In Between
By Diane

Category: M&M, AU
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Nope, don’t own a thing
Summary: This is in response to an idea that Val came up with when us RCWW girls were chatting about the recent blackout that hit the US and Canada. Special thanks go to Sherry for coming up with the title - it’s so much better than the cheesy one I came up with.

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Standing at the elevator bank Maria Deluca waited impatiently for one of the elevators to arrive. “Come on, come on,” she muttered under her breath. Pressing the button a few more times earned her a disapproving look from a smartly dressed young couple standing next to her who were also waiting for the elevator. She gave them an icy glare and they quickly turned their faces away. “About damn time,” she said when the elevator car finally arrived and its doors opened. There were already three other people in the elevator and stepping into it she noticed that the couple who had been waiting with her weren’t moving and so asked, “Are you two coming or are you just going to stand there?”

The man gave her a dirty look and replied, “We’ll wait thank you.”

“Suit yourself,” she replied and turning to the woman standing next to the control panel said pleasantly, “Ground floor please.”

The woman nodded her head and then pressed the button and a moment later the doors closed but not before Maria had poked her tongue out at the couple who stood there open-mouthed at her childish behaviour.

The elevator began its descent and leaning back against one side of the elevator, Maria looked around at the other occupants. There were two middle-aged women standing side by side talking to each other quietly and a young man of around her own age who was also leaning back against the metal wall with his eyes closed. Maria took the opportunity to check him out as she thought he was hot. He was tall, she guessed him to be over six feet, and he had dark shaggy hair which in her opinion was neither too long nor too short. He was dressed casually in a pair of blue jeans, a black T-shirt and a black leather jacket. Maria was lost in a daydream as she looked him up and down noticing how well built he was and wondering what he would look like out of his clothes. Suddenly the man’s eyes opened and he stared straight at her and smirked which caused her to blush but still she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Biting her lip, she noticed how his eyes, which were a rich chocolate brown colour, sparkled with mischief and seemed to make his features come alive.

The elevator bell dinged bringing her out of her reverie and looking up she saw they had reached the sixth floor and once the doors opened the two women exited. Maria took a deep breath to calm herself at the knowledge that she was now alone with this beautiful stranger.

Once the doors had closed and the elevator started moving again she kept her eyes fixed on the numbers indicating the elevator’s progress, but she could sense him watching her and she could feel her body heat up in response.

Suddenly the elevator’s lights flickered before the car was plunged into darkness and it shuddered to a halt causing Maria to jolt against its side.

The stranger quickly flattened his hands and braced himself against the adjacent wall in an attempt to keep himself upright. “What’s going on?” He asked her in a panicked voice.

“How the hell would I know?” She replied without thinking but then quickly added in a less agitated tone, “My guess is that maybe the generator has gone or that there’s been a power cut or something. Are you......um......okay?”

“Uh......yeah......I just really hate closed spaces but there’s no way I was walking all the way down from the twelfth floor so I had no choice but to take the damn elevator. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Try not to worry okay. I’ll press the emergency button and I’m sure we’ll be out of here in no time,” she said trying to reassure him having noticed his panicked state. “Do you happen to have a lighter on you or any matches?”

“No sorry, I don’t smoke. Why do you want a lighter or matches?”

“For light seeing as it’s pitch black in here. I knew giving up smoking was the wrong thing to do. Damn Isabel.” Placing her hands on the elevator wall nearest to where she was standing she felt around until she found the control panel and a moment later pressed the emergency button. “Are these things supposed to be silent because if they’re not then I think the damn button is broken?”

“I don’t know.......I’ve never had to use one before. Isn’t there an emergency telephone or something?”

Maria felt around the panel again but couldn’t find anything. “Nope, it doesn’t look like this one has a phone,” she answered sighing loudly.

“How long do you think it’ll be before someone realises something is wrong?”

