| SOMETHING REAL- PART 2 Michael was off for the next two days dealing with some type of 'otherworldly' business. Liz didn't know what it was about and she didn't ask anyone. Ever since she returned from her summer in Florida she had tried to distance herself from the aliens, or more accurately, from Max. Over the months since her return they had slowly given up on trying to include her and she was now just a fringe member of the 'I know an alien club'. They came to her occasionally if it was something they needed her help with or to alert her to any new dangers that happened to pop up, but she no longer attended their so called meetings. She missed seeing him at work. It was really the only place she was able to be around him these days since she didn't hang out with the aliens anymore and they didn't have any classes together at school. She hoped whatever was going on wasn't serious. Maria had let it slip that he was out of town, but she hadn't seemed overly concerned so Liz figured he was probably just looking for more clues. She was nervous about facing him after the other night. Hopefully he would just let it slide and pretend nothing had happened, but you could never tell with Michael. She couldn't read him like she could Max. He was so closed off most of the time. She was pretty sure that if he did suspect that she had feelings for him, he would probably avoid talking to her about it at all costs. Michael was definitely not the sensitive 'tell me how you feel' type like Max. She knew from Maria that getting him to discuss anything of that nature was next to impossible. Ugh. She hated this. She was not used to hiding her feelings. She was normally very up front about how she felt about things, but this time the situation was just too complicated and fear of the possible repercussions kept her silent. God, all of this would be so much easier if she knew how Michael felt about her. She might be willing to risk the wrath of her friends if she really thought she had a chance with him. Actually, she might be willing to risk it either way if things didn't change soon, just to end the uncertainty. If she didn't find out one way or the other soon, she could very possibly find herself a resident in a padded room. Well, maybe it wasn't quite THAT bad...yet. Liz looked up from her spot behind the counter when she heard the ding of the bell as the door opened. She bit back an irritated groan as Max and Isabel walked in and sat down in their favorite booth. She was so not in the mood to deal with Max right now. Even though she had tried to remain friends with him in the wake of their tumultuous relationship it was a shaky friendship at best. Max somehow always managed to make her feel like he was just indulging her. Biding his time. As though her breaking up with him had just been a minor rebellion against fate and she would eventually come to her senses. She fervently hoped that it was just her overactive imagination playing tricks on her and that Max wasn't actually waiting for her to go running back to him. If he was he would be waiting for a very long time. She sighed heavily, wishing that she hadn't sent Maria home when it had gotten slow after the dinner rush. Now she was going to have to wait on them herself. Oh, joy. "Hey, guys. What can I get for you?" she said with forced cheerfulness. Max was staring at her intently and didn't seem to hear her question. Isabel cleared her throat to get his attention and he immediately lowered his gaze to the table top as his faced turned red with embarassment. "Um...I'll have a Will Smith burger, an order of saturn rings and a cherry coke, please," he mumbled quietly, still staring at the table as if it was the most fascinating thing on earth. Concern flashed across Isabel's face as she looked at her brother's sullen expression. She finally glanced up at Liz and smiled faintly in apology for Max's distracted behavior. "I'll just have some fries and a Blood of Alien smoothie, Liz." She grimaced slightly as she said the name. Now it was Liz's turn to smile in apology. "I've been trying to get dad to change that," she said with a sympathetic and embarassed shrug. "I'll be right back with your drinks," she said nervously as she turned toward the kitchen. Liz walked through the door to the back room and stopped barely far enough into the room to avoid being hit by the swinging door behind her. She covered her face with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. She could feel a monster of a headache coming on and she was narrowly avoiding screaming loudly in frustration. She didn't want to deal with any of this right now. She was too stressed about Michael. Her nerves were stretched to the breaking point and she just wanted him to hurry up and get back so she could stop worrying about it. The suspense was driving her crazy. She took a deep breath and sighed anxiously. She didn't have time to think about this right now, she needed to get back to work. God, she hated her life. "I seem to have a knack for catching you at a bad time, lately," a deep, husky voice said evenly. Liz's head snapped up and she found herself staring straight into Michael's beautiful brown eyes. They were deep and mysterious. For a long moment she just stared into them mesmerized. Michael was back. It was like her heart gave a huge sigh of relief. He had never looked better to her than at that very