| "SOMETHING REAL" AUTHOR: KAERECE E-MAIL: VERYBEHRY@NETSCAPE.NET CATEGORY: MICHAEL / LIZ RATING: Starts out PG-13 but will progress to NC-17 after part three -SO BEWARE- AUTHOR'S NOTES: There are no spoilers in here. I started writing this at the beginning of the season, but I never got around to finishing it. The recent increase in Polar fics convinced me to dust it off and give it another try. I hope you like it. This is my first attempt at fanfic so I would be eternally grateful for any feedback - good or bad. Just try to keep the flames to a minimum please - i' m a fragile girl! J/K DISCLAIMER: Obviously I don't own Roswell or I would be sitting in Covina ogling the talent instead of wasting my time surfing the net. All praise falls solely at the feet of Jason Katims and Melinda Metz. I own nothing. (Though I would love to get my hot little hands on Jason Behr and Brendan Fehr!!!!!) Liz was getting fed up. There were too many tourists in town and the cafe had been packed since she started her shift after school. She had been messing up orders all night and the customers were being typically rude. She couldn't concentrate. Maria had been looking at her strangely all night and even Michael was throwing concerned glances her way from behind the grill. She knew they were wondering what was going on with her. She hadn't been herself for weeks. She just wanted to get out of there for a few minutes. She needed to take a break and try to pull herself together. "Maria, I'm taking my break," she said as she pushed through the door to the backroom, sending it slamming against the wall. She kept walking straight out the door to the alley behind the restaurant and leaned against the wall with a sigh of relief. 'God, I have to stop this!' She didn't know what to do. All she could think about anymore was Michael and she didn't know how to stop. Working with him everyday was torture. She was constantly tense and irritable. Maria had been trying to get her to talk for weeks, but she couldn't talk to her about this. Maria thought she was upset about Max; she couldn't tell her that she was falling hard for Michael. Even though they had been broken up for months, she knew that Maria still had some feelings for Michael. They had managed to become friends after awhile, but Liz knew that she still cared about him. Unfortunately she didn't know how much. Since she had started having these feelings for him, Liz had tried to avoid the subject of Michael when she talked to Maria. She was afraid to find out if Maria was really over him like she claimed. What if she wasn't? Then what? Maria was her best friend. She couldn't give that up, but God, she wanted him so much! Hot tears streaked slowly down her cheeks and she slid down the wall until she was sitting on the hard pavement. This was so hard. How come she was always wanting things she could never really have? First Max and now Michael. Obviously, she had an obsession with alien hybrids. Liz laughed quietly. Life would be so much simpler if she could just fall in love with someone from her own planet. She leaned her head back against the brick wall and closed her eyes. She sat there for a long time lost in thought and didn't even hear the door open when Michael came out to put the trash in the dumpster. As he turned back toward the door, he saw Liz sitting on the ground with her head leaning against the wall and her eyes closed. She was so still he almost thought she was sleeping, but when he walked closer he saw the tear tracks on her face and wondered for the millionth time what was going on with her lately. He crouched down in front of her and slowly reached out and touched her wet cheek. "Liz?" he said softly. Her head snapped up and her eyes flew open. "Michael!" "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He dropped his hand from her cheek self-conciously. "No, it...it's okay," she said softly. Her heart was beating wildly from the touch of his hand on her face and the close proximity of their bodies. He was so close she could touch him without hardly moving at all and she wanted to so badly that she couldn't see straight. She lifted a shaky hand to her face and wiped the tears from cheeks. Wow, this was embarassing. She must look awful. It figures that Michael would be the one to see her like this. There was definitely no justice in the world. "Are you okay?" Nice going, moron. Obviously she's not okay. "I mean do you want me to go get Maria or something?" "No!....I mean, no i'm fine. You don't need to get Maria." The last thing she wanted to do right now was try to explain to Maria why she was sitting in the alley crying like an idiot. Not to mention the fact that this was probably about as close as she'd ever been to Michael physically and she did not want him to leave yet. "Okay, I won't get Maria, but Liz, obviously something is going on with you and you should talk to someone." Michael was confused about her reluctance to talk to her best friend. She always told Maria everything. What the hell was going on? "I will...just not right now, okay," Liz said quietly and laid her head on her raised knees to avoid Michael's questioning stare. She had to get this under control, they were starting to get suspicous. God, all she wanted right now was for Michael to touch her again. She wished she had the nerve to touch him. She wanted to know what his skin felt like. What it tasted like. Whoa, she had to quit thinking like this before she completely humiliated herself. She groaned softly. Michael didn't know what to do, she looked so sad. He had the sudden urge to comfort her, but he wasn't sure how she would react. He wasn't exactly known for his sensitivity and they had never really been that close. He knew that was his fault. Liz had tried to talk to him many times, but he always ignored her or pushed her away with some rude remark. He was afraid to let her get too close. He had been somehow drawn to her since Max first pointed her out in the third grade. But she had always seemed to have this label that said property of Max Evans in bold letters and Max was his best friend; the closest thing he had to family. So he had avoided her at every opportunity. Besides, he was certain that the perfect Liz Parker would never be interested in someone like him.They were complete opposites. She belonged with someone like Max. He just sat there silently for a few minutes until he heard her groan and then he reached out instinctively and grabbed her arms, pulling her towards him. "Come here." He was surprised when she practically leapt into his arms. He had expected resistance, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him tightly. Michael carefully slid his arms around her waist and hugged her to him. It was very awkward in their current position so he stood up and gently pulled her to her feet keeping his arms wrapped around her. She pressed herself closer to him and he had to bite back a moan at the intense feeling that flooded