
    Michael sighed and turned back to face the mountains.
    “I think you should tell her,” Isabel pushed.
    “Yeah,” Michael resigned. “Maybe.”
 
 

    This is for all of my Hollywood Ramada Dreamgirls! You know who you all are. I miss you guys. “What’s your dream?”

    The light streaming through the bedroom window didn’t bother Liz much, she just buried her eyes by snuggling even closer to Max.
    “Good morning, my soon-to-be-wife,” Max said upon realizing she was awake.
    “Good morning, my soon-to-be-husband,” Liz giggled.
    Max could feel the vibrations of her voice against his bare skin. Just the thought of her that close to him gave him            goosebumps.
    “Max?” She said quietly, her voice muffled.
    “Hum?” He replied back to the petite woman whose face was half-buried in his side.
    “I want to stay like this all day,” he barely heard her murmur.
    He could hear the smile in her voice and, moving her as little as possible, he leaned over and kissed the top of her head.
    “Me, too,” he said, grinning ear to ear.
    “Can we?” She asked hopefully.
    He laughed lightly at the sheer optimism in her voice.
    “I wish we could. But, we do need to go job hunting today.”
    She sighed.
    “However,” he continued, looking at his watch. “It’s only 7 a.m., so we don’t really need to be up for a while.”
    Liz lifted her head up to look at him with a wicked smile on her face. The look was suggestive of things they’d only done in dreams. She looked like a tigress, hunting her prey, hungry for it.
    Max laughed. He couldn’t help himself. The predatory look on her face seemed so out of place. Liz was sweet. Liz was smart. Liz was beautiful. Liz was a lot of things but predatory was not one of them.
    “What?” She asked, looking confused and a little defensive.
    “Nothing,” he insisted. “You just looked so… so…”
    “So what?”
    “So cute,” he admitted.
    “Cute?” She asked in disbelief, laughing. “I looked *cute*?”
    “Always,” he answered, bending over to kiss her before she could smack him with a pillow.
    She started laughing even harder causing a very strange sensation against Max’s lips.
    “Liz, ‘cute’ wasn’t that funny,” Max chuckled, tucking her hair behind her ear.
    “No, it’s not that,” she answered, attempting to control what had progressed to an all-out giggle-fit.
    She laughed harder as she tried to find the words before finally reaching up to touch Max’s face.
    “It’s the mustache, Max. I just can’t get used to that mustache. It tickles!” She said, laughing so hard she was crying.
    “It tickles?” He asked.
    She nodded decisively.
    Max grinned widely, knowing Liz to be incredibly ticklish. He bent over to kiss her stomach, making absolutely sure his mustache tickled her as much as possible.
    Liz dissolved, howling with laughter, no longer able to so much as say his name. Squirming and half-heartedly pushing him away, Liz tumbled onto the floor.
    Max chuckled as he offered her a hand. “Are you all right?”
    “No thanks to you!” She smiled. “You are shaving that thing off before we get married. I don't care if you have to wear glasses, dye your hair, change your eye color and gain fifty pounds as a disguise! There will be no mustache! Got it?”
    “Yes ma’am,” Max answered in a mock salute.
    Liz smiled and sauntered over to him. That look was back.
    “Know what we need now?” Liz asked, her tone completely serious and sultry all the sudden.
    “Uh… what?” Max asked, his voice nearly cracking.
    She leaned forward, her lips brushing up against his ear, and he felt the word more than he heard it.
    “Coffee.”
 
 