moment. She hadn't realized how desperately she had missed him. "Michael," she sighed breathlessly. Liz automatically moved towards him and then stopped as her anxiety over confronting him rushed to the fore again. Oh God, what should she say? He didn't seem angry, in fact he was smiling slightly. She stood still, unsure what her next move should be. Was he smiling because he was happy to see her? Maybe he was just glad to be back. She shouldn't read anything into it, right? "You're home...I-I mean..back..." she stuttered. She could feel her face flushing red with embarassment. Damn. When did she become such a fumbling idiot?! "Yeah. I didn't find what I was looking for so I decided I better get back to work before you find a new cook," he said with a low laugh. "Oh. You know we wouldn't do that, Michael. Your not an easy man to replace." Where the hell did that come from? Great, Liz thought, I think I just discovered a brand new shade of red. Michael just looked at her with raised eyebrows and his patented smirk. "That's good to know." He laughed. She stepped toward him again. "Um look, Michael...I uh..I just wanted to tell you that i'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, you know...the other night..." She trailed off uncertainly. "You didn't." "Really?" "Yes, really." "Um...okay. So...are you here to work, because you're not scheduled until tomorrow." This was sooo wierd! Michael was like actually being friendly-Michael was never friendly. At least, not to her. "I know, I just stopped by to pick up something for dinner. I haven't had time to go shopping this week and there's a serious lack of food at my place. I thought I'd just grab something to go before I head home." He smiled and started to walk past her towards the dining room. "Wait!" Liz grabbed his arm as he passed her and spun around to face him. She couldn't leave it at that. She was suddenly so tired of hiding how she felt. She just wanted to talk to him about it and get it out in the open now. Keeping it a secret was tearing her up inside and in a flash she finally realized that she needed to fix her life, right now, before things got any worse. And that meant resolving her issues with Michael, no matter what the outcome. It was time to make some decisions. If Michael didn't want her she needed to know that so she could get on with her life. Liz snapped out of her little mental pep talk to find Michael staring down at her with a confused and slightly impatient look on his face. "What?" "Um, I uh...look, Michael, I.." Dammit! If she kept acting like a moron he'd never be interested in her. She took a deep breath and tried to summon a confident smile. "Michael, I have something I really need to talk to you about. It's important," she said seriously. "Well, can it wait? I'm starving and I really want to get home." "Please, Michael? I really need to do this now, before I change my mind." What could she possibly need to talk to me about that was so important, Michael wondered. For some reason, he was suddenly getting very nervous. What if she'd noticed the way he kept staring at her, lately? What if she wanted to confront him about it? "My shift ends in about 15 minutes, will you wait for me? Please?" Liz pleaded nervously. "Fine. It'll probably take Jose that long to cook my food anyway." "Thank you, Michael," Liz said with relief as she let out the breath she hadn't even realized she was holding. Liz turned back toward the dining room quickly so he wouldn't see the rediculous grin she was suddenly sporting. She grabbed Max and Isabel's drinks just as Jose rang the bell signaling that their order was ready. She took them their food and apologized for the delay, quickly moving on to her next customer before they could respond. She didn't have time to worry about them.She had less than 15 minutes to figure out exactly what she was going to say to Michael. The minutes had been ticking by like hours all day and now they seemed to fly by like seconds. Before Liz could even get her jumbled thoughts in order Agnes was taking over her shift and she was standing in front of her locker taking off her apron and antennae. Michael had been talking to Max and Isabel when she left the dining room, so she decided to run upstairs and change before their 'talk'. She quickly exchanged her uniform for a pair of black lowrider jeans and a red baby-T. She wanted to look good, but not obvious. She brushed her hair out and sprayed on a touch of her favorite perfume. Last she smoothed on a light coat of cherry lip gloss and popped a fresh piece of her favorite cinnamin gum in her mouth (just in case) and bolted out the door. Michael was coming in through the dining room door before she got to the bottom of the stairs. He looked up at her and his eyes widened for a second before he looked away. "Hey, I'm just gonna grab my food and then we can talk, okay?" He started toward the kitchen without looking at her again. Liz followed him into the kitchen and asked Jose if her order was ready, too. Michael looked surprised, but didn't comment. She had placed her own dinner order after he had agreed to wait for her. See, she had a plan. Oh yes. She was going to subtly suggest that they take their food to Michael's place, so they could talk 'privately'. They grabbed their take-out boxes and Liz followed Michael into the backroom that served as the employee lounge. He was