Chapter 3: Hiding in Plain Sight

“So...” Xander said, invading Maria’s space to the point where she had to scoot her chair back a bit.

She glanced at him, rolling her eyes at his intent expression.

“What?!”

Xander just grinned at her raised voice.

“Aliens.”

“What about them?” Maria asked, ignoring Michael’s sudden glare from across the table.

“Fact or fiction?”

Maria turned to face Xander, who had finally leaned back from practically climbing into her lap.

“How the hell should I know?”

“Uh huh.” Xander replied, still grinning.

Maria suppressed her snort of laughter at Michael’s edginess. He was almost climbing over the table to observe the conversation. She flashed him what she hoped was a reassuring smile, sighing internally when he sat back in his chair.

“Well, this has been fun, but I have to get home before Mom calls the cops.” Buffy said from the front counter, on which she was sitting, sharpening a sword.

She put the sword down and jumped off the desk. Grabbing her purse from the counter, she turned back and looked over the two new guests.

“Do you guys have a place to stay?” she asked.

Michael looked at Maria, who shrugged. “Not at the moment. We’ll just crash at a motel,” he replied.

“No way!” Maria shouted,, causing him to flinch.

“What the hell?”

“Vampires are real, Michael.”

“So?”

“So, hello? Real, as in attacking us and biting us and killing us. No thank you. There is no way I’m ending up as vampire bait just because you refuse to ask for help.”

Michael slumped down in his seat, practically growling, but not disagreeing.

Willow, who had been watching the exchange with some amusement, suddenly jumped up, knocking her chair over in the process. Everyone else jumped at the noise, Xander letting out a slightly embarrassing yell.

“Oh!” Willow exclaimed, smiling as she looked from Maria to Michael. “My parents are out of town. Come stay at my house!”

“Um, pretty excited about having visitors,” Michael said, raising an eyebrow at her.

“My parents are gone a lot. It gets kind of boring,” Willow muttered, her excitement gone at the tone of his voice.

Maria glared at him, before smiling at Willow. “That sounds great. Thanks for offering.”

Willow smiled in return, back up to her usual perkiness level.

“Very good,” Giles said, closing the book he had been looking through. “Buffy, perhaps you and the others can all walk home together? I’m going to stay here and go through some more volumes.”

“Sure,” Buffy replied, as the others gathered their belongings to head home, or to their temporary housing, care of Willow.

*****

“We can’t just leave. What do we tell Mom and Dad?” Isabel asked, as Max stuffed some belongings into a duffel bag.

He stopped packing and looked up at her worried expression.

“We can’t just let him do this. What if he gets into trouble. You know how he is,” Max replied, already knowing it was a losing argument.

Isabel always put family first when it came to the big stuff.

“Max, you can’t always protect him. At some point he needs to learn that he can’t just do whatever he wants.”

“When has Michael ever done whatever he wants?” Max asked, sitting down on his bed in defeat.

“We’ll think of something,” Isabel replied, not sure if she was telling the truth this time.

“Something’s happening, Is” Max said, in a pleading voice.

“I know.”

*****

“So, um, welcome to my house,” Willow said nervously, as she led her new friends through the front door. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Sure,” Maria replied, elbowing Michael when he didn’t reply.

“Um, yeah, that’d be great,” he said, rubbing his ribs where she had hit him.

“Wus,” she said when Willow was out of earshot.

They dropped their stuff by the front door, walking into the living room as Willow disappeared into the kitchen.

Michael plopped down on the only sofa, closing his eyes. Maria looked around, seeing that the adjacent chair was covered in laundry. She pushed Michael over and sat down on the sofa next to him. He grunted and moved over farther, too tired to put up a fight.

“I wonder if anyone will notice we’re missing,” Maria muttered, rubbing her neck and stretching.

“Max will,” Michael replied, his eyes still shut.

“Liz will,” Maria said, to herself. “My mom’s out of town for the next two weeks, so at least I won’t be grounded.”

She sighed loudly, leaning back and shutting her eyes.

Michael looked over at her, frowning at the exhausted expression on her face. “We just need some sleep. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

She nodded slightly.

A minute later, Willow emerged from the kitchen, holding two mugs of hot chocolate. She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again as she looked at the two sleeping teens on the sofa. Michael was snoring lightly as Maria shifted over so that she was leaning on his shoulder.

Willow put the mugs down on the coffee table, smiling at her guests. She took the laundry off the chair and tossed it on the floor. Grabbing a nearby book and curling up to pass some time, she decided to wait for a while before waking them and showing them to the guest room.

About ten minutes later, Willow was pulled from her story by the sound of whimpering. She looked up to see Maria frowning in her sleep. As she whimpered again, Michael’s arm, which had found it’s way to the back of the couch, dropped around her body, squeezing her to him in his sleep. She quieted down instantly.

Willow grinned, going back to her reading.

“No! He’s an alien!” Maria suddenly shouted, waking Michael and causing Willow to drop her book.

“Maria,” Michael said, pulling back and grabbing her by the shoulders. “Wake up,” he said as he shook her lightly.

“What? Huh?” Maria said, opening her eyes and looking blearily up at him.

“You were having a bad dream,” said Willow, concern on her face.

Maria looked at her sheepishly. “Oh, yeah. I guess I was really tired. Sorry about falling asleep.”

“It’s okay,” Willow replied, studying the newcomers.

Michael was looking guilty for some reason, which was causing Maria to look scared. Willow was starting to think there was more to them than they were letting on.

“Um,” she said, getting their attention and shaking her head, willing her thoughts away. “Let me show you to your room.”

“Okay,” Maria said, giving her an apologetic grin as they all headed out of the living room.

Willow led them to a short hallway with three doors.

“That’s my parents’ room,” she said, pointing to the door at the end of the hall. “That’s the bathroom,” she pointed at the second door, “and this is your room.”

She opened the door they had stopped in front of, revealing a nicely furnished bedroom with a large queen sized bed taking up the majority of the space.

“I’m back that way,” she pointed toward the hall they had just passed through. “If you need anything, just yell, or, you know, feel free to explore.”

She yawned and gave them a little wave, heading off to her own bed.

Michael and Maria looked around the room, their gazes finally settling on the bed.

“No way,” Michael said, seeing the gleam that had entered Maria’s eye.

“I provided the transportation, I’m the one who was kidnapped. I get the bed,” she said, jumping onto said mattress and grinning at him triumphantly.

“We’re supposed to be in love, honey,” Michael said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “I think we have to share the bed.”

“Why?” Maria asked, her voice more nervous than she wanted to let on.

“What if Willow comes in to check on us? Wouldn’t want her to think that we made that up, would we?”

He grinned as he dropped down on the bed next to her, getting comfortable and closing his eyes.

“Fine, but I better not wake up to you trying something,” Maria grumbled, slipping off her shoes and lying down next to him.

“You wish.”

“In your dreams, Spaceboy.”