“Listen Mister, I’m not an elevator maintenance person so I have no idea how long it’s gonna take. If it’s a power cut then I’m sure that others have been affected and have alerted the necessary people and they’re probably doing something about it as we speak. Try not to panic okay. Just take a seat on the floor and take some deep breaths.”

“It’s Michael,” the stranger said as he moved to sit on the floor.

“Huh?”

“My name, it’s Michael not Mister.”

“Oh okay,” she said smirking. “I’m Maria.”

“It’s nice to meet you Maria, although I wish it was under better circumstances.”

Remembering what the guy in front of her looked like she smiled and replied, “Yeah, me too. Listen, I’ve got a bottle of water in my bag, would you like some?”

He nodded before quickly realising she couldn’t see him in the dark and so replied, “That would be great, thanks.”

Sensing where Michael was sitting, Maria sat herself down across from him and shrugged out of her denim jacket before leaning back against the metal wall. Scrambling through her bag she found the bottle of water and leaning forward managed to find one of his hands and touched it as she handed it over. A few moments later she cried out, “I can’t believe I forgot all about this.”

After taking a long drink of the cool water Michael asked, “What?”

In answer she flicked on the little device she had in her hand and the elevator was suddenly illuminated in a faint light. “My mini torch. It’s basically a little torch on a key-ring that you use for unlocking your car door when it’s dark so you can see the keyhole. My mom bought it for me but I’ve never used it so hopefully it will last for a little while at least.”

“Your mom sounds like a really practical person,” he said smiling at her.

“Actually she’s not like that at all and I have no idea why she bought me that. The can of mace I can understand,” she told him returning his smile. ‘God, he’s absolutely gorgeous,’ she thought to herself. ‘Note to self: thank mom for buying the torch.’

“So Maria, having never been stuck in an elevator before is there a certain etiquette to follow, I mean do we talk or just sit here in silence?” Michael knew what he was hoping she would say. While Maria had blatantly been checking him out, he had been a little less obvious but he definitely liked what he saw.

She chuckled and said, “We could talk if you want to. Who knows how long we might be stuck in here and it’ll seem even longer if we just sit and do nothing.”

He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself grinning inanely. “I agree so what should we talk about?”

Maria thought for a moment and then suggested, “Hmmm, why don’t we take it in turns to ask a question but let’s steer clear of personal stuff......for now at least.” She muttered the last part of her sentence quietly under her breath.

“Good idea. So who goes first?”

“Me seeing as I was the one to come up the idea,” she replied grinning. “So Michael, what’s your favourite colour?”

“Black. What’s yours?”

“Purple. What was your favourite subject at school?”

“That’s easy, art. What’s your favourite movie?”

Maria blushed slightly at Michael’s question and he asked, “Why are you blushing? It’s not porn or something is it?” His eyes twinkled in anticipation of her reply.

“No! It’s just a movie that my friends tease me about. It’s called The Princess Bride and it’s this romantic, fantasy story that I first saw when I was a little girl and it’s still my favourite movie that’s all.”

“I think that’s kinda sweet and there’s definitely nothing to be embarrassed about,” he told her. “I’m sure your friends have seen movies they’d rather keep to themselves.”

“So what’s your favourite movie Michael?”

“I’ve got two: The Matrix and Braveheart. I just love all those special effects in The Matrix and I love the story in Braveheart. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve watched those two.”

“I haven’t seen those mov......”

“What?” Michael interrupted. “You definitely don’t know what you’re missing. When we get out of here I think you and I should hit the video store and rent them for you.” All of a sudden Michael realised what he had just said and it was his turn to flush with colour. “I......I mean, if you want to that is. You probably wouldn’t want to do that.”

“No, I’d love to. It sounds like fun,” she replied.

“Yeah it does,” he said smirking. “What hobbies or interests do you have apart from watching The Princess Bride?”

“I love music and I sometimes sing at this bar a friend of mine owns. What about you, what do you like doing?”

“Any spare time that I have I usually spend painting or hanging out with a few of the guys either playing or watching sports.”