    It took twenty minutes of cursing at the incredibly slow percolator and a fairly ridiculous and embarrassing showdown with Maria for the first cup, before anyone got their coffee, except for Isabel who was still nursing her cup from the last pot.
    In Liz’s opinion, Isabel had been far too amused at the anxious coffee showdown.
    But, by 9 a.m. the coffee wars were over for the day and everyone was back to their usual, friendly selves.
    “Job hunting,” Max said, sighing as he sat next to Liz on an area of the floor Maria had marked off with masking tape and designated the ‘sofa’ area. Similarly, Michael and Maria were sitting on the ‘loveseat’ and Alex and Isabel had taken over the ‘entertainment center.’ Some of the actual furniture would eventually be bought but with the group’s funds dwindling Maria assured them her substitute would be a wallet-friendly and adequate alternative. Isabel had her doubts.
    “What kind of jobs are you guys thinking of? I mean, we barely know this city at all,” Liz asked, playing with her engagement ring absently as she leaning into Max’s side contentedly.
    “Waitress,” Maria muttered. “Who cares where? They all pay about the same unless you go all hoity-toity and I sure don’t have the experience for that.”
    “Me, too,” Liz agreed.
    “Retail,” Isabel announced. “I know fashion and style and I’m sure I can get a job somewhere decent. Hopefully one that pays commission.”
    “That’s a good idea, Iz. You’re great working with people,” Alex smiled.
    Isabel laughed, “If you say so Alex. What are you planning on doing?”
     “I have a few ideas,” Alex replied. “Computer repair pays really well and I’m sure I could do it. Shouldn’t be too big a problem.”
     “The school across the street is looking for someone to work in the library,” Max said. “They prefer to hire students, but Dr. Robinson said he’d put in a good word for me. So… we’ll see how that goes. What are you thinking about, Michael?”
     Michael shrugged, “Face it Max, I suck as a cook. I mean, if Mr. Parker hadn’t run the Crashdown I’d have been fired in about two hours flat. I’m thinking about it. I’ll find something.”
     “I’m sure you will,” Maria smiled, squeezing his hand in support.
     “Well, the good news is minimum wage here is $6.50 and unemployment is in the negative. We should all find jobs fairly easily,” Liz smiled.
    “Problem number one,” Alex sighed, “one car, six people. How are we going to do this?”
    “Well, I’m just walking across the street, but for everyone else, public transportation,” Max replied, watching his sister wince.
    “Yet another advantage to living near a school,” Liz smiled, “bus routes that go everywhere.”
    “So, even though we could drive, we should take the buses to go job hunting so we have an idea of how long it will take us to get there. Because there’s no way we’ll all be able to drive on a regular basis,” Maria reasoned.
    “Actually, I was thinking of checking out a few places nearby,” Michael replied. “I’ll walk.”
    “I have an appointment for an interview at noon,” Alex added.
    “Well, looks like it’s just us girls,” Isabel sighed, kissing Alex lightly. “The day isn’t getting any earlier. Let’s get this over with.”
 
 

