| "So, are you really going to have me arrested?" Max asked as he walked alongside Maria through the parking lot towards the car. "I couldn't help myself. I had to help her." Maria stopped walking, aggravation prominent in her expression. She placed her hands on her hips and sighed before speaking. "Okay Max, you seem like an okay kind of guy. Why you ever chose to help her, I have no idea. No, I will not have you arrested for kidnapping but only because I really like your sister. If I didn't, then yes, you would go to jail." "But you won't help Liz, will you?" "No Max, I will not help her. She is a felon. Maybe if it had gone down a little differently and she didn't actually take the money, then maybe." "She did give it away, its not like she kept it." "That doesn't matter Max," she shook her head. "She made one mistake after another and she could have gotten us all killed tonight! I'll be honest, I didn't really think anyone was after her, but apparently they are. She made a bad situation worse." "I know, but isn't there anything we can do to help her?" Maria judged his request. It was obvious that his feelings were heartfelt and she hated the way it pinged at her heart. She had already gone against her beliefs by letting herself fall for Michael Guerin; she wasn't about to go against them again. She shook her head. "I don't think so. The best help she can get will be in custody." Max nodded and looked towards his sister's car. "I guess I was just trying to help someone I used to really care about." Maria nodded. She understood it was simple, Max Evans had fallen victim to human nature. "Come on. Let's get this show on the road. We have a lot of miles to cover before this is over." Max nodded and followed her to the car. He opened up the backdoor and let Michael out, Liz was still asleep. "I'll sit in back with her." Michael shook his head. "I don't think so." "What am I going to do Michael? Hurl her out of a moving car?" Max looked to Maria for help and got her raised eyebrows for an answer. "Seriously? I just want to sleep. Okay? If you get tired and you want me to drive, I'll drive." Max got in the backseat without a response and pulled Liz's sleeping body towards him. He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes. Michael shut the door and ran his hands through his hair. "This is fucking crazy." "I know," Maria stepped towards the back of the car and crooked her finger at Michael beckoning him to follow. She stepped to the rear of the car and outstretched her arms to him in an emotion she wasn't familiar with; need. Michael stepped into her, his arms sliding around her waist, his face nuzzling into her neck. "You meant what you said, right?" "About what?" She toyed with him and knew in an instant that she'd never grow tired of it. "About not leaving Roswell, about not leaving me?" Michael lifted his head to face her and licked his lips. "You're not, right?" "Well," she grinned and her eyes twinkled. "No Guerin, I'm not going anywhere. Do you know where a soon to be out of work bounty hunter can get a job in Roswell?" He chuckled, "Yeah, I have a good idea." "Then c'mere and kiss me," she placed her hands on the back of his head and lowered his face to hers, their lips met and shocks ran through her. Michael held her tight against him. The animalistic fervor he had felt with her on their previous encounters was melding with something stronger, something permanent. Something he wasn't about to let go of. "We should get back on the road," she smiled into his mouth as she felt his hands on her ass. Michael nodded and squeezed her ass once before stepping back from her. "You're right. The sooner we get her dropped off, the sooner we can get back home." Maria nodded and realized that her home was going to be in Roswell. The city she deemed one of the circles of hell was going to be home. She could deal with that. * * * Michael was getting bored. They'd been on the road for hours and daylight was just thinking about making its appearance. A quick phone call to Isabel a few hours earlier put his mind at ease that she really was all right. He glanced at the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes at the sleeping figures of his friend Max and the felon Liz. He looked next to him at the sleeping Maria DeLuca and smiled. The driving time alone was giving him plenty of time to contemplate everything he felt about her. He wasn't looking for anyone special when she bounded into his life with a killer body, a beautiful face and an attitude that rivaled his own. The last thing that Michael Guerin ever thought he'd want was now the only thing he wanted; sharing a life with someone he loved. He rolled his eyes at himself and knew he was whipped, sappy and generally everything he hated in a man. But he didn't care. This was different. This was Maria DeLuca and she was his match. His perfect match. Maria fought a yawn and sat up straighter in the front seat. She looked over her shoulder at Dumb and Dumber and declared them helpless before she cast a sideways glance at Michael. She thought he looked like he was in some type of inner struggle and wondered if it had anything to do with her. She prayed he wasn't rethinking what he said to her, about her, that would devastate her. She reached a tentative hand to him and laid it on his denim-clad thigh. When he looked at her, she could read in his dashboard lit eyes that he wasn't having second thoughts. "Do you want me to drive?" She whispered. "God, where are we?" "Not too far outside of Flagstaff," Michael yawned. "On interstate 40." "Flagstaff?" Maria's eyes went wide. "Don't tell me I've been sleeping for over five hours!" "Sorry babe, you have." He yawned again. "I have to stop and get some caffeine, there's a rest stop coming up in about three exits. We're stopping for a few minutes." Maria nodded and waited patiently as the mile markers went by. She looked again in the backseat at the sleeping felons as Michael pulled off the highway and parked in the lot of the nearly empty rest stop. He opened his door and got out, Maria followed. "Do you think we should leave them alone in there?" Michael asked dropping the keys in his pocket. Maria nodded as she met him on his side of the car. "They're not going anywhere. Let'em sleep, the less interaction I have with Dumb and Dumber, the better." Michael cocked his head to one side as a breeze rippled through him. The heat of Roswell was replaced with a less humid temperature. In the moments before a new dawn when the world seemed asleep; Michael Guerin felt like him and Maria DeLuca were the only ones in it. He took her by the hand and led her away from the car towards a picnic table underneath a tree with boughs hanging down nearly to the ground. "Second thoughts?" He asked. Maria shook her head. "You?" Michael shook his head and grinned before pulling her into him. TBC |
| Part 31 |
 |