Maria couldn’t stop watching his lips while he was talking and she longed to feel them against her own lips or her skin. ‘Get a grip Deluca,’ she told herself. ‘You don’t know anything about this guy apart from his favourite colour, his favourite movies and what he does in his spare time.’

In the dim light Michael couldn’t fail to see the way Maria was eyeing him up and down and he could feel his temperature rise as well as something else. He lifted the bottle of water to his lips and took another drink before offering it back to Maria. “Do you want some of this water?”

Looking into his eyes Maria gulped at the intensity of Michael’s gaze and seeing his lips move said, “Huh?”

“Water? Do you want some?”

“Uh......yeah, thanks,” Maria answered, clearing her throat to try and rid her voice of its huskiness and reached out to take the bottle from him. In doing so her fingers brushed against his and she felt what could only be described as an electrical charge jump from his fingers to hers and travel all the way up her arm, making her skin tingle.

Michael watched as Maria uncapped the bottle and took a long drink and he couldn’t help being a little surprised at the fact that she hadn’t wiped the mouth of the bottle before putting it to her lips. He continued to watch as she drank and his eyes were focused on her throat, noticing the way it contracted as she swallowed the water.

After her drink Maria held the bottle up and saw there was probably just under half of the liquid left. “I think we should try and save this because we could be in here for a while.”

Michael nodded his agreement.




A few hours had passed and Michael and Maria were still sat opposite each other. They had run out of impersonal questions to ask each other and they sat in what could only be described as an awkward silence.

“I am so hot in here. Are you hot or is it just me?” Maria asked as she rummaged through her bag trying unsuccessfully to find something she could fan herself with.

“I’m hot too. Maybe we should....uh......forget it.”

“No, what were you going to say?”

“I was going to suggest taking our shirts off or something to try and cool down,” Michael said. The air was stifling and he had long ago discarded his leather jacket.

“Well maybe you can but I’m not wearing a shirt, I’m wearing a dress.”

“Oh yeah........um.....well if you turn the torch off it’ll be completely dark and you could take it off and I won’t see anything.”

“And what if the doors suddenly open, huh?”

“You could hold your dress against your body covering it a little. Anyway, I doubt the doors will suddenly open........we’ll probably hear the maintenance guys working on it or something so we’ll have a bit of notice.”

Maria considered what Michael had said and was sure he wasn’t being cute in trying to get her to strip off. She was boiling hot and even though she was wearing a fairly thin sundress the sweat was pouring off her skin. “Okay, let’s do it but no funny business okay?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Maria,” he teased. “Turn the torch off and we’ll get started. I can’t wait to get these jeans off.”

Doing what Michael said and turning off the mini torch, Maria had to suppress a moan at the thought of him sitting across from her in just his underwear. She didn’t want to tell him that she was only wearing a pair of panties under her dress and no bra as the dress had very thin spaghetti straps. ‘I’m sure I saw him eyeing me up earlier so he probably knows I’m not wearing a bra,’ she thought as she pulled her lemon coloured sundress off over her head.

Michael quickly pulled off his Doc Martens together with his socks and then holding on to one side of the elevator he stood up and unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them off before pulling his T-shirt off. ‘I’m possibly going to have to reconsider the whole ‘going commando’ thing,’ he told himself as he sat back down on the floor and placed his hands over his groin covering himself.

They sat there again in silence, made even more awkward this time by the thought of the other sitting there in just their underwear.

“Feel better now?” Michael’s voice cut through the silence.

“A little, thanks. There’s just no air in here and I’m starting to feel a bit dizzy.”

“Maybe you should drink some more water. Where’s that bottle?”

“I’ll get it,” she told him as she moved forward and her hands scrambled around trying to feel where she had placed the bottle. She couldn’t find it and having felt the torch just by her fingers she turned it on without thinking just as Michael called out, “I’ve got it.”