about to sit down on the couch when she touched his back tentatively to get his attention. He turned to face her with one eyebrow raised in question. "Actually, Michael, the stuff I want to talk to you about is kind of personal. I don't want to risk anyone overhearing us. I-I was hoping we could go to your apartment. I mean...if you don't mind, that is." Liz bit her lower lip and shifted her weight from foot to foot nervously as she waited for his answer. She wanted to do what? Michael knew something was up now. Liz never came to his apartment anymore. She hadn't stepped foot in there since the whole 'destiny' fiasco. Even then it was never just them alone-it was the group. He actually couldn't remember ever being alone with Liz anywhere. The idea appealed to him in spite of the faint voice in the back of his mind that was telling him that she belonged to Max and he should stay away from her. "Yeah, that's cool with me. Do you want to ride over with me on the bike or are you going to drive?" "Um, I've never ridden on a motorcycle before. I've always wanted to try it. Do you mind?" Liz asked shyly. She'd ended things with Max 6 months ago, she hadn't gone out with anybody else since then, either. She was available. Michael knew that rationally, yet still he felt she was somehow forbidden to him. For as long as he could remember she had been stamped with 'Max's Property' across her forehead. He shook off his musing and decided to just wait and hear her out before he started jumping to conclusions. It was highly doubtful that she was even interested in him that way. She probably just wanted to talk about Max or something. "Nah, it's cool," he said as he walked out the door to the back alley where he had parked his bike. He grabbed his helmet off the back of the bike and handed it to her. "Put this on." He sat down on the seat and turned back to look at her. "Can you hang on to this?" he asked, holding out the take-out container. "Sure," she said as she took the box from him and set it on top of hers. She carefully climbed on behind him and settled the boxes securely in her lap. "Hang on to me," he said loudly over the roar of the engine as he started the bike and pulled out onto the street. 'Don't have to tell me twice' Liz thought smugly as she moved closer so the containers of food were wedged solidly between them and slipped her arms around his waist. She squeezed him tightly and laid her head against his back. What felt like mere seconds later, but must actually have been several minutes, the bike slowed to a smooth stop in front of Michael's apartment. Liz reluctantly let go of Michael and climbed off the bike. Michael turned the engine off and slid off to stand beside her in one fluid movement. He reached out and took the boxes from her shaky hands. She pulled the helmet off her head, shaking her hair out of her face. He led the way to his front door, not bothering with the key, simply holding his hand over the knob until he heard the lock click open. He held the door open for her to precede him into the apartment, following her in and kicking the door shut behind him. He headed straight for the kitchen setting the containers of food on the counter and reaching into the fridge for a bottle of tabasco. "You want something to drink?" he asked, holding up a can of cherry coke. "Yeah, that would be great." Michael grabbed another can for himself and set them down next to the food. "Thanks." Liz smiled as she sat down on one of the stools in front of the counter. Her breath caught in her throat as Michael walked around the counter and sat next to her on the other stool. She let it out in a nervous sigh as she opened her soda and took a drink to ease the sudden dryness in her throat. His close proximity was causing the butterflies in her stomach to somersault wildly. "So, can we eat first? I'm starving," he asked with a smirk. "Of course," Liz replied quickly. Now that the moment of truth was at hand, any excuse to delay was welcome. She still didn't know what she was going to say to him. How much was she willing to risk? Should she tell him the whole truth or just give him the edited version in hopes of avoiding utter humiliation if he wasn't interested? They sat there in surprisingly comfortable silence. Liz liked that Michael wasn't one of those people who felt the need to fill every void with meaningless chatter. She was still terrified of course, but it was kinda nice. She had never really had an opportunity to spend time with him like this before. Liz thought about what she was going to say while Michael ate. She was too nervous to eat anyway. When he was finished he got up and took his soda into the living room. He sat down in the chair and waved a hand towards the couch. "Have a seat." She sat on the edge of the couch and turned slightly so she was facing him. Her hands were starting to shake again, so she carefully set her soda down on the coffe table and folded them in her lap. He looked at her curiously, but thankfully didn't say anything. Michael was staring at her intently, trying to figure out what on earth could be making her so nervous. She was visibly shaking and looked like she was about 10 seconds away from jumping up and running out the door. He had never seen her so rattled before. It was difficult to reconcile this Liz with the calm, serious version he was used to. He put his coke on the table