Author: Christina [email protected]
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing at all.
Summary: Michael and Maria take another road trip on another one of Michael's vision quests.
Author's Notes: This is my first fanfic, FEEDBACK would be appreciated
Maria DeLuca walked to her bathroom and began to run the water in the bath tub. It had been cold outside tonight so she decided to make it extra hot, hoping to remove some of the chill that had settled in her bones. She sat on the toilet seat, elbows resting on knees, and watched the smoky tendrils of steam rise from the tub. When it was half filled, she added some lavender scented bath salts and breathed in the calming and luxurious scent.
Overall, her day had gone pretty well. She had received an A on her algebra mid-term, survived her second performance with her band, and she hadn't thought about Michael Guerin all day, well at least not as much as usual. She knew that this bath would be a perfect ending to a great day.
She removed her matching silver mini-skirt halter set and her black panties and tossed them to a pile on the floor. She then placed one painted toe into the fragrant water.
Once she was satisfied that it wasn't too hot, she stepped in and sank her entire body into the heavenly bath and closed her eyes, allowing herself to totally relax.
She took her pumice sponge and squeezed a generous amount of vanilla scented body scrub on to it. She then created a lather by running the sponge around in between her hands, and proceeded to run it over her body.
The combined scent of vanilla and lavender was absolutely marvelous. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this relaxed. It had to be before the day of the shooting at the Crashdown. That was the last day her life could be considered normal. After that, pandemonium had ensued and her life had changed forever. Though it was a lot more scary and dangerous, Maria had to admit to herself that she wouldn't change it for the world.
She loved the excitement. She was happy that her life had suddenly become interesting. And if even for a short time, she had gotten to be close Michael Guerin. *No*, she told herself, *I wouldn't change it for the galaxy. Or any other galaxies for that matter.*
Overall, she was happy with her life. She felt bad that Liz was in such pain, and that her heart had been irrevocably crushed since the night of her blind date, but with the exception of that, she felt good.
The record people were going crazy over her band for one thing, and her and Michael had a civil friendship which, though not exactly what she wanted, was better than nothing.
Yeah, life was pretty good.
Sometime later, Maria found herself beginning to fall asleep in the bath. She knew then that it was time to get out. She pulled out the plug from the tub and stood up, turning on the shower for a few moments to wash and rinse off the dirty bath water.
She took a towel and began rubbing herself dry when she heard the knock. It was close, like it was coming from inside the house. Maria knew that should have been impossible; it had been past one a.m. when she had gotten home, and her mother was out of town at some preservation convention. She put her short silk robe over her still wet body and cautiously left the bathroom.
She grabbed her pepper-spray key-chain off of her dresser, exited her bedroom and began to descend the stairs when she hear the knock again. Her shoulders tensed. How could it be possible that the knock was coming from behind her? She slowly walked back into her bedroom, and waited to her the knock again.
And then she heard it. It was more insistent this time and it was coming from her window. *Who the hell would be outside my window at...* she looked at the clock * 1:45 in the morning?* she asked herself. She inched closer and gasped when she saw who it was.
She quickly opened the window. "Michael? What in the hell are you doing here?"
She helped pull him through the tiny window. His foot caught on the ledge and he tripped into her, his arms wrapping around her waist. He began to straighten up and found himself staring face to face with her. He froze. She smelled of some heavenly sweet scent and her warm, damp body felt so soft. She looked up at him with her desire filled eyes and he began to move in to meet her full, lush lips when he realized what he was doing and stopped himself. He ungraciously muttered sorry, and turned around.
"This is your room?" he asked, trying to make a change in the awkward situation.
"Yeah, obviously it's my room. What's wrong with it?" she asked, trying not to let the disappointment in her voice evident. "Wait, how did you know it was my room?"
"Lucky guess," he grumbled, not wanting her to know that he watched her sometimes. "I never guessed you to have such a girly room with...stuffed animals and posters of boy bands," he said, openly scowling.
"Well, I guess there's a lot you don't know about me," She said sadly, and then hardened her voice. "Wait, back to my original question. What the hell are you doing here at two in the morning?"
Maria turned on a lamp and his eyes began to adjust to new light. It was then that he took real notice of her lack of dress. She was wearing a short white silk robe with embroidered flowers on it. It clung tightly in all of the right places and there were small beads of water on her bare legs and arms. She looked so amazing to him right then. So beautiful that he almost forgot his purpose for being there. *Stop thinking with your...energy source and focus, man* he told himself.