through him. She felt so good and she fit perfectly in his arms. Her head was resting on his shoulder and he leaned down and brushed his cheek against her hair. It was incredibly soft and silky and smelled like warm vanilla. He squeezed her tighter and took a deep breath to try to slow his racing heart. He had never wanted to kiss someone so badly in his life. Liz was in heaven. She had never been this close to Michael before and he felt so amazing. She wanted to run her hands over his smooth skin and feel the hard muscles underneath. Of course she knew that was out of the question, but maybe she could get away with a little bit of subtle touching. This was too good an opportuniy to pass up completely even if she couldn't do what she really wanted to. She slowly turned her head and pressed her face against his neck. Her lips lightly brushed his skin as she moved. Hopefully he didn't notice, but if he did he would probably think it was an accident. Her lips were tingling from the light contact and she had to resist the urge to press her open mouth to his neck and find out what his skin tasted like. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. He smelled incredible, like soap and sweat and something indescribable that was just Michael. She wanted to stay here and breathe him in forever. Michael squeezed his eyes shut tightly and tried desperately to reign in his raging hormones. 'Think about something else-think about Max or Maria or anything, but how good she feels' he told himself. His body seemed to have cut off all communication with his brain. Shit! Michael's entire body tensed as Liz's mouth brushed lightly across the sensitive skin of his neck. It felt like a bolt of electricity shot through him and he could feel every cell in his body heat up. This was wrong, he knew he should do something. Step back; go get Maria; anything, before he did something he was going to regret. He knew that, but he couldn't seem to make himself let go of her. He had never been this close to her and he had always wondered what it would feel like to hold her. It was different than he had imagined. He had thought that she would feel good in his arms, but he had never expected it to be like this. It was like every nerve in his body had jumped to attention the moment he touched her. In the back of his mind he had always known that he felt admiration and attraction and maybe even love for the tiny brunette, but now he was completely blindsided by an intense wave of desire and longing. He had never actually thought of Liz in a sexual context. Somehow she had always seemed so innocent and sweet that perhaps he had felt it would be disrespectful in some way. Or maybe he was just afraid. He had always tried to keep up his defenses around her. He had learned very early in life not to expect anything good to happen to him. Growing up with an abusive alcoholic as your only family (if it could even be considered that) had taught him not to get his hopes up about things. Nothing he had ever wanted had been given to him. It was easier just to pretend that he didn't want anything at all and save himself the inevitable disappointment. He snapped out of his silent reverie as he felt her warm hand softly stroking the bare skin of his lower back underneath his t-shirt. Whoa! Underneath his t-shirt? What the hell was she doing? "Um, Liz?" She lifted her head and looked at him with glazed eyes as he stared down at her with a confused and slightly wary expression on his face. He had no idea what was going on and he was starting to get nervous. He had the strange feeling that he had somehow landed in an alternate universe. There was no way in hell that this what it seemed like. Liz Parker could not possibly be coming on to him, it was crazy to even think it. So then why was her hand under his shirt? 'Oh my God! What am I doing? He's going to think I've lost it. I can't believe I just put my hand up the back of his shirt. This is so not good.' She slowly slid her hand off his back and let it drop to her side. 'How the heck am I going to explain this,' she thought frantically. If it was anyone else such a small gesture could probably be blown off fairly easily, but this was Michael; he wasn't exactly the type of guy that you could be randomly physical with. He was not going to buy some lame excuse. Damn. "Um.....I..i'm sorry I do-don't know what I was thinking..." She looked around nervously avoiding the tall alien's intense stare. Oh God, how do I get myself into these situations? What the hell was I thinking! She stood there afraid to move, waiting for his reaction. Would he be angry? Would he just pretend that it didn't happen and go back to ignoring her like he usually did? She was scared out of her mind that he was going to demand some kind of an explanation. What could she tell him? There was definitely no way in hell that she was going to confess to having feelings for him. Nuh uh, not gonna happen. Michael wasn't sure what to say. Should he ask her what she had thought she was doing or should he just drop it? She was obviously very uncomfortable, but she hadn't moved away and that was confusing him even more. Maybe she had thought he was Max for a second or maybe it had just been an unconcious reaction. She was clearly very upset about something and he had been trying to comfort her; maybe she had just gotten confused about who was holding her? If that was the case though, why was she still holding onto him? Wouldn't she have stepped away when she remembered who he was? He didn't know what to think and the more he tried to figure it out the more confused he became. He just needed to get away from her right now and after he managed to calm his body down he could try to think about this rationally. With that thought in mind he abruptly stepped back away from her. "I better get back in there before people start rioting for their food." He turned quickly towards the back entrance of the cafe just wanting to put some distance between them before he lost his mind and gave into the temptation to grab her and kiss her until neither one of them could breathe. Ugh! Why is my life always so damn complicated? He pulled the door open and started to step through before turning briefly to look at the girl standing behind him. She had wrapped her arms around herself as though she were cold and she was shaking slightly. He had to repress the urge to go back and slide his arms around her again. He took a deep breath. "Are you going to be okay out here?" he asked quietly. He didn't know why, but he suddenly didn't want to leave her out here alone. "Yeah...I'm fine. Go ahead," she said softly. She watched him turn back towards the door and wished more than anything that she was back in his arms. "Michael?" He stopped and turned to face her again. "Yeah?" "Thank you," she whispered . Michael looked at her for a moment and then nodded his head slightly and walked into the restaurant closing the door quietly behind him. |