Chapter 7
Disclaimer: I don’t own Roswell or it’s characters,
nor do I own ET, MTV or any of the lyrics written.
Rating: PG/R
Spoilers: None, its AU
Pairing: Michael/Maria with some Kyle/Tess
Summary: A stalker wants her dead. What will she do when she
finds out that the killer is actually a close friend? Secrets from the past
are revealed and a new love is born.
Distribution: Belit’s site, Kraving Candy, Candy is Dandy,
Aliens love and Roses, Second in Command, Fanfiction.net, Roswell Desert Skies,
Ally’s site, and if anyone else wants it, all you have to do is ask.
Author’s note: This is in response to a challenge issued
at Belit’s planet called Bodyguard. As I was reading it all these thoughts
just entered my head so I couldn’t not write it. Remember when reading
this that I intend this fic to have a sequel so there will be many questions
but all with eventually be answered. This is in no way related to the movie.
Feedback is appreciated, as is honesty. Challenge can be found here:
http://pub10.ezboard.com/fbelitsplanetfrm110.showMessage?topicID=54.topic
Email: sezza43@hotmail.com
~~**~~
“So that was useless,” Kyle surmised as they drove back to Jim and Amy’s house.
Michael turned into the street and nodded. “Yeah I guess. At least we can cross off that chick's name from the list though.” He slowed down when he saw that Fire Trucks had closed off the part of the street that Amy and Jim lived on. “What in the hell is all this?” he asked no one in particular as he stopped the car a few houses away. He and Kyle both stepped out of the car and Kyle looked on in horror as the back of his parents home went up in flames.
“Dad,” he whispered then ran over to where his father and Amy were standing, Michael following.
“Ma’am, ma’am, step away please,” an officer asked Amy as she tried to get out of Jim’s tight grasp to run back into the house.
“No,” she screamed. “My daughter is still in there.”
Michael’s eyes widened when he heard Amy then ignored the calls for him to come back as he bolted into the smoke filled house. “Maria,” he yelled. “Maria can you hear me?” He climbed the stairs slowly and covered his mouth with his shirt as the smoke became thicker. “Maria?” he tried again and ran towards her room when he just barely heard his name being called.
*~*~*~*
Maria shot straight up in her bed when she heard the fire alarms go off. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes then tried opening them but could hardly see anything as the smoke had engulfed her room completely. She started to cough as she fell from the bed and started to crawl towards the door but then backed away when the timber felt hot and suddenly started to burn.
She felt around herself until she came across a shirt on the floor and covered her mouth with it so she wouldn’t breathe in much more of the smoke. As she backed herself into the corner of her room, she could faintly hear her name being called from somewhere in the house and recognised the voice to be Michael’s. “Michael?” she yelled as loud as she could.
*~*~*~*
Michael ran to her door but backed away when the flames became too intense. He heard her call out his name more frantically and decided to take his chances. He backed away as far as he could, then ran full speed towards her door, breaking it open.
“Maria,” he called out.
“Michael,” he heard over by the corner.
His eyes started to water from the stinging sensation but her could just make out her figure crouched in the corner. “Maria, baby we have to get out of here now,” he yelled as he ran towards her. Maria nodded and stood but her legs gave out beneath her. Luckily Michael had caught her before she could fall and lifted her into his arms. She circled her arms around his neck as he looked around the room.
The door was engulfed in flames and they were on the second floor of the house so it was too far to jump out a window. He glanced over at the door and realised that he once again had to brave the flames and charged towards the door, running straight through it, not realising that his elbow had hit the door and his shirt had caught on fire.
He ran onto the front lawn with Maria still in his arms when out of nowhere he felt Maria being taken off him and himself being pushed to the ground. “Michael you’re on fire,” he could hear Kyle yell as a blanket was thrown over him. Michael looked at his now burned arm and swore as the pain increased. Why was it that it didn’t hurt until he looked at it?
“Michael, you okay man?” Kyle asked.
Michael nodded, still a little dazed. “Yeah.” Kyle sighed in relief then hit him upside the head. Michael winced then faced Kyle with a scowl. “What the bloody hell was that for?” he yelled.
“You could have been killed going in there, you idiot.”
“Yeah well, so could Maria.” He looked at Kyle and shrugged. “I wasn’t really caring about me when I ran in there. Maria was my first and only concern.”
Kyle looked at his partner with a newfound respect. When he had heard his mother say that Maria was still inside, he too wanted to race in but Jim had held him back. The fact that Michael went in when he didn’t have to said a lot about the man who stood next to him. Kyle knew in that moment that Michael would never do anything that would hurt his sister and knew that she’d be safe with him. He supposed it was about time to lay off the two ‘could be’ lovebirds.