Maria melted at the way he was staring her up and down, and tried to fight the heat rising to her face. *Great girl,* she scolded herself, *he's already broken your heart once, are you stupid enough to let it happen again?* She took one good look at his face, so beautiful it could have been the creation of an artist, and at his body which was dressed in tight black jeans which she was sure he had to peel off at night, and a tight black t-shirt which clung so tightly to each and every one of his well developed muscles, and then answered herself *Well, maybe a little physical play can't hurt...that bad.* She brought herself back to the present and cleared her throat waiting for a response.
"What are you doing right now?" he asked, realizing how stupid that sounded, but having to ask anyway.
Maria's eyes widened in disbelief and she said "Uh, well I was getting ready to go to bed, you know, since it's oh, I don't know, two a.m. and we have school in the morning. And I know that it isn't important to you but some of us would like to eventually graduate."
Michael narrowed his eyes and glared at her. "Well fine, forget it! I'm sorry that I thought I could come to you. I'll get the hell out of your hair, okay?" He turned and began to let himself out of the window when Maria's voice stopped him.
"Come to me with what?"
"No, forget it! You wan't to go to sleep!"
She grabbed his arm and roughly pulled him around to face her. "Michael, quit being an asshole and tell me. Now, I repeat, come to me with what?"
"I learned of a new sighting tonight and I wanted to check it out. I thought maybe you'd be up for another road trip, since it was sort-of okay last time. Now I see I was being stupid," he said, an semi-annoyed, semi- hopeful look playing on his face.
"A road trip to where?" she asked cautiously.
"Sedona."
"Sedona? Where's that?"
"Arizona."
"Arizona?!! Are you crazy? That's like seven hours away?"
"Forget it!" Michael yelled. "I'll find another car and go by myself. Have a good night. Sorry to disturb you."
Maria sighed. She knew that she would go to the moon if he asked her, she just hadn't wanted to give in so easily. She once again stopped him with her voice. "Wait, I'll go. Just let me get dressed."
~~~~~~~~~~
"I should have known better," Michael growled to himself, and honked the horn again. It was forty-five minutes later and Maria still wasn't ready to go. He had been waiting in the driver's seat of the Jetta for ten minutes already, and was getting incredibly impatient.
Her head popped out of the front door just then and she said through gritted teeth, "Just a few more seconds!"
Michael leaned out the window, gave her an incredulous look and said angrily, "Yeah, well you said that ten minutes ago, and the ten minutes before that and the ten minutes before that. Hurry your ass up, now! We're only going to be gone for a few days."
Maria glared at him for a second and then dashed back inside, grabbed her stuff, pulled the door shut behind her and locked it. She opened the passenger door and pulled the seat forward to place the two bags of clothing and supplies she had brought in the back seat.
Michael watched her the entire time, his scowl transforming into a smirk . When Maria finally sat down in her seat, she looked over at him, noticed his expression. "What?" she demanded. "What's so damn amusing?"
Michael looked quickly back to the two large bags she had stowed in the back seat and then back at her. "Do you always bring enough stuff to last a week when you leave town for a couple of days?" he asked.
"Wait a minute here, Spaceboy! Don't treat me like I'm the freak here - like I'm just overreacting- because if I remember right, the last time we went on a road trip together, we had nothing. No blankets, no pillows, nada! And it had been very uncomfortable. If it hadn't been for the nasty nookie motel, we probably would have frozen to death in the car. Now I've learned my lesson. I may be going with you on this trip, but you're crazy if you think I'm going anywhere with you without some kind of emergency kit."
Michael took a deep breath, started the car and began driving, and then said, "Well then, so what did you bring?"
Maria raised her open palmed hand and began going down the line on her fingers. "Well, let's see...some clean clothes, bath stuff, water, food, flashlights, blankets, pillows, and...oh yeah, an atlas with a map of Northern Arizona. Oh hell, that reminds me. Can we stop at the ATM on our way out of town?" she asked.
He groaned. "Why in the hell do we need to go to an ATM?"
"Because I am not staying in another two-bit nookie room. I have some cash on me, but I'll take some more out of my account. That way we don't have to worry about food or gas or whatever. Unless you want to finance this little trip," she paused and looked at him questioningly, he shook his head. "Than fine you will take me to the ATM and stop bitching about it. Okay buster?"
