Michael couldn't help sneaking glances at Maria as he drove them to their destination. He had noticed that her skirt kept sliding up her slim thighs as she twisted in her seat trying to guess where they were headed and he was having trouble keeping his eyes off of her. 'Focus on the road. Focus on the road.' He repeated the mantra in his head forcing himself to keep his eyes on the road ahead. 'I don't want to kill us both, although I'll probably want to kill myself if she says no.' Michael thought miserably.
"Come on, Michael. Tell me. Where are we going?" Maria's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"I've already told you, it's a surprise. We'll be there soon." He answered without looking at his girlfriend. He knew if he looked at her he'd probably cave in and tell her but he didn't want to miss the look on her face when she realised where they were.
'Dammit, why won't he tell me?' Maria slowly moved and scooted over to sit closer to Michael resting her head on his shoulder and placing her hand on his thigh rubbing it back and forth.
"Cut it out, Maria." Michael said laughing. "You're not going to get round me that easily. Why don't you keep looking out the window and see if you can guess where we're going?"
"Okay, fine. Just don't think you're getting any tonight, honey." She replied sarcastically moving away from him.
'Great. Just f**king great.' Michael thought. "Maria, baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just......I just want tonight to be perfect and where I'm taking you is.....well, it's kinda significant."
Maria felt a little bad after he said that and so scooched back over to where she had been sitting and placed her hand back on his thigh. "No, I'm sorry, Spaceboy. You know how impatient I can be. It means a lot that you've planned this date. I just can't wait to get started, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Michael replied placing his hand over hers resting on his thigh and intertwined their fingers.
As they drove on further Maria recognised their surroundings and all of a sudden let out a squeal of excitement. "Oh my God. I know where we are. I can't believe you remembered that."
Michael pulled the car over and turned the ignition off. He turned in his seat and looking into Maria's eyes smiled at her. "Of course I remember, Maria. Come on, I want to show you something."
Michael opened his door and got out of the car, walking round to Maria's side and opening the door for her. She took his offered hand and got out of the car closing the door behind her. He led her to a small clearing where lights hung from a few of the surrounding trees and a blanket was laid on the ground with a picnic basket in the middle of it.
Maria was too choked to speak and so instead threw her arms around Michael's neck and hugged him tight. After a few moments she spoke, "I can't believe you've done this, Michael. It's perfect." She raised up on her toes and kissed him.
Michael pulled away before they got carried away as they usually did. "Okay, remember before we left your place that I said tonight was about us making a fresh start." Maria nodded yes. "Well, I think before we can do that and move on we need to really talk about everything."
Michael, knowing that this conversation could go on for a while, decided they would be more comfortable sitting down and so he walked over leading Maria to where the blanket was laid out and moved the picnic basket over to the side. He then slowly sat down and motioned for Maria to do the same, which she did. She sat across from him and took both his hands in hers, gently rubbing her thumbs back and forth. When he was sure they were comfortable, Michael continued.
"'Ria, when you said what you did that night, it made me realise just how much you cared about me. For a while after that night when I came to you, you know after all that crap with Hank, I was worried that you only helped me because you felt sorry for me and......I didn't want that. But that night when we came out here I knew it wasn't pity you were feeling. On the journey here I found out you came along to somehow protect me because you knew I wasn't going to tell Max and Isabel what I was planning on doing, giving them a chance to talk me out of it. You said something that made me realise just how much I had been kidding myself about whatever it was we were doing. I'd always held you at arms length, made you think you were only someone to make out with, but now I had the words that I'd probably always wanted to hear and I was glad it was you that said it."
"After that everything just seemed to go crazy with the whole Destiny thing and I ended up pushing you away. I knew you were hurting but I kept my feelings hidden except to tell you I was trying to keep you safe." Michael paused for a moment and just took in Maria's face, seeing all the love she felt for him and knowing it was reflected on his own face.
"The reason I've brought you out here is because I want our fresh start to begin here, tonight. I know it's not exactly where everything started for us but I do think it's a pretty significant place. So, what do you say Maria?"
Michael closed his eyes trying to hold back the tears that had gathered, willing them not to fall. He suddenly felt Maria's hand on his cheek caressing him gently. She then moved her hand to the back of his neck drawing her mouth close to his ear and whispered,
"Ditto, Michael."
Part 3