She gasped as she saw that Michael was completely naked and was covering his groin with one hand while holding the bottle of water with the other. She couldn’t fail to notice how his hand was doing little to cover his more than substantial penis.

Michael couldn’t help but stare as the dim light came on and he noticed that Maria was nude save for a small pair of bikini panties. When she had moved to search for the bottle she had wandered close to where he was sitting and was now kneeling beside his slightly spread legs.

After a moment had passed and the initial shock had worn off he looked up into her eyes and was surprised to see the blatant look of lust written all over her face. He felt her eyes wander all over his body and settle on a particular area and he felt himself start to harden. Quickly dropping the bottle of water next to him he brought his free hand down to the one already covering himself.

“Don’t,” Maria told him stopping his hand before it reached it’s destination.

Michael’s hand paused in mid-air and he held his breath as one of Maria’s hands came to rest high up on his thigh and with her other hand she moved the hand he was covering himself with away so she had a clear unrestricted view of his throbbing erection.

“Do you mind if I touch you?” She asked, her voice thick with lust.

Gulping in anticipation of her touch he shook his head. “No,” he replied before adding, “Go for it.”

Looking into his eyes she could see them sparkle like they had earlier when he had caught her checking him out and she smiled at him. She dropped her hand and trailed a finger up one side of his hardened length before trailing it down the other side. She saw the way Michael was fighting for control, he had one hand braced against one side of the elevator and the other was flat on the floor, gripping his earlier discarded T-shirt which was beside him. Knowing that her touch was the cause of the intense look he had on his face Maria become more confident and she curled her fingers around the base of his c*ck and slowly started a pumping motion.

Michael’s eyes flew open at the sensation of Maria’s hand jerking him off and he knew it wouldn’t take much for him to cum. “Stop! Maria, you have to stop.”

Releasing her hold on him Maria looked into his eyes somewhat confused. “I......I’m sorry, I thought you’d like it.”

“Like it? I loved it.......a little too much if you know what I mean,” he replied smiling. Maria returned his smile and Michael continued what he was saying. “Maria, I don’t know what’s happening here between us but I know I’d like to find out. I’m really attracted to you.”

Maria’s face beamed with a mixture of happiness and lust. “Me too, Michael. Look, if this feels weird afterwards we’ll just put it down to a great one night stand and forget about it. But if it’s not weird, then.......”

“Then we can take it from there, right?” He waited nervously for her answer.

“Right. So, shall I continue with what I was doing before?” He shook his head no and Maria looked at him confused. “But....”

“I want to kiss you, Maria,” he told her thinking how cute she looked when she was all confused.

Sighing with relief Maria moved even closer to where he was leaning back against the wall so she was kneeling right by his side, their faces turned towards each other. Maria placed her hands on Michael’s shoulders and inched closer until their lips were millimetres apart and suddenly his lips were on hers and he was kissing her passionately, his tongue easing her lips apart before slipping inside her mouth to caress against her own.

Maria’s fingers played with Michael’s hair as their lips devoured each other and leaning her elbows on his shoulders she lifted one of her legs across him so that she was now straddling his thighs. In response, Michael’s hands moved to Maria’s waist and he pulled her closer so she could grind herself against his erection.

“Uhhh Mi...Michael.......that feels so good,” she breathed as Michael’s lips trailed a path from her lips to her jaw and then latched onto her neck where he started sucking and nibbling on the skin, determined to leave a mark.

“Uh huh,” he mumbled against her neck before moving up again and pressing his lips against hers and silencing her with a deeply intense kiss. Thrusting his hips up he rubbed himself against her cloth covered crotch and was desperate to remove the last barrier between them. He wasn’t sure if maybe he should just be satisfied with this intense make-out session or if he should ask if she wanted to take the final step. As if she was able to read his mind and before he could say a word, Maria’s hand slipped between their bodies and she moved her panties to the side so he now had unrestricted access to her entrance.