    After about half an hour, the three girls stepped off of the bus and onto the sidewalk in front of Oregon’s biggest mall.
    “I’m thinking Nordstrom’s,” Isabel smiled, eyeing the upper-end department store.
    Maria smiled, “Good luck, Iz. I’m personally just hoping I don’t end up at a McDonald’s.”
    “Come on, Maria,” Liz smiled. “You’re a great waitress. Someone restaurant will be lucky to have you on staff.”
    “Thanks Lizzie,” Maria said, offering a half-smile.
    “You guys,” Liz said quietly. “Mind if we sit and chat for a minute? I wanted to ask you all something without the guys around.”
    “Sure, Liz, what’s up?” Isabel asked, joining the two other girls on a park bench.
    “I was just wondering about something,” Liz said quietly, her voice trailing off.
    “What?” Maria asked.
    “Well, it’s kind of personal,” Liz said, biting her lip hesitantly.
    “Personal? Liz is there anything about us you don’t know?” Isabel laughed.
    “Well, there’s this one thing,” she sighed.
    “Just spit it out, Liz. We obviously don’t have any secrets from each other,” Maria smiled.
    “It’s about… inter-planetary relations,” she said, choosing her words very carefully.
    Maria tried not to laugh at the wording and failed miserably.
    “Inter-planetary relations?” She giggled. “Liz, you could have just said you wanted to ask us about sex.”
    Liz smiled at that and looked at her two friends. “It’s just… I would never ask you guys about this except that, considering the unusual circumstances of all of our relationships, I just needed to know if it will be different for us than normal couples and all. You know?”
    “Yeah, that makes sense,” Maria said, nodding understandingly.
    “So…,” Liz prompted, “is it?”
    “Uh, I wouldn’t know,” Maria said, surprising both of her friends.
    “You and Michael aren’t…” Isabel asked, her surprise evident in her voice.
    “Is that so hard to believe?” Maria asked, laughing. “I mean, yeah, we do… stuff… We just haven’t taken that step, yet.”
    “Wow,” Liz said, taken aback. “After that morning I walked in there I could have sworn you two had hit that stage a while ago.”
    “Sorry to disappoint, Lizzie,” Maria smiled.
    “It’s all right,” Liz sighed. “I mean, yeah, it’s uncharted territory and all but, I love Max. So, it will be all right.”
    “It’s the same, Liz. You don’t have to worry,” Isabel said quietly.
    Maria’s jaw about hit the floor and her eyebrows shot up.
    “You’re sleeping with Alex?” She squeaked.
    “Why is that so surprising?” Isabel laughed nervously.
    “It’s not. It’s just that… Alex is like our little brother or something. We still see him as the dork who froze Maria’s bra at a    sleepover in 6th grade. It’s just weird for us to think of him like that, ” Liz answered.
    Isabel laughed, “He froze your bra?”
    “Yes,” Maria grumbled.
    “That’s not the best part,” Liz grinned.
    “Lizzie, I love you like a sister, but if you tell this story I’ll kill you!” Maria threatened.
    “Maria microwaved it,” Liz laughed.
    “Oh, Liz, you are so going to get it! I don’t know how, but I will totally get back at you for this!” Maria wailed.
    Isabel was cracking up hysterically.
    “I can’t believe you mircowaved your bra! Tell me it didn’t have an underwire,” Isabel choked out in-between laughs.
    “Oh, it did!” Liz answered as Maria dramatically threw her head into her hands.
    “What happened?” Isabel asked, nearly in tears.
    “You know how a fork sparks if you put it in the microwave?” Liz asked.
    Isabel nodded.
    “Picture that flying from Maria’s bra as Alex laughs hysterically. Amy thought it was a riot, too, which just upset Maria even   more. It was so funny,” Liz grinned.
    “Okay, okay, now that we have aired one of my more humiliating childhood moments can we please go find jobs? It’s that or I start telling Isabel about that time that we were swimming and Alex put a…”
    Liz’s hand clamped down on Maria’s mouth instantly.
    “Finding jobs it is, let’s go.”
 
 

