ForcedTogetherpart4

Michael walked over to the car and got into the back seat. She was right the atlas was jammed underneath the driver seat. He started to get out of the car again when he noticed her jacket on the back seat. �She might get cold.� He thought as he grabbed it. He was shocked to see three purses were hidden underneath them as well as the bag from the gas station with the food in it.

He grabbed the purses as well and walked back up to the fire. She had gather enough fire wood to keep it going for a few hours. She was sitting on the log again and watching him walking back with everything he had found in the car.

�Here, in case you get cold.� He said while tossing her the jacket.

�What are you doing with the our purses?� She asked when he settled them next to her.

�I found them under the jacket, there could be things in them we could use.� He said while sitting next to her and opening the atlas. �Why did you have them in there anyway?� He asked.

Maria sighed, it was so painful. Everything about this weekend was painful. �Isabel said we didn�t need them and we could just lock them in the car, that nobody would bother them. What could possible be in them that we could use anyway?�

Michael looked up and then casted his eyes downward. �Well for one thing they should have money in them. Maybe we can do something with their ids.� Michael saw the look of disgust on her face but quickly shot down any augment she had about what he was suggesting. �Don�t say it, I�m not proud of taking their money or anything else but we don�t have a choice.�

Maria grimaced, but knew he was right. This was life and death and Liz would want her to take her money if it would help. �Oh God, Lizzie.� She quickly stopped herself from crying out loud in misery at the thought of the lost of her best friend. Hating to admit it, but he was right about one thing; crying was not helping.

She turned and saw Michael pouring over the book. He had grabbed a pen out her purse and was jottings down some notes. She spied the bag of food next to him and went over and pulled everything out. He had stocked up on an assortment of chocolate cake goods, but he had also grabbed a few pre-made submarine sandwiches as well as a couple of cheese and egg burritos for breakfast. There were also a few cans of soda and bottle waters in there. She couldn�t hide the smile when she saw he had also gotten a bag of marshmallows.

Deciding to try and make peace she placed a hand on his arm to get his attention. He looked up confused, not sure if he really felt like getting into it again. His suspicions were quickly eliminated when he saw she was holding out two sandwiches.

�Which do you want, the ham and cheese or the Italian cold cuts?� She asked.

He couldn�t help it, but he actually grinned a little at her. �So I take it your hunger strike is official over and I am not going to have to force feed you.� He said while taking the ham and cheese sandwich.

Maria smiled back a little. �For now. We are stuck together right now, so we might as well try to get along. Your right about us having to work together and it would be easier if we didn�t fight about everything.� She said while unwrapping her food.

Michael reached over and grabbed two sodas, handing one to Maria. �I�m not the one who keeps starting the fights.�

Maria just looked at him and saw that he was really only teasing her. Well two can play that game. �Maybe your right. No more fighting, I promise. Besides if we are going to be sleeping together we should be on friendly terms.�

Michael choked on the soda he had just taken a sip of and looked over to the girl sitting next to him and saw that she was trying to give him a come hither look, but could see she was having a hard time doing so while trying to keep a straight face. He almost found himself getting ready to make a sexual remark back but decided against it. She might be teasing him, but the wounds he opened last night were still fresh and he didn�t want to cause her anymore pain in that regard.

�Funny Deluca. Real funny. We have to come up with some kind of plan. I figure that we have a day�s head start at the most. I�m pretty sure they will head in this direction so I don�t think hiding out here after tonight is a good idea.� He said while munching on his sandwich.

�So what are you suggesting? Obviously going north isn�t they way we should be going according to you.� Maria said while picking out the onions from her sandwich.

Michael sighed, and looked up into the sky taking a moment to admire the sunset before turning back to his companion. �If you were a 30 to 35 year old FBI agent trying to think like a teenager, where would you think the teenager in question would go to hide out?�

Maria looked at Michael for a few seconds before answering. �I am assuming that these agents are jerks who were probable never teenager, even when they were teenagers. I would assume they would want to get out of the country. They can�t take public transportation, so it would have to be someplace they could drive to. That leaves Canada or Mexico. The kids in question are from New Mexico and are more comfortable with the people and customs of Mexico, not to mention they probable speak fair to decent Spanish. They may think that they were being clever if they back track south instead of keep going North to Canada. If they check they would also see that I have some family in Mexico that I might convince you that we could trust and go to them for help. Yeah if I was this Agent Pierce or Miss Topolsky that is what I would think.�

Michael shock his head in agreement. �Then we keep going towards Canada. If we head out first thing in the morning we should be able to get half way through Nebraska.�

�Nebraska, if we are going to Canada don�t we want to keep going North, if we head over to Nebraska we will being going east.� Maria said while grabbing the atlas out of Michael�s hands.

