BountyHunterpart10

Maria took a seat at the counter and read over the menu full of alien-themed items. The woman behind the counter took her order for a simple cheeseburger, fries and lemonade.

"I hate this town and I hate my job," the words came from the man who had taken the seat next to her while she had been ordering.

She didn't look at him, that would only give him a reason to continue to bitch and moan. She stared directly ahead of her and waited for her lunch while the man next to her continued to mumble. She realized he wasn't talking to her and he didn't seem like he wanted a conversation either; he just seemed�disgruntled. Chancing a cursory glance in his direction she realized he was pretty normal looking, not the space case wacko she was expecting.

His hair was dark brown and cut short against his head with sideburns reminiscent of the 90210 days. He was younger than she expected, probably close to her own age. He was in uniform and she tried to read the company name embroidered on the front pocket without being overtly obvious. As Maria DeLuca should have known the way her day had gone so far, it wouldn't work.

The mumbling man held his shirt pocket out so she could see it. "It say's Tuesday Security and above that is my name, Kyle."

Maria felt herself blush getting caught in the act. "I'm sorry�"

"Whatever," he released his pocket and picked up the glass of water sitting in-between them.

"That's my water," Maria frowned and folded her arms over her chest.

He looked sideways at her and grinned before drinking it. "I'm sorry," he set the half-empty glass down in front of her. "Please, take your water back, Princess."

"You have a chip on your shoulder," she remarked while trying to figure out why the man wasn't on the floor yet with her knee placed strategically in the small of his back.

"I know," he replied honestly and sighed. "I do and I'm sorry. I promise I'm not usually the type to sit around talking to myself, I've just had a shitty day. Do you ever have days like that?"

"I have them all the time, I understand." Maria smiled as her lunch was placed in front of her. She picked up her cheeseburger and took a huge bite feeling the strangers eyes on her. After she finished chewing and swallowing, she turned back to him. "Is there something wrong?"

He shrugged. "No, not really. Are you from around here? Or are you here for some alien shin-dig?"

Maria shook her head and smiled. "No, just passing through town."

"Yeah, well, let me give you a little advice. Keep passing. Roswell will do nothing to you except piss you off."

Maria fought the smile, he was right. So far Roswell had done nothing except piss her off. Okay, she conceded, Roswell hadn't actually been responsible for pissing her off, Michael Guerin had.

"Maria?"

Maria turned around towards the vaguely familiar feminine voice coming from in back of her. Isabel something. Beside her was the man of her thoughts. Great.

"I thought that was you!" Isabel gushed and sat down on the other side of her. "I guess you found out the best place in town to get a burger, huh?"

Maria nodded and looked past the woman to the man on the other side of her. "They let animals in here? Isn't that against the health code?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

Michael laughed a little harder than he wanted to. "You're funny DeLuca. I mean, seriously, a real laugh riot. You should think about taking your show in the road."

Maria wanted to reach across the pretty Isabel and thwack him in the forehead but at the same time she wanted to lick his neck and see if it was as salty as it looked. She closed her eyes and wished away all sexual desires she had. There was a time and place for those and sitting in the alien restaurant with the object of a deepening sexual fantasy a few feet away from her was neither.

"I'd like to apologize for my associate-" Isabel smiled sweetly at Maria before being interrupted by Michael leaning over her.

"Partner, Isabel, partner."

She rolled her eyes and smiled again when she saw the corners of Maria's mouth twitch upward. "I'd like to apologize on behalf of my partner," she emphasized the word and looked at Michael before turning back to Maria. "He isn't very good with people and he might have come across a little more insolent than usual this morning."

"Isn't he able to apologize for being a jackass by himself?" Maria batted her eyelashes in Michael's direction and hoped it didn't come across as flirting. Or did she?

"Well," Michael licked his lips and raised an eyebrow. "I guess if he thought he had a reason to apologize, he would."

"Michael." Isabel glanced sternly at him.

Michael inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry for being a jackass."

Maria smiled and wondered exactly what kind of hold Isabel had on Michael. There was something strong between them, not sexually fused, but still strong. "Apology accepted." She held her hand out in front of Isabel and ran her tongue over her front teeth.

Michael clasped her hand wishing he would have wiped it on his jeans first. Sweaty palms was not the way to impress. Impress? He wasn't sure why this woman, this woman who was a pain in his ass, was affecting him like she was. He didn't like it, but would deal with it. Looking across Isabel into the clear green eyes of Maria DeLuca, Michael Guerin knew he could deal with a lot.

Isabel clasped her hands together in a mock prayer, her eyes tilted towards the sky.

"You know them?" The forgotten about mumbling man next to Maria asked her.

"I'm sorry?" She turned back to him, her eyes wide. "Uh�Yeah, I do."

"Valenti," Michael stood up and walked around to Kyle from Tuesday Security and clapped him on the back. "How's it going?"

"Its going, Guerin."

Michael looked at Maria while keeping his hand on Kyle's back. "This is Kyle Valenti and as I can see you have already met him."

"Not officially," Maria extended her hand to the non-threatening mumbler. "Maria DeLuca, nice to meet you."

Kyle shook her hand and smiled. "You're not�I mean, they're not here for you�Right?" He let go of her hand and pointed at her, a look somewhere between amazement and confusion plastered on his face.

"Me?" Maria pointed to herself and laughed. "No, not here for me. I'm kind of one of them."

"Cool," Kyle shrugged off Michael's hand that was still on his back.

"So, Maria," Isabel drew the attention back to her. "I was wondering, since you and Michael have made up and are starting off fresh, would you consider working together on this�" She shifted her eyes to Kyle for just a second, "Job?"

Maria looked thoughtfully at her and weighed her options. Work alone and suffer in the pit of hell until she stumbled across Liz Parker, or work with who was becoming her sexual fantasy and get the hell out of dodge as fast as she could. She looked over her shoulder to Michael and winked before turning back to Isabel. "Yeah, I think we can play nice together."

TBC