    Michael sighed as he searched through the few CDs that the six of them had happened to have had stashed in their cars when they’d pulled a “Thelma and Louise” and ran out of Roswell.
    It was a pitiful collection full of boy bands and whiny fake blondes, courtesy of Maria, and Dave Matthews Band and Lillith Faire bands that Max and Liz had accumulated in the jeep. There was just one Metallica CD and a Third Eye Blind CD that Michael had thankfully left in Max’s car at one point.
    He was so grateful for those two CDs that it was sad.
    Holding the Metallica disk up to his ear, Michael was through two and a half songs, without the convenience of a CD player, before Max returned home.
    “Hey, any luck?” Michael asked, tossing his CD back into the pile.
    Max shrugged, “Maybe. They said they’d call and Dr. Robinson said he already talked to the head librarian about me. So, I’m hoping. How about you?”
    Michael winced, “You’re looking at the Pizza Barn’s newest delivery guy.”
    Max smiled, partly because he really was happy that Michael had found a job and party because the mental image of Michael delivering pizzas was really, really funny.
    “Good deal,” Max congratulated his friend. “You don’t have to use the car for that do you?”
    “Nah, they gave me a bicycle to make deliveries on. It’s rusty and missing a pedal, but it’ll work,” Michael told him.
    Max nodded and coughed to cover a laugh.
    “Michael, do you know how to ride a bike?” Max asked.
    Michael looked seriously insulted. “Of course I know how to ride a bike! It may have been a while but I biked to school and back from the trailer park in elementary school. And they say that’s not something you ever forget how to do.”
    Max nodded, hoping he was right.
    “Well, at least we won’t starve to death. You’ve got to get a discount working there, right?” Max asked.
    “Better,” Michael smiled, “free leftovers. Plus I make nearly minimum wage in addition to tips.”
    Max nodded, calculating quickly in his head. “How many hours a week are you working?”
    “Thirty-eight starting Monday afternoon,” Michael told him. “Hey, there’s pizza in the kitchen, you hungry?”
    “Starving,” Max replied as he headed for the kitchen. “You want a piece?”
    “Sure,” Michael replied, fixing the ‘sofa’ he was sitting on by readjusting the tape so the edges would meet.
    In his opinion the ‘sofa’ was one of Maria’s wackier and more pointless projects, but it did seem to mean a lot to her. So, he’d told her it was a great idea and laughed silently as she’d used markers to paint the ‘sofa’ neon green. In her opinion, she’d said, no sofa should have to suffer being cream. It was just too plain.
    Maria was a lot of things, Michael thought, but plain was never one of them.
    Michael jumped as Max sat down next to him and handed him a slice of greasy pizza on a paper towel.
    “You looked about a million miles away, Michael. Everything okay?” Max asked.
    “Peachy,” Michael answered before scarfing down his piece of pizza.
    Alex chose that moment to wander into the room.
    “Oh! Pizza, very cool,” he said.
    “Help yourself,” Michael said, gesturing to the kitchen.
    “How’d your interview go, Alex?” Max asked.
    “Great!” Alex yelled back, his voice carrying from the kitchen. “I got the job.”
    “Decent,” Michael replied. “Where?”
    Alex re-entered the room and sat down on the ‘loveseat’ with a huge smile on his face and a cold piece of pizza in his hands.
    “Intel,” he grinned as he took a bite out of his pizza.
    Max and Michael looked at him, gawking and sure they’d heard him wrong.
    “Did you say Intel?” Max asked.
    “Yup,” Alex replied. “I’m an intern in computer programming. They’re paying me $16 an hour and I’m working 8-5 Monday through Friday. Intel is based here. I’d actually thought about working for them eventually anyhow, so this is just great!”
    “That’s fantastic, Alex!” Max smiled.
    “Just great,” Michael agreed, far less enthusiastically.
    “Thanks. Forget all the work stuff for a minute, guys. Max, when are you and Liz getting married? Have you picked anything resembling a date yet? Because your two best buds need to be planning you a bachelor party,” Alex grinned wickedly.
    Max laughed, “No, not really. We were thinking about late fall. Liz says she wants the leaves to be all different colors when we get married. I’ll go along with whatever she wants.”
    “You two gonna go on a honeymoon or should we be booking hotels for a week after the wedding?” Michael asked.
    “Tactful, Michael, so very tactful,” Alex shook his head.
    “We were talking about staying at a bed-and-breakfast up the Columbia Gorge. I heard that the scenery is really beautiful up there and there are some really nice hiking trails and waterfalls,” Max said.
    Michael looked at Max like he’d lost his mind. “Max, I think if you’re hiking around on trails on your honeymoon you’re doing something wrong.”
    “Again, the master of tact,” Alex said, rolling his eyes.
    “Hey, I just call ‘em like I see ‘em, Alex. Are you telling me that if you were marrying Isabel you’d have any intention of leaving your hotel room for any reason?” Michael asked knowingly.
    Alex looked hesitantly between Max and Michael, “I take the fifth on that one because I value both honesty and my life.”
    “Good choice,” Max said seriously.
    “Seriously though Michael,” Max said after a moment, “I have a question. Liz and I haven’t taken that step yet and I was just wondering if anything was ever unusual for you and Maria considering you're an alien.”
    Michael nearly laughed, “Wish I could tell you, man.”
    Max looked very confused, “Why can’t you tell me?”
    “Because every time Maria and I are about to take that step we break up. That’s why. We’ve never actually gotten there,” Michael said, looking more than a little annoyed.
    Max sighed.
    “Well, someone had to be the first I guess,” he said, never noticing Alex sweating profusely less than three-feet away.
    “Come on,” he said, “let’s clean up the pizza before the girls get home and Isabel has a fit about the mess.”
 