�Gee, I guess you really did deserve all those gold stars in forth grade for geography. Yes we will head east for a few days and throw them off. When we get over to Wisconsin we will start going north again. We should cross the boarder between Minnesota and Wisconsin. After we cross the boarder we head east again, maybe we can settle in Quebec or someplace for a while.�

Maria didn�t say anything, she just kept looking at the atlas and eating her sandwich. After a few minutes she looked up at Michael. �Quebec is a French Providence. I think we want to head somewhere they speak English. We could keep going to New Brunswick and then take the ferry over to Prince Edward Island. We�re already at the beginning of October and it will probable take us a few weeks to get there. That would be they�re off season, we could probable find cheap housing and get some kind of manual labor jobs for the now.�

Michael couldn�t help but smirk at her. �Why Prince Edward Island?�

�I fell in love with it when I read �Anna of Green Gables� when I was ten. I always wanted to go there. Liz and I had talked about going there some summer. We were thinking maybe the summer after graduation. We even got a couple of brochures from a travel agency.� She said, while turning her attention back to the atlas.

�Brochures, please tell me you don�t still have them. The feds may find them and put two and two together. And how much do you love the book? Would they be able to get a feel that you would head there?� He asked concerned.

Maria looked up from the book in her hand. �No I don�t still have the brochures, that was around three years ago, so they are long gone. If they do go through our personal stuff and analysis it, then yeah they would notice that the book is pretty worn out. But so are my �Little House on the Prairie�, �The Little Princess� and �The Secret Garden�, not to mention all my Nancy Drew Mysteries, especially �The Mystery of the 99 Steps� which happens to take place in Paris. So I don�t think we need to worry about them using something like that to track us.�

�Yeah, I guess your right. It�s not like they are going to head over to �Walnut Grove� or something looking for us.� Michael said while finishing his sandwich.

�Exactly.� Maria said as she picked up her soda. �I think we have a pretty good plan. We do have a lot of other things to discuss. I�m sure they have a description of my car. Also as nice as these sandwiches were, they cost a little too much to keep buying. If we are going to camp we are going to have to do some serious shopping. Not only for food, but also for some warmer clothes.� Maria grabbed the pen Michael had been using earlier and began to make up a list on the back page of the atlas.

Michael got up and stretched. �Why don�t you make up the list of what we will need, I�m going to get some more wood for the fire so that we can keep it going all night.�

�Ok.� Maria responded as she watched Michael started to head further into the woods when she remember she had to say something to him. �Hey.�

Michael stopped and turned around to look at her. �Yeah. You need something?�

A smile crept across her face. �Yeah I was just wondering how much you are willing to pay me to keep it under wrap that you are a closet �Little House on the Prairie� fan?�

Michael shot her a smirk and turned back towards the woods. When he came back fifteen minutes later Maria wasn�t sitting on the log. �Maria, you in the tent?� He called out, but got no answer. �@#%$, where the Hell did she go?� He mumbled to himself as he dropped the wood by the fire.

He waited a minutes before he started to head down a path that he thought she might have gone down. He only walked a few minutes when he heard some splashing towards his left. �What the Hell?� He thought as he headed in the direction of the noise.

Walking past a couple of trees he saw a small brook running past him. Turning his head a little he saw a very naked Maria Deluca illuminated by the moon, squatting next to the water bathing.

Michael couldn�t find his voice, nor could he stop staring as she reached down into the water with both hands cupped together to capture some of the fresh water and splashed it over her neck and perky breasts.

Michael groaned when the cold water hit her supply flesh, causing her to yelp in discomfort. He stood there for a second before he turned around to give the girl some privacy to finish bathing. Not to mention he could feel his groin starting to respond to the sight of a naked Maria.

Quickly he turned and had headed back to their camp. He busied himself with getting the fire going stronger than it had been. �She�ll probable be cold from her bath.� He thought as he added one last log to the fire. He was review her list of what they would need to get when he heard her coming back to the camp.

