Maria's breath caught in her throat. It had been so long since she had seen him, yet there he was just less than 10 feet away from her. She stared, unable to speak, and let her eyes scan the length on him. His old familiar combat boats covered his feet (God she hated those!) Why couldn't he wear sneakers or loafer or SOMETHING else?. His jeans seemed a little baggier than normal. Maria wondered *Did he lose weight or just invest in bigger jeans?* Her eyes continued on their travels, coasting upwards, and resting on the white t-shirt that sat against his chest. *No stains? Impressive!* Her eyes lingered... there was something different about his upper body. What was it? Still eyeing the area of the t-shirt, she let her mind grasp what it was- muscles. Sure, he had been muscular before, but now he was buff. She heard him swallow hard and her eyes instinctively met his. *Shit, why did I look in his eyes? Damn it!* she though as her mind began to have a conversation with herself. *I can't let him get to me. Think of something to say... now!*
"Umm... what?" she asked, not really knowing what she was pretending not to have head. Her mouth had gotten very dry.
He took another step forward "I said I know I am... going crazy I mean." His eyes were sparkly, a mix of fear and excitement.
Maria's head was hurting with all the emotions that were reeling inside. *Just focus on one emotion... just one of them.* Her mind continued. *If you can focus on one, than you may be able to handle yourself in this conversation. He obviously wants to talk about something.* The only one she was able to pluck from the whirlpool inside her was anger. The hurt she felt when he walked away from her that day... the pain she felt the first time he pushed her away- that night at the old soap factory party.
The sarcasm rose in her throat like bile. "I could have told you that years ago, buddy." she spat, turning away from his gaze to grab the closest thing to her... anything. She spotted the broom Liz had laid against the doorframe earlier. Sliding her hand over it's handle, she busied herself. Sweeping past him, trying desperately to avoid the close proximity he had enclosed them in.
No such luck. As she began to pass him, sandwiched between him and the counter, he spun around and grabbed her arm. At the touch of his skin on her own, she tensed but still managed to hold onto the anger.
Just as quick as Michael's hand had found her arm, her other hand found the strength to hoist the broom and bring it's handle down with all her might directly across his knuckles.
"Jesus!" Michael cried, releasing his grip on her arm and gripping the pained hand with the other. "What the hell was that?" he asked, brow furrowed in anger, pain and torment.
Hiding her relief at having her body to herself again, she scoffed." I could ask you the same thing!" she rubbed her hand over the vacant space on her arm where his hand had been. "Crazy boy." she muttered.
Still gripping his own hand he brought his face inches from hers. "I came here to tell you that I am going crazy...without you." he stated coldly. Her eyes blinked and she swallowed hard. "But it seems once again, you lack the ability to have a decent, civil conversation and have broken my hand instead." he backed away and she winced. She hadn't meant to hit him so hard.
Reaching behind the counter, she dumped the icy contents out of an old glass, wrapped it in a dish towel and made her way to where Michael had positioned himself at the end of the counter.
"Here." she said, holding the cloth towards his swollen hand. "It will take the swelling down."
"No thanks," he said, giving her an insincere grin."I can handle it myself. I'll just.... what was that clever phrase again..." He laid the finger of his good hand against his chin in fake thought. "Oh yeah, the `Samantha-genie-alien thing." He shook his head and cautiously laid his swollen hand on the counter and slowly waved his good hand over it as he closed his eyes.
Maria watched in awe as the hand seemed to deflate like a balloon and the strange looking bump that had appeared just above his wrist vanished. Michael opened his eyes and sat on the stool next to him, now at eye level with her.
She snickered. "Well someone's improved since we had our last run in." She stated sarcasticly.
"Which run in would that be? In the museum the day Valenti found out or when you were glaring at me a few weeks ago from behind a pillar at the mall?" Maria blushed and dropped her eyes from Michael's knowing glare.
"I wasn't glaring," she mumbled to the floor.
"Besides, what was I suppose to do for the last month but better myself. Sit around and WAIT for you to contact me? That would have been such a YOU thing to do." Maria's head jerked upwards.
"WHAT?? Wait for me? Just one moment there buddy!" She was enraged! One hand flew to perch on her hip while the other started wagging a finger in Michael's face. Her face was flushed with heat as she started in on her rant."You walked away from me! Remember that, or does your alien ego have the situation confused? You were the one who left me standing there confused and alone... and with a dead body may I mention. You, buster, should have contacted me, if you were so eager to talk to me..."
"Buster?" Michael raised his eyebrow, yet couldn't contain his chuckle.
"Yes, buster!" Maria stated flatly, still on the defensive." And I don't see what's so funny. You're sitting here questioning my devotion to you when you're the one who walked away from me!
Michael's face suddenly turned very serious and he raised his head from where it had sunk in his giggles and looked straight into Maria's eyes. "I learned something else in the past month- wanna see?" He asked, like a child with a new toy.