and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Liz, what is going on? Is it an alien problem? Are you scared of something?" "No! No, it's nothing like that. I told you...it's personal. I'm not scared exactly, just a little nervous." He snorted in disbelief. "Okay, a lot nervous," she said in exasperation. "Why are you nervous? More importantly, why do you want to talk to me about it? Wouldn't you rather talk to Maria or Alex if you need a guy's point of view? We've never really been the kinda friends that share personal information." "I know, Michael, but you're the only one who can help me with this. See, it's sort of a...r-relationship problem. I'm sure you probably haven't noticed, but I haven't dated anyone since I broke up with Max last spring and I wanted to...to ask you..um...." She lost her nerve at the look he gave her. He seemed almost angry. She felt tears welling up and tried desperately to blink them back. Oh god, please don't let me cry in front of him. Not now. "This is about Max, isn't it? You want him back now don't you. I'm sorry, Liz, but if you came here to ask me to help you the answer is no. There is no way I'm getting involved in that. Besides, me and the 'fearless leader' aren't really seeing eye to eye on a whole lot these days. You'd be better off asking Isabel." He stood up, intending to usher her out the door. He was irrationally angry at the idea that she would come to him for help with Max. He was also attempting to ignore the little voice in the back of his mind that kept whispering that he was jealous. "Michael, wait, you don't understand. This doesn't have anything to do with Max," she said hoarsely. She tried to swallow past the huge lump that had suddenly taken up residence in her throat as she stared up at 6'2" of pissed off alien. This was not going well at all. She clenched her hands together tightly and scrambled for the right words to convey what she wanted. "Michael, please just give me a chance to explain. Please?" she was practically begging now. "Fine," he said evenly, folding his arms across his chest and looking down at her. His anger drained away at her expression. She looked like she was about to cry. "Could you sit down, please? Having you towering over me is making me even more nervous." He sat back down in the chair and they stared at each other silently for a few moments. He was startled when she got up and walked towards him, looking down at him uncertainly. His whole body stiffened in shock as she dropped down to her knees in front of him and placed a tentative hand on his denim covered leg. She raised wide eyes, sparkling with unshed tears to stare into his. "Michael, the reason I haven't dated anyone else since Max is that the only guy I'm really interested in is you." She paused and looked away briefly, then turned back to him with a determined light in her eyes. "What I was trying to say before was that I would really like to know if you would consider trying a relationship...with me." She sat perfectly still, hardly daring to breathe as she waited for his reaction. She was almost afraid he would laugh at her. Humiliation and rejection all rolled into one. If he did she was going to head straight to the nearest bridge and jump off, she thought sarcastically. Whoa. That was definitely not the explanation he was expecting. Michael's head was spinning with the rapidly shifting emotions that were running through him. The anger and jealousy he had been feeling moments before had given way to shock, confusion, disbelief and were now slowly settling into a surprisingly warm feeling in his chest that he was reasonably sure was happiness. Though having never really felt anything like it before he was not positive. All he was sure of at the moment was that it felt really good. Liz Parker wanted him. She could pretty much have her pick of all the guys at school, but she wanted him. "You don't have to answer right now-if you need time to think about it I understand." His continued silence was driving her crazy. What if he was trying to think of a way to let her down easy? She removed her hand from his knee self-conciously and started to stand up to move towards the door. Her movement jolted Michael out of his thoughts and he focused his gaze on her. His hand reached out instinctively to grab her wrist. "Where are you going?" he asked quietly. "I don't know." She shrugged helplessly, close to tears again. "Do you still want me to leave?" "No," he said softly and then he slid his hand down her wrist and laced his fingers through hers, squeezing gently. "Does this mean...." Liz stared down at their entwined fingers, hoping that this was Michael's way of telling her that he wanted to be with her. "Yes." He stared down at their fingers also and gently rubbed his thumb in small circles on the back of her hand. Liz's breath hitched in her throat and then emerged in a quiet sob as the tears she had been holding back all night streamed down her cheeks. Michael was momentarily stunned by the sight of her crying and the unfamiliar feeling of tenderness it evoked in him. "Liz, come here." He tugged gently with their entwined hands, urging her closer. Then reached up with his other hand and slowly pulled her down until she was sitting in his lap. He carefully wrapped his arms around her and held her close, a little cautious of the new intimacy between them. "Shh. Please