“Thanks man,” he said and patted Michael’s back. Michael shrugged him off with a small smile then was ushered towards an ambulance to be checked upon with Maria as the firemen assessed the damage that the fire had done.
“You ok?” Maria asked as Michael sat in the ambulance while a paramedic looked at his wounds. She herself was getting checked out for excess smoke inhalation. Michael nodded and she saw him wince when the woman poked at his burn. “Michael, you were hurt saving me,” she whispered sadly.
Michael snapped his head in her direction when he heard the sad tinge to her voice. “Maria,” he said sternly. “I would have done it again in an instant, don’t blame yourself for this.” He held up his arm and almost immediately was told to put it down so the woman could inspect it more. “I’ve gotten hurt worse than this before, it’s no big deal. All that’s important is that you are okay, and you are right?” Maria nodded, a smile gracing her features. “Good,” he said then glared at the paramedic who told him to keep still.
“Thank you,” Maria said softly as she leaned over and kissed his cheek. She then stood and headed out of the ambulance when she was told that she was fine. Michael watched as she handed back over the blanket to one of the drivers who then asked for her autograph.
“Mr Guerin could you please stop moving,” the paramedic said with a frustrated sigh.
Michael took his arm out of the paramedic’s grasp. “I’m fine, it’s just a small burn, nothing big. I’m good to go,” he said then stepped out of the ambulance and headed towards a policeman who was talking to Maria, Jim, Kyle and Amy. “What’s going on?”
The policeman sighed and ran a hand through his hair when he took his hat off. “It looks to be arson. We found a gasoline can next to the back shed. It’s looks to be that the target was specifically the back of the house near the garage and whatever room was above it.”
Maria paled at his words. “Oh god,” she choked out. “That’s my room,” she said as her legs lost feeling and she fell to the ground. Michael crouched down and gathered the small woman in his arms and started to rock her gently to calm her down. “This is all my fault,” she whispered.
“Why do you say that?” Amy asked softly as she kneeled down next to the couple and ignored the flash of cameras behind them.
“I have some sort of stalker/killer after me. If I hadn’t come here then this wouldn’t have happened,” she said, trying to hold in her sobs. Michael tightened his hold on her and kissed the crown of her head as he looked at Amy.
Amy could feel tears prick her eyes at Maria’s statement. “No baby, this isn’t your fault. Jim and I certainly don’t blame you so you can’t blame yourself either.” Michael puled back slightly allowing Amy to pull her daughter into her arms. “It wasn’t your fault.” Maria nodded but was still unconvinced.
“Could you get them out of here?” Kyle yelled at the policemen to try to get them to get rid of the growing numbers of the press. “This is going to be on every front page tomorrow morning,” he muttered then looked at Jim and Amy. “And with my family all in their sleepwear.” He shook his head then headed towards them. “I called Tess and she’s making up the room for you and Mom,” he said then glanced towards Maria. “We can make up the couch for you.”
Amy shook her head. “She can’t sleep on a couch after what she has been through,” she said, looking at Michael with a mischievous smile. “Michael you have a spare room, Maria can stay with you can’t she?”
Maria couldn’t believe she was hearing this. Even in a life or death situation Amy was still trying to be the matchmaker.
“Yeah that’s no problem,” Michael said, standing and helping Maria to her feet.
“No you just wait there young man,” the paramedic from before said as she headed towards him. “You are not going anywhere until we have that burn properly checked out.” Michael groaned and was about to bite the poor woman’s head off when Maria stepped forward.
“Ma’am, the burn is not that bad, and you know that he’s not going to go with you, so if you just give me the cream and bandages or whatever to put on it, I’ll make sure it’s properly wrapped and everything.”
The woman eyed Maria then finally nodded. “Fine on one condition.”
Maria nodded. “Anything,” she said then gave a small laugh when the woman asked for an autograph for her daughter.
*~*~*~*
“It’s not much but it’s home,” Michael said as he opened the door.
Maria gasped as she stepped inside. Definitely not what she expected. His apartment was clean for one thing and nicely decorated. “Nice place,” she said in wonder as she looked around.
Rolling his eyes, Michael placed her bags on the floor. “Isabel picked out the furniture and it’s not usually this clean but Laurie was over yesterday and cleaned it. She always does when she comes over. I think she has some sort of fetish for cleaning. It’s frightening really,” he said and Maria laughed.
She glanced over at the man who had saved her life and smiled. She walked towards him, grabbed the bag that the paramedic had given her and pulled him towards where he had said the bathroom was. She walked over to the sink and jumped up on the bench, her legs swung over the side. She reached out and grabbed Michael’s hand to bring him to stand in between her legs.
