PYGMALION

 

by DocPaul

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three: When a moment defines a life

 

Day Three: Thursday, 12:46 am

 

Max tripped over his gym bag he had left in the middle of the floor. Moving around in the dark, he cursed at the illuminated dial of a clock in his kitchen.

 

“Hey.”

 

A very tired looking Jonathan was resting up against the door jamb with his overnight bag in hand. Smiling slightly, his eyes ran over Max’s face, and dropping the bag he pulled the slighter man into a powerful hug.

 

Closing his eyes, Max rested against Jonathan and just breathed deeply.

 

“Are they okay?”

 

Max nodded and moved back, giving Jonathan room to come inside. “Yeah. They survived, but...”

 

“The injuries are serious.”

 

Max swallowed hard, and a sound of distress actually escaped him, unguarded.

 

Jonathan pushed the door closed behind him after pulling his bag inside. Taking Max back in a strong hug he just let Max take his time. He could feel the tremors running through Max's body, and of all the things he knew about Max Evans, one thing was that he felt deeply for those in his life.

 

“How bad, Max?”

 

Max pulled away and went to stand in the kitchen turning on the light. “You want something to eat or drink? You must be tired, and...”

 

“I didn’t rush home to be entertained. Come sit with me, and tell me what the hell is going on.” Jonathan went into the living room and threw himself down in a heap on the sofa, putting his feet up on the coffee table. Reaching for his tie, he gave up and let his hand drop.

 

“Sorry. I’m avoiding again. I know.” Max sat next to him and stared at his hands dangling between his legs. “Jim might never be able to use his left arm again. He’s looking at numerous surgeries, rehab and therapy. They went in immediately with plastics and orthopedic surgery trying to re-establish and maintain all the blood supplies and nerves. He was in there forever.”

 

Jonathan closed his eyes and rested his head back against the sofa. He asked so quietly that Max almost didn’t hear. “And Amy?”

 

“She may never walk again. They don’t know yet. It will take some time to let the area heal. She has feeling in her legs, but...” Max leaned his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face. “They just don’t know yet, but she’ll be in a wheelchair for a while. Either way, she’ll also need therapy and rehab.”

 

“Maria?” Jonathan asked in a hushed tone.

 

“She’s understandably upset, but between Amy and Michael they’ve seemed to calm her down.” Max didn’t want to ask, but he couldn’t help it. “What is it with you and this Maria thing?”

 

“There is no Maria thing. She’s my friend, and has been for a long time. I care for her, and for her family. That even includes Michael...somewhat.” Jonathan looked over at Max. “Hey, not so long ago you thought you were in love with her. Why couldn't I be any different?”

 

“Who says I still don’t?”

 

Jonathan stood up and looked at Max. “Then it looks like you and I have much more in common than we knew.” Jonathan quietly walked away and went to shower. Max just sat there and slowly went to follow.

 

Max stood in the bathroom waiting for Jonathan to get out of the shower. The room was filling with steam, and Max stood in front of the mirror brushing his teeth. Looking at Jonathan's reflection in the mirror he held the stare when Jonathan looked at him.

 

“You’re in love with Maria?”

 

“Aren’t we all? She’s got something special about her, something even I can’t name or describe. It’s like being pulled to a magnet, or perhaps the center of a storm where there’s a sense of calmness. I don’t know.”

 

“How long?”

 

“Since I met her.” Jonathan laughed as he dried his hair. “It’s definitely not like what Michael has for her. They’re like two parts of a whole, or maybe the different face of the same coin. Soulmates. Maybe more. Elemental. Like they dance this dance together through a thousand lifetimes, and still they find each other. They are one and the same, and yet different. I don’t know.”

 

Max followed Jonathan out of the bathroom after he brushed his teeth. “I felt it too. Maria is...Maria. Somehow with her, I just feel like I can think clearer, see things that didn’t make sense before. She's like a focus or something, and I find myself searching her out. I know Michael does the same.”

 

“I searched for her for a long time, and when I found her...I had expectations, things I thought would happen, a overwhelming sense of clarity of what would happen, but I didn’t expect...” Jonathan just shook his head and grabbed his extra pillow before Max could steal it.

 

“What didn’t you expect?” Max looked around trying to locate another pillow. He liked sitting up against the headboard talking to Jonathan at night, but that damn headboard was pretty hard going.

 

“I didn’