don't cry," he murmured, softly stroking her silky hair. Liz slid her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest, holding onto him tightly. They stayed that way for a while, him stroking her hair and murmuring soothingly, her releasing months of pent up emotion in a steady stream of salty tears. Eventually the tears stopped flowing and she lay quietly against him, listening to the steady rythym of his heartbeat. It felt so good being in his arms, so safe. She wanted to stay like this forever. Well, maybe not exactly like this-there were a few other things she'd like to do, too. She laughed softly. Michael slipped a hand under her chin and lifted her head up so he could see her face. He gently stroked his fingers across her cheeks, wiping away the remaining moisture. "Feel better?" She nodded, smiling tremulously at the concerned look on his gorgeous face. "I must look awful." She laughed, bringing her hand up to rub at her puffy eyes. He swiped a hand across her face briefly and Liz felt a warm tingle. "Good as new," he said with a slight smile. "Thank you," she said seriously. She knew that Michael didn't like to use his powers for frivolous things, but he'd done it anyway to make her feel better. She wanted him to know how much she appreciated his thoughtfulness. She cupped his face in her hands and leaned in to brush his lips with a sweet kiss. She was startled by the jolt of electric energy that swept through her at the first touch of her lips on his. Liz had never felt anything like it, not even with Max. She leaned back to look at Michael, wondering if he felt it too. He didn't give her a chance to ask, just raised his hand up to cup the back of her neck and pulled her mouth back to his. This time he controlled the kiss, nuzzling her mouth softly before sliding his velvety tongue across her bottom lip in a silent request. She immediately parted her lips to allow him entry. He tasted incredible. Sweet and spicy, like cherry coke and tabasco. It was intoxicating. She wanted to devour him. Michael moaned in pleasure at his first taste of her warm mouth. It was a perfect combination of sugar and spice. The mix of sweet cherry lipgloss and cinnamin gum seemed to have been tailor made just for him. His alien taste buds were instantly addicted. He couldn't get enough. Eventually they came up for air, both breathing heavily. Liz felt like she was dreaming. She had fantasized about being with Michael like this hundreds of times during the past few months, but none of her fantasies came close to the reality. It was intense and passionate and amazing in ways she hadn't even thought of. Michael had never really allowed himself to think of Liz in a sexual context before. She had always seemed sort of untouchable. As he looked at her now, he couldn't imagine anything more beautiful. She radiated an innocent sensuality that was mezmerizing. "Wow! That was...." He shook his head, unable to come up with a word that would do justice to what he felt. "I know," Liz whispered huskily. "Liz...I can't believe i'm saying this, but I think maybe I should take you home now," he whispered reluctantly. "What?! I thought you said....I don't understand. Why do you want me to leave?" "I don't want you to leave, Liz. In fact, I want you to stay so bad it hurts." He laughed softly. "Literally." "Then why?" "Because this is all really new right now and I just think it would be better if we have some time to calm down and process everything before we let ourselves get carried away. I've never felt anything this intense before, Liz. I'm not sure if I could control myself right now. I just don't want to take the chance, okay? Will you please just trust me?" "You're not changing your mind are you?" she asked fearfully. "No! I want to be with you, Liz, I do. I just want to take it slow and make sure we do everything right. It feels so right, I don't want to ruin it by rushing into things we're not ready for. You understand that, don't you?" "Yes, and you're totally right. I've just been waiting so long for you to look at me like this and I'm afraid that when I leave it's all going to disappear. I don't want to lose this, Michael." "I'm not going to let you go, I promise. Tomorrow's saturday - we're both working the 8 to 4 shift, right?" She nodded. "So we'll be together all day and we can talk as much as we want. Then if you want to we can come back here after work and spend some time together, okay?" He brushed some wayward strands of hair off her face and kissed her forehead gently. "That sounds perfect. Thank you." She sighed in relief and flashed him a brilliant smile. They stood up and he hugged her tightly, dropping a quick kiss on her lips before leading her out of the apartment. Five minutes later they pulled into the alley behind the Crashdown and Michael got off the bike and held his hand out to Liz. She took it and slid gracefully off the motorcycle to stand in front of him. He stared down into her beautiful chocolate brown eyes for a long moment and then lifted a hand to caress her soft cheek. "Get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning, okay?" "Okay." She raised up on her toes and pressed her lips to his briefly. "Goodnight, Michael." She turned swiftly and walked to the back door of the restaurant. "Goodnight, Liz." He watched until she was safely inside and then got back on his bike and headed home. |