Michael watched mesmerized as she took off his shirt and placed his arm over her thigh then poured sufficient amounts of creme into her hands. She picked up his arm and started to massage the cream into the burn lightly as not to hurt him and smiled when she heard him give out a small moan.
“I want to thank you again for saving my life,” she said and caressed his cheek with her other hand.”
Smiling, Michael covered her hand with his free one. “I would do it again you know. I’d protect you with my life Maria.” He said it so sincerely that Maria could feel the tears spring to her eyes. She couldn’t believe that he could be so sweet, so caring.
Not able to stand being so close to him and not doing anything about it, Maria took the initiative and leaned in, brushing her lips against his. As she went to pull away, Michael brought his head back down for a passionate kiss. They both moaned when there tongues finally collided and wondered how they had waited so long to do this. Maria wrapped her legs around his waist, bringing him closer to her. Michael grasped her thighs and started to slide her off the bench. He backed up, holding her to his body as he headed towards his room that was connected. They both fell to the bed in a tangle of arms and legs and Maria giggled when Michael smiled shyly down at her.
“Are you sure?” he asked knowing that if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself later. Maria nodded and they kissed once again as clothing was slowly removed and the sound of slapping flesh and breathy moans were the only things that could be heard throughout the apartment.
*~*~*~*
The tall dark figure stood leaning up against the streetlight watching as the two bodies embraced and the lights flickered out. He glared at the window of the apartment as he flipped out his phone and dialled, waiting for the other person to pick up. After five rings they finally did so.
“We strike at first light,” he said into the phone then hung up. Lighting a cigarette, he headed off towards the 24-hour café up the road. He had a few hours before the plan could finally begin to start.
*~*~*~*
“I can’t believe we just did that while we are still covered in the smoke and soot from the fire,” Maria laughed as she turned in his arms to face him.
Michael raised his eyebrow. “I didn’t hear you complaining before,” he said with a smile and Maria whacked him lightly on the chest. He chuckled and captured her smaller hand in his. “That was incredible,” he whispered as he gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.
Maria nodded in agreement. “Yes it was, but I still need a shower,” she said as she started to get up. Michael groaned from the loss of her body heat but then saw the sly look on her face. “Care to join me?” she asked and he watched as she stood from the bed, still naked, and headed towards the bathroom. He heard the shower start and Maria call his name. Who was he to keep her waiting?
After an interesting shower, the two finally made it back to bed with both lying on their side and Michael spooning Maria from behind. He kissed her forehead and tightened his arms around her waist. “Night,” he whispered. Maria muttered the same sentiment back and Michael smiled knowing that she was well on her way into the land of dreams. He closed his eyes, hoping to join her.
*~*~*~*
Michael shot out up wide awake when he heard something crash from inside his apartment. Maria stirred from beside him and opened her eyes. “Michael?” she asked groggily. He put his fingers to his lips in a ‘shush’ motion and she nodded, confused then her eyes widened when they heard another crash and what sounded like someone swearing. Michael was glad that they had gotten somewhat dressed when they had returned from the shower.
He was wearing sweatpants and she wore one of his shirts and some panties. As he went to climb of the bed, Maria grasped his arm. “What are you doing?” she hissed. “You can’t go out there.”
Michael caressed her cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. It’s probably just some burglar that forgot an ex-cop lived here. Wait here and don’t move,” he said as he walked towards the door. Before he could open it however, whoever it was that had been on the other side, had already opened it and in walked two people dressed in black with balaclavas on.
As one went to grab Maria, the other took out there gun and shot Michael in the shoulder. “Michael!” Maria screamed as she punched the person who had grabbed her and ran to her lover. “Michael?” she asked shaking him slightly. The one who had shot him walked over to her and grabbed her hair.
“You’re coming with us,” the muffled voice said and started dragging her out of the room. Maria got a hold of their wrist and started clawing at them to let her go. She managed to get a hold of something but it broke and fell to the floor. “F-ucking b-itch,” they yelled then yanked at her hair again.
The other person walked towards Michael and kneeled down next to him. Michael grabbed at his shoulder, the pain becoming unbearable. He started to get up; wanting to go after Maria but the person next to him pushed him back to the ground then stuck a needle in his arm. “This,” the gruff voice said, “will knock you out for a few hours. By then we and your little f-uck bunny will be out of here.”
The last thing Michael saw before the blackness became his sight was Maria being lifted over the shoulder of the person who had given him the needle as they hauled her out of the room.
TBC…