"Not particularly and if you didn't notice, I am yelling at you right now." She was obviously less than impressed, but Michael's hand was already lightly clasped around Maria's neck. "What are you..."
"Shhhhh..." Michael mouthed, placing a finger of his free hand over her lips as closed her eyes. Suddenly, Maria felt a slow, earthly calmness cover her. She sensed a light tingling in her neck and mouth, like an ice cold drink lingering past her lips. She was completely centred and peaceful, not even realizing she had closed her eyes. Just as quickly as Michael's hand had found her, he withdrew it. She opened her eyes and starred directly into his. He had that mischievous grin on his face that left her with an uneasy feeling.
"There." He said. "That looks a lot better." Her heart dropped as she ran her hand over her face. What had he done to her? She ran across the to front of the counter and looked at her reflexion in the muffin cabinet. Nothing looked out of place. Her eyes, nose and mouth with just as she had left them... besides a little redness in her cheeks, everything seemed fine. What had he done?
She turned to look at him... that look was on his face again, except now he looked like he was trying very hard to contain his laughter. *Bullshit!* She thought. *He didn't do anything to me. I'm gonna call his bluff!*
As she walked back to where he had sat, she opened her mouth to start yet another fight with him... but nothing. Maria's eyes went wide as she stopped dead in her tracks. Sliding her hands up to her throat she looked at Michael, who was now doubled over in fits of laughter. She couldn't believe this... not in a million years could she have guessed that this could happen.
Michael regained his composure for a moment and stood to walk towards her. "Lost for words are you? Looks good on you!" And then he was lost again, gripping his knees as he looked at her from laughing eyes.
Her mouth was wide open but no sound was coming out. *Damn him! He took my voice... I don't know how he did it put he took my voice!*
He straightened himself up and saw the look of mixed horror and anger on her face. "Obviously not a laughing matter anymore, huh?" he smiled.
She grabbed her orderbooklet off the counter and feverously scribbled on it and held it in Michael's face- EXPLAIN! she had written. He took a step and slightly leaned down so that he was nose to nose with her. "I always thought it would be much easier to have this conversation with you if I could be the only one to do the talking. Keeping your mouth shut is a skill that you never seemed to master."
She scoffed and decked him in the stomach, forcing him to drop to his knees with a groan. She did not have to take this abuse. Not after a full month of trying to get him out of her system. Voice or no voice. She didn't need to talk to have a warm bath. Stepping over him, she pushed past the swinging door into the kitchen. She heard him calling behind her. "Abusive tonight arn't we? I should have just immobilized you!"
*Of all the stupid, ignorant, egotistical things to do... what an idiot!* Maria was once again furious. She was throwing her clothes into her backpack with all her might... damn him for forcing himself into her life again. She flug her backpack over her shoulder to head out the backdoor, but instead found herself dangling from Michael's shoulder.
*What the hell is this?* she thought. Not able to scream, she hit his back and tried to kick him, but his grip on her legs was too strong.
"This is not the way I planned it." he said heading out the front of the resturant. "But then again, nothing that ever happened between me and you was ever planned, now was it?" He opened the front door of the cafe and with one swift swipe of his hand it was closed and locked behind them. "I should have known you wern't gonna make this easy on me, so I just have to get you alone and talk to you- note I said to you and not with you. You're gonna stay tongue- tied until I see fit." She grunted over his shoulder. He smiled. "Who knows? If I like it, I may just keep you this way." He opened the car door and laid her inside and fassened the seat belt, melting it in place. She faked a smile and sighed, turning her head to the front windsheild. He shut the door and crossed the front of the car to get to his side.
*I wonder if she knows how cute she is when she's both mute and furious.*
~~~~~
*This is ridiculous!* Maria thought to herself, as Michael swung open the door to his apartment and flung her onto his couch. She crossed her legs and flung her arms one over the other and looked up at him. He was smiling... he was doing that a lot today, which was strange for him. What could be so funny?
"What?" she mouthed, raising her hands in a questionable protest.
"Nothing." he straightened his face and threw he bookbag in her lap. "You may wanna change. It may make this conversation easier on me. If not, I'm gonna spend most of my time laughing at you."
She waved her hands in the air like she was trying to write something in the wind. Michael dropped his chin and turned...he couldn't let her see him smiling again. He grabbed a pad of sketch paper and a pen from the coffee table and turned back towards her. "I'm guessing you want this." he said, flinging it in her lap.
She griminced and began to write. *He's enjoying this way to much. What a pig... all men are pigs... human or alien form. It must be a penis issue.* She tossed the paper at him and picked up her bookbag, heading to the bathroom.
"I'm guessing you still know where it is..." he called after her, picking up the pad off paper off the floor. Looking up, he was just in time to catch her flipping him off as she turned on the bathroom light and locked herself inside.
