Standard stuff:
Title: Consequences
Author: Kathryn C
Rating: this part, I guess PG-13, I'm not sure what the criteria is for
rating.
Category: Mainly Michael/Maria, maybe Isabel/Alex too, but not near as
much.
Disclaimer: I don't own, although I wish I did.
Feedback:Send. Can't emphasize that enough. No matter whether it's
good or bad.
*************
Maria lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. She had a creepy feeling in the pit of her stomach that wouldn't go away. The night had a eerie feel to it. She decided to give it another half an hour before she went to ask her mom for one of her sleeping pills.
She turned her head sharply as she heard a rapping on her window. Slowly, she got up from bed and padded across the room to the closed shades. She wasn't too freaked, she didn't think FBI agents would knock on her window politely.
She pulled up the shades to see Max sitting there, looking grim. As she opened the window she told herself firmly that it was not disappointment she felt right now. She didn't want it to be Michael.
"What are you doing here?" she asked Max as he nearly fell into her room.
"You need to come now," he said, "Quickly. Throw on a sweater and let's go."
"What's going on?" she hissed, wanting to know why he was taking her in the middle of the night, but still preparing to leave.
Max hesitated, then said, "It's Michael."
*****************
Maria ran the length of the gym floor to the circle of people. When Isabel saw her coming, she moved back. Maria saw Michael collapsed on the ground, covered in a white film similar to the one he had been in before.
Raising her hand to her mouth in surprise, she ignored Isabel, another man standing there, and fell to her knees beside the unconscious Michael.
She tried to brush it from his face, but it wouldn't budge. She turned a frightened look to Max who had approached more slowly. "Can't you do something?" she pleaded. "Some ritual, some power, something?"
Max shook his head. "We can't do anything," he said hoarsely. "It's beyond our control."
He closed his eyes, and shook his head. "We just brought you to say goodbye," he said ever so quietly.
She turned back to Michael, frightened. As she rested a hand on his white cheek, she shook her head. "No," she repeated over and over, "No, this won't happen. There has to be something. He has to be allright!"
Isabel knelt down beside Maria and rested a hand on her shoulder. "We can't," she said gently, in a sad voice. "We don't know exactly what's going to happen, but we know we can't stop it. This white stuff will likely end up suffocating him or something. Either way, he won't be waking up."
A tear slid down Maria's cheek. She refused to accept what Isabel was saying. "There has to be something, there has to be a way. We didn't think it would be allright last time, and then River Dog showed us."
"There is no miracle this time," Max said. He tried to conceal the pain in his voice, but Isabel turned her head as she heard the deep sadness her brother was feeling.
"I don't mean to be insensitive," the man who had saved them said. He had remained quiet all this time, "But, I need to go soon. I can't be caught here with you."
"Who are you that you can't be seen with us?" Max asked.
"I'm with the FBI," he said, which caused Isabel's head to whirl.
"I'm not here to hurt you," he said, reassuring them, "I mean, I am a member of the unit designed to capture you, but that's not my purpose. I know everything about you from Topolsky. I was the only one she trusted in the unit before she died. I gave you the stone and...."
Maria had totally tuned out on what the man was saying. She repeatedly stroked Michael's nearly oblivious face, just wanting to keep contact with him, afraid he would disappear if she looked away.
"You have to wake up," she said gently as the two aliens talked to the agent. "You don't have a choice here Michael."
"I know we've had our problems, and I still haven't forgiven you, but right now that doesn't mean a goddamn thing. You see, I'm not above begging here. Even if I hadn't been ready to accept you into my life after what you did, I can't handle you not being around at all. I'm ashamed to tell you this Michael, but I need you." Maria said the words as she held her eyes fixed on Michael's face. He had been breathing shallowly until this point when he let out a sharp gasp. Maria's heart stopped, praying he was waking up, when she realized he was just gasping for breath. It seemed another layer of the white stuff had covered him.
Maria refused to let herself cry. She refused to accept the fact that Michael may perish. No matter how much he had hurt her in the past, no matter what he might do in the future, it was all irrelevant now. Despite it all, she still loved him.
Gently, she leaned over and placed s soft kiss on his barely visible mouth. The white stuff clung for a moment to her lips as she pulled back.
***********
Michael was in a place where it was all blackness. It was like a dream, but a little more realistic. Nothing felt real, and all he could see was an endless blackness, save for a white speck of light in the distance that seemed to be getting larger and larger.
He didn't seem to have the energy to move, not that it would matter, he couldn't see where to go. He felt like his arms and legs were pinned down.
He felt very sleepy, and the approaching light seemed like a comforting night-light. He was about to close his eyes and just go to sleep when he felt a gentle pressure on his lips. It was sort of like a kiss.
He forced his eyes open to see Maria sitting there beside him. She had a sad expression on her face, and was just staring down at him. Somewhere in the back of his tired mind, he realized that she wasn't all that real. He could sort of see through her and everything. She was like a dream.
He waited for her to lean over and kiss him again, but it never happened. She didn't reach for him at all.
All he wanted was to hold her close to him, and wipe the mournful expression from her face. All his body wanted to do was lie there, perfectly still, and go to sleep, but what he wanted was to touch her.
It took all his willpower, but Michael forced his arms up from his sides.
*************
Maria rested her hand on the unconscious Michael's chest after she kissed him. The white film covered his whole face except his eyes, which still remained closed. It bound his arms to his sides and covered the rest of him.
She closed her eyes, trying to blink back the tears. For all she really knew, he was dead already. Suffocated by that cocoon.
Her eyes flew open when she felt a hand cover hers. She found herself staring right into Michael's eyes. One hand had broken through the film, and his other was weakly trying to clear the stuff from his mouth.
He had saved himself and the stuff that nearly killed him was now little more than cotton stretched over his body.
TBC......and wrapped up quite soon.
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