Michael brought his hands up and placed them on each side of Maria’s face and looked her in the eye before asking, “Are you sure? We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

Leaning forward she placed a soft kiss on his lips and then moved back again to look into his eyes. “I know but I really want to. Do you want to?”

“Yeah,” he managed to gasp out before he felt her hand stroke his c*ck and she then slid herself along his length, teasing herself.

“Okay then,” and with that she held him firmly in her hand and sank down on his c*ck and they moaned in unison at the intense wave of pleasure that overcame them.

Michael gripped Maria’s hips tightly as they thrust against each other and moving her back a little, he bent his head and captured one of her nipples between his teeth and nibbled on it.

“Ohmigod! Do that again,” she commanded as she bounced up and down on him. She held onto his shoulder with one hand while the other held his head firmly against her breast.

Releasing one hand from her hip he brought it up to pinch her other nipple making her cry out in pleasure. “Yesssss!”

Michael knew he was close to the edge and he wanted to make sure Maria was with him when it happened and so he dropped the hand that was on her breast and moved it to rub her clit. “I’m so close, Maria.......I’m gonna cum.....”

“Uh huh......me too.......faster Michael......please.......”

In compliance with her request Michael started thrusting his hips up faster as well as quickening the pace of the finger he had rubbing her clit. A couple of seconds later Maria let out a scream and Michael quickly moved forward and captured her lips with his to try and drown out the noise. Michael’s own orgasm hit at the moment their lips touched and he thrust himself harder inside Maria and emptied his seed as he shouted out her name into her mouth.

They continued to kiss for quite some time afterwards as they both came down from their high and finally Maria broke the kiss and they both gasped for air.

Maria slumped against Michael’s chest and wrapped her arms around his neck and she smiled against his skin when she felt one of his arms wrap around her waist while his other hand softly stroked her hair. She could feel his heart pumping wildly in his chest and knew her own heart was pumping just as fast.

“Feeling weird yet?” Michael teased, looking into Maria’s clear green eyes.

“Nope. You?”

“No. I’m feeling a lot of things but weird isn’t one of them. I don’t know about you Maria but I’m feeling even hotter than before.”

Laughing at his statement she nodded as she pulled back so she could look at his face. She moved one of her hands from around his neck to caress his face and his stubble prickled the pads of her fingertips. “Mmmm, me too. I can’t wait to get out of here and go and have a nice cool shower. I wonder what time it is,” she mused.

Michael moved his arm so he could look at his wristwatch and he could just make out that it was coming up to eight pm and he informed Maria.

“I can’t believe we’ve been stuck in here for almost four hours. Do you think we’ll be in here for much longer?” She asked as she massaged the palm of her hand across his back.

Mimicking her earlier question Michael asked, “What do you think I am, an elevator maintenance person?”

She swatted him on the back. “Shut up, honey.”

“Honey?”

“Yeah, honey.”

Michael smiled at her before kissing her again and then moving slightly to the side so he could nibble on her earlobe. “Well at least we know one way of passing the time,” he jokingly whispered.

Maria giggled. “Yeah there is that. Do you think that maybe we should get dressed? It’s just that I’ve got visions of those doors suddenly opening and a load of people standing out there getting an eyeful of us.”

“Okay,” he answered before moving forwards and dipping Maria back so he could grab her dress from the floor behind her. When he had the garment in his hands Maria moved to take it from him but he held it just out of her reach. “Nuh huh. Arms up.” Complying with his request Maria held her arms up and Michael placed the dress over her head and then taking each of her arms in turn slipped them through the holes and then smoothed the dress over her body.

Maria leaned forward and kissed him. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure,” he said winking at her.

Picking up his T-shirt Maria slipped it over his head and he helped her by placing his arms through the sleeves. Maria smoothed the fabric over his chest and abs and then confessed, “I don’t want to move off of you.”

“I don’t want you to either,” he admitted before adding, “but at least you’re covered by your dress. If those doors open and you jump up I’m sitting here in just my T-shirt and everyone will know exactly what we’ve been doing.”