Michael shook his head slightly and rolled his eyes. "Fine! Whatever." He knew she was right. It's not like he could really afford to pay for everything, not with Hank squandering all of the money the state sends him for alcohol.
"Good. Nice to know you see things my way," she threw him a sweet smile. "So," she said, changing the subject, "do you know which way we need to go?"
"Of course! We need to go to Albuquerque and take Interstate 40 towards Arizona," he said, in a voice that was intended to be a growl, but came out sounding defeated.
Maria put her hand up, palms facing him and said "Okay, okay. Just checking." Then she turned and began looking out the window into the dark nothing. ***** Forty-five minutes later, after a quick trip to an ATM and the gas station right outside of town, Michael and Maria were making their way to Albuquerque. Michael was driving and Maria was snoring lightly in the passenger seat. He was already bored and getting restless, and knew he still had an incredible long drive ahead of him. It would be especially boring if Maria slept the whole time.
He had to admit to himself that the true reason he invited her was to be close to her. There was nothing more fun than provoking her to lose her temper with him. She was like a slightly ruffled baby chick when she got mad; helpless, vulnerable, but an unrelentingly attempt to be strong. He loved seeing her mad, seeing that furious smoldering look in her eyes when he knew he was truly pissing her off. She always looked so cute when she was mad and he discovered that he couldn't help himself from trying to irk her more. Then again, he loved seeing the other smoldering look he had seen not nearly enough times; the look of passion and desire in her eyes when they had been together; when they kissed, when they touched.
Michael sighed heavily at the memory of their passionate times together in the Crashdown and the eraser room, and the frustration of knowing that they could never be like that again. As much as he wanted it, he knew that it could never be. It was a rule, one of the rules the he, Max and Isabel had made when they realized that they were beginning to get certain urges. And before Maria, the sweet, angelic temptress, had come into his life, he had been the one to always make sure that both Max and Isabel stuck to it. Now he wasn't so sure that it should be that way anymore. *No, it was the right thing,* Michael told himself.
Several times, he found himself stealing glances at her sleeping form and thinking to himself how she may look cute when she was mad, but she looked absolutely angelic when she slept, despite the sickly green light that washed over her from the clock on the radio. He found it odd that he never got tired of looking at her; this wasn't the first time he had seen her sleeping. There had been several nights since the party at the old soap factory that he had come to her house and watched her sleep; it was one of the only times that there was no pain lingering in her eyes whenever he was in her presence. He never got tired of watching her. He had found that watching her sleep was the safest way to look at her without the possibility of betraying his true feelings.
It was another hour before Maria woke up. Her hair was all ruffled on one side of her head and again he was reminded of a baby chick.
"Hey," she said groggily as she sat up and attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes.
"Hey, how'd you sleep?" he asked. He looked over at her again and noticed that she was looking at him with a slight smile playing on her full lips, and that she looked slightly flushed. "What hell are you smiling about?' he asked, his narrow eyes scrutinizing her.
Maria's smile faded and she looked down to her hands in her lap and said "I just had a really good dream."
"What?" he asked even though he had heard her.
Her head shot up and she leaned in closer to him. "I - just - had - a - really - good - dream," she repeated as if he were hard of hearing.
He felt his temper start to flare and he said "I'm not deaf Maria, I just didn't hear you."
"Well buddy, maybe you should take the shit our of your ears next time," she glared at him and then smiled sarcastically.
"Well, maybe you should sh..." Michael started but Maria interrupted him.
"Just shut up okay? It's too early to deal with your shit, " she stretched and yawned and then asked if he knew where they were.
He sighed and said "Were just outside of Albuquerque. We'll be there in about ten minutes."
"Good," Maria said quietly and then turned to look out her window. The memory of her dream returned to her then and she couldn't help the smile from returning to her face. Wow! Her dream had been so hot and steamy. She sighed dreamily at the memory of her and Michael's entwined, naked bodies and how happy the dream Maria had been with the dream Michael.
It was then that the idea popped into her head. She had been spending the last agonizing month thinking of how she could get Michael back, doing everything from insisting she had moved on, buying a breast- augmentation bra to get his attention, and even pretending she had dates with older guys. None of it had worked. But this dream was a source of inspiration for her.
*Oh yeah,* she told herself. *I'm going to get him back and I know exactly how I'm going to do it!*