Michael's eyes scanned the paper, revealing what Maria had written. `A conversation implies two people talking and considering the fact that you have taken away my ability to talk you, are subjecting me to a lecture. And as for starting on me again about my Crashdown uniform- BITE ME!' He chuckled. He had forgotten how much he loved driving her crazy. For a while it was one of the only things that permitted him to wake up in the morning. He glanced down the hall to the closed bathroom door. What was taking her so long?
She sat on the covered toliet seat in protest, arms folding at her chest. *I have to get out of here.*
Glancing at the shower stall, she smiled. The window! Pulling her uniform off she grabbed her jeans and tank top out of her backpack. If she was gonna shimmy down the fire escape, her short dress was not the proper atire. She pushed her hair back with a clip she had borrowed off Liz earlier and giggled. *Fool. Did he actually think I would surrender that easily?*
"Maira?" A light knock came on the door. "Are you alright in there?" She grunted a yes and he laid his head against the door. "Oh, and by the way... I melted the window shut before I came to talk to you, so I wouldn't even try to get it open if I were you. It would take you quite a long while. I somehow knew it was gonna go this way." She dropped her arms from the window frame and let her jaw drop as she admired his handy work. "I'll be in the living room when you are ready." She whipped the door open, with a look of defeat on her face. Michael turned to face her from his position halfway down the hall.
"I'm guessing you're now ready." Passing him in the hall she flung her bookbag into his stomach and took her place again on the couch. He groaned and let the bookbag fall into place on the chair and stood again in front of her. "You're right." he began. "I can't very well have a conversation with you whe you can't talk... and besides...I.." bending to eyelevel, he placed his hand on her neck again and she closed her eyes as he filled her once again with the feeling she had experienced less than an hour before. ".. never thought I'd hear myself say this but... I..I miss hearing you talk."
She slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring right into his... and suddenly there was no anger. His hand was still lingering on her neck, covering her chest with the warm presence of part of him touching her again. She hadn't let herself think about it before now. How his touch still sent her close to cermation... not when he took her voice away or even when he had her swung over her shoulder. Where was all the anger that she had inside her. Where was it now, when she most needed it?
"Well... umm... someone's eyes have softened." He stuttered, not able to tear himself away. His hand rested on her upper chest, her skin lingering under his fingers...warming at the touch.
"I think I'm okay now " she mumbled, forcing herself to look away.
"Oh," he said...talking his hand back and standing. He watched her shiver and she ajusted to the lose, he turned and smiled. *Now stupid, tell her why you brought her here.*
He turned to look back at her... her head was down, analysing a hitch in his blanket with her fingers. Her other hand was placed where his was just moments before.
*what's wrong with me? Where's the anger? It was here a few minutes ago.* she picked at the blanket, but she knew why she wasn't angry anymore.* why the hell did I have to look into his eyes!*
"So...I'm guessing you still have to talk to me, soget started." she stated, eyes still fixed on the couch. Michael watched her as she spoke. " Because I have to get home... mom will be ..."
"...waiting?" Michael interupted her. She nodded. He smiled, squating down in front of her, forcing her to look at him. "You're mom's out of town... she left this morning at 7."
She blushed, pulling her eyes away from him again, but he lightly placed his finger on her chin and turned her face back to his... "Don't try to rush me on this DeLuca. I have been going over what to say for the past 34 days..." He smirked. "I'll keep you here till she gets home next week, if need be."
She went white? A week with Michael... after her broke her heart? Forced to stay with him in his little apartment? She couldn't take that... she had to think of something. "I... I.. have to work." she said, his eyes still locked with hers.
"Well see, thanks to your training, Isabelle is quite capable of handling the cafe, if the need arises." She broke his gaze. "but I'm hoping that won't be necessary."
The mention is Isabelle's name made her cringe. She didn't hate her....she knew she was just doing what she was suppose to do to save her planet. It was just the thought of the two of them together was more than she could bear.
"So," Michael started, sensing Maria's sudden discomfort and taking a step back, seating himself on the coffee table. " are you gonna fight me on this or can I talk?"
Maria sighed and leaned slightly forward, pressing her elbows into her knees. Michael took that as an acknowledgement of defeat. "Sure," she said " Only if you start on this now... I'd like to get a shower tonight... and some sleep." She yawned... and Michael took a deep breath.
"Well... umm... I have a shower, as you know... and a bed." he coughed.
Maria furrowed her brow and watched as Michael got all red. "Umm... I don't have a change of clothes... and if I slept in your bed... where would you sleep??"
"On the couch!" He became suddenly flustered. " I mean you could take the bed and I would stay here. This conversation might go on for a while. It's already..." he glanced at his watch. " 11:30. I would want you to go home exhausted."
Maria hid her smile. "Well why don't we start on this now."
Michael took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay... umm.." he sighed. "Maria... I was wrong..."
She let loose the smile she had been hiding, but lost it again as Michael spoke again.
"I was wrong... I don't love you."