Chuckling Maria said, “True but then again they’ll only have to breathe in the air in here to know what we’ve been up to baby.” She leaned forward again and sucked on his bottom lip and just as she started to pull back Michael deepened the kiss by slipping his tongue past her lips. The kiss quickly spiralled out of control and all of a sudden they heard a voice call out,

“Is anyone in there?”

Breaking the kiss Michael yelled, “Yeah, we’re stuck in here. What’s happened?”

“There’s been a power cut which has affected the entire city. Your elevator is stuck between floors so we’re going to have to prise open the doors and pull you out. You’re lucky, this building has got generators so there’s emergency lighting.”

“Lucky? We’ve been sitting in the dark for like four hours now. What the hell took you so long?” Maria shouted out.

There was no answer to her question and Maria was just about to yell again when Michael covered her mouth with his and kissed her hard. Pulling back a couple of moments later he said, “That was to calm you down.”

She gave him a smile before slowly moving off of him and said, “Thanks, I really needed that. You’d better get dressed quickly Michael.” Once she was on her feet Maria adjusted her underwear and smoothed her dress down over her waist and hips.

Michael grabbed his jeans and standing up he pulled them on. Just as he was buttoning the last button the doors started to open and he saw that their elevator car hadn’t got stuck too far between floors and it wouldn’t be too much of a problem to climb out.

“You two okay?” The maintenance guy asked and seeing their dishevelled state he looked over at his colleague who grinned knowingly.

“We’re fine,” Michael replied curtly.

Maria could feel the intensity of the blush that had settled on her cheeks and she busied herself with making sure she had picked up all of her belongings.

Once the doors were fully prised open one of the men asked, “Right, who’s first?”

Michael turned to Maria and taking her bag from her shoulder threw it up to the man who caught it and Michael then took Maria’s hand and pulled her forward. “Come on, you first,” he told her as he bent down and hoisted her up by her legs.

The man grabbed Maria’s arms and pulled her out of the elevator and a moment later she was standing next to him.

Jumping up Michael managed to grab the sides of the elevator frame and with the help of the man who had pulled Maria out he was able to maneuver himself out.

Maria launched herself at Michael and hugged him tightly. “Thank God we’re finally out of there,” she said and moving closer so she could speak into his ear she whispered, “Not that I didn’t enjoy being stuck in there with you.”

Aware that they were being watched by the two maintenance guys he turned his face and whispered into her ear, “Ditto.”

Turning to the two men who had rescued them Maria thanked them and also apologised for her little rant. Michael also thanked the men. Before leaving to check on the final elevator in the building, one of the guys informed the couple that power had been restored to most parts of the city but that they had had to keep the elevators turned off just in case there were any problems when the power suddenly came back on.

“So, what do you want to do now?” Michael asked nervously after the guys had walked off.

“I’m going to go home and take that cool shower I told you about and then get something to eat.”

“Right,” Michael replied dejectedly.

“You’re......uh.......welcome to come with me,” Maria said smiling at him.

“You sure?”

“Totally. Remember we both said we’d call this a one night stand if we felt weird afterwards?”

“Yeah.....”

“Well I don’t feel weird at all and you told me a little while ago that you didn’t either so let’s just see where this thing takes us. What do you say?”

In answer Michael pulled her close so she was pressed against his body and he traced her lips with his tongue before kissing her passionately. “That’s what I say, honey.”

“Honey?”

“Yeah, honey.”

Maria took Michael’s hand in hers and they walked towards the stairwell to start their descent down to the ground floor of the building.

Just as they hit the foyer Maria saw the snooty couple who had been with her when she had been waiting for the elevator all those hours ago. They were arguing and Maria sing-songed loudly, “Thank God I wasn’t stuck with them. I definitely don’t think I would have had such a good time.”

Michael looked over at the couple who were glaring at Maria and he burst out laughing and said, “Honey, I think you’re right.”

The End