 

    All three girls arrived home around four in the afternoon, exhausted but successful in their job searches. Maria led the small group into the family room and collapsed, legs crossed, on the ‘sofa.’
    “Those interviews were totally brutal. I mean, even regularly job interviews aren’t fun, but having to lie through them. That was just nasty. I mean, I’m not exactly a great liar, you know?”
    Isabel snorted as she sat on the windowsill. “We noticed, Maria.”
    “Well, I’m not that bad. I mean, I have managed to stay quiet about a certain illegal immigration issue, haven’t I?” Maria pointed out.
    “Yeah, we’re still trying to figure out how you’ve managed to do that for this long,” Liz smiled, sitting on a masking tape ‘X’ marked ‘end table.’
    “This from the girl who told said secret to two people,” Maria pointed out.
    “That’s not fair, Maria! I told you because I trust you more than anyone in the world and I really needed someone to confide in and I told Alex because otherwise he was going to blow our cover to Valenti,” Liz pointed out.
    “I, for one, am grateful you did, Liz,” Isabel said before Maria could respond. “After all, if you hadn’t we certainly wouldn’t be having this conversation right now, would we?”
    “I’m going to go out on a limb and say no,” Maria said slowly.
    “Tell you what, I’m going to go get some drinks to toast our new-found careers and our friendships, all right?” Isabel asked.
    Liz marveled at the improvement in her demeanor from that morning, “Sounds great.”
    “Party on,” Maria smiled.
    A moment later, Isabel returned with three beers and a smile.
    “To blabber mouths,” she toasted, “without whom we’d all have missed out on wonderful friendships and incredible loves.”
    Maria laughed and clinked with her friends before taking a swig.
    “Isabel, I appreciate the sentiment, but I thought you couldn’t drink alcohol,” Liz said concerned.
    “Non-alcoholic,” she answered, raising her bottle. “Pointless and disgusting, but the occasion called for it.”
    “Know what we’re missing?” Maria asked. “Men. We’re missing men.”
    “Got anyone in mind, Maria?” Michael smirked, entering the room with Alex and Max close on his heels.
    “Yeah, but he’s busy right now so you’ll have to do,” she replied tartly.
    “What are we celebrating?” Max asked after giving Liz a quick kiss.
    “We’ve entered the world of the taxed minimum wagers,” Maria smiled, grabbing Michael’s hand and pulling him down to sit next to her.
    “Where?” Alex asked, draping his arm around Isabel’s shoulder.
    “I’m working at this little boutique on 23rd street. Very posh little place and I, unlike my dear friends here, am not making minimum wage. I’m on commission,” Isabel announced.
    “I’m working at this Mexican restaurant called Azteca,” Liz said. “Since I knew Spanish they were completely thrilled to hire me.”
    “What about you, Maria?” Michael asked.
    “Just waitressing at this little dive off of Interstate. It’s not far and the tips should be decent,” she replied.
    “Sounds like you guys did well,” Max smiled. “I’m hopefully working in the University library. Michael got a job at Pizza Barn. And Alex, our brilliant friend, is working for Intel.”
    Isabel’s eyes lit up with pride as she looked at Alex. “Intel?”
    “Yup,” he smiled.
    “We’ll have to celebrate that later,” she whispered quietly.
    “That’s fantastic, Alex,” Liz smiled.
    “Pizza Barn is pretty fantastic, too,” Maria smiled at Michael adoringly, knowing he was probably a little insecure.
    Michael laughed, “Yes, the fantastic world of pizza delivery.”
    “Hey, spaceboy, you get to deal with people. You get to be outdoors. You get tips. Alex over there, and it is a fantastic job Alex, is cooped up all day indoors writing code for hours on end,” Maria reminded him.
    “If I didn’t love writing code so much, I think I’d be insulted,” Alex laughed.
    “You have quite a way of looking at things, Maria,” Michael smirked.
    “What can I say,” she grinned. “I’m a glass-half-full kind of gal.”
    “Speaking of drinks,” Michael said slowly, “I got you a present.”
    “You did?” She said surprised. “Oh, that’s so sweet!  What for? What is it? Can I have it now? Wait, what does that have to do with drinks?”
    “It’s an expresso maker for our room,” he grinned.
    Maria’s face lit up with a wicked smile.
    “Well, I could certainly use some… coffee… Let’s go try it out,” she urged, jumping to her feet.
    The other four people in the room tried desperately not to laugh as they heard Maria and Michael enter their room and Maria’s voice carry down the hallway.
    “Is that an antenna in your pants, spaceboy, or are you just happy to see me?”