�Keep cool Guiren, it�s no big deal. You�ve seen naked pictures of girls before. So what if she�s the first �live� girl you saw with no clothes on. This is no big deal. Besides it�s not like she has that great of a body. Not great at all. Come on her breast are kinda small. Small and perky, with rosy nipples that were hard as pebbles due to the cold water hitting them. OK, STOP THINKING ABOUT HER BREAST.� He shouted to himself.

�Oh hey Michael, I wasn�t sure how long you were going to be gone. I found this brook earlier when I went looking for some firewood. I just went down to wash up. I feel a little better now.� Maria said to the young man in front of her who couldn�t seemed to stop staring at her breast. �If you want I can show you?� She offered.

�Wait show him what, oh God did she notice him staring at her chest. Is she going to take her top off? No, you idiot she�s talking about the brook. For crying out loud come on and concentrate Guiren!� Michael scolded himself before answering her. �No that�s ok. Maybe tomorrow.� He finally said to her.

�OK.�

�Hey, I was looking over your list. We need to see how much money we have.� He said as both sat on the log in front of the fire and began going through the three wallets that were in the girls purses. After a few minutes they both looked up at each other.

�$306.34, I don�t think we are going to get too far with that.� Maria said in a sad voice.

�We can�t stop to get jobs either.�

�So what are we going to do. I mean we can forgo a few of the things on the list, but food and clothes are a must. What about the car? How are we going to fill the tank without money.�

Michael looked down for a minute before he answered knowing that she wasn�t going to like the next words that were going to be coming out of his mouth. �I can change the money. I can change the ones and tens that we have into hundred dollar bills, I could also change the fives to fifty. I think we should leave the twenties alone and we can use them for gas money. This give us over six thousand dollars.�

Maria looked at Michael in shock. She knew he was in trouble a lot and that he had even been arrested a couple of times, but this was grand larceny or forgery or something illegal like that. Besides she had thought that Liz told her that Max said Michael wasn�t very good with using his powers.

�Please tell me your joking. I�m not sure what exactly it is, but I know it�s illegal. Anyway, how do you know you could even do it? Liz told me you couldn�t control your powers .� She asked in disbelief.

Michael sighed. �No I�m not joking. Look we agree that this isn�t exactly normal circumstances and that we are going to have to do things that we�re not going to particularly like doing. I�ve never used my powers like this before and I had always swore I would never do something like this, but we don�t have a choice. And don�t ask me why they seem to be working more so now more than ever before because I don�t know why, maybe I�m more focused or something.�

Maria study Michael face and saw that he was ashamed for what he was suggesting. She also knew he was right, they were going to have to do thing that they won�t be proud of, but that wasn�t their fault it was the FBI�s fault.

�I�m sorry, your doing the right thing. Go ahead and do your stuff, changes those Washington�s and Jackson�s to good ole Ben Franklin.�

�I thought Jefferson was on the $100.00 dollar bill.� Michael said to her in a serious tone, biting his inner cheek to keep from laughing at the look on her face.

�Oh my God. How the Hell are you going to pull this off if you don�t even know who is on what bills.� She snapped going into full Maria rant. �This is great. I can see it now, I�ll be in some store in Hicksville, USA trying to buy some food or something and will end up getting hauled off to jail. Me in jail, you know what will happen to me in jail. I�m cute and perky, I�ll end up becoming a bitch to so chick named Bertha and she�ll probable trade me for a pack of smokes.�

Michael couldn�t help it, he started laughing at her. �Take a breath Deluca, I was only joking. �Trade me for a pack of smokes�. That�s it, no more prison chick flicks for you.�

Maria narrowed her eyes at him. �Joking! God you are so juvenile. Just change the damn money, I�m going to bed. Try not to wake me when you come in.� She snapped as she stormed off to the tent.

�Hey, why you have a tent in your car anyway?� Michael shouted at the retreating girl

�My Mom and her latest boyfriend went camping last weekend and she never unpacked the trunk.� She snapped while unzipping the tent.

�Your Mom and boyfriend, huh. You don�t think they had sex in that sleeping bag do you?� He questioned.

Maria stopped and turned around. �EWWW, you don�t think they did that do you? Great now I�ll have nightmares about that. Thanks a lot.� She grumbled as she climbed into the tent and lowered the zipper.

�Sweet Dreams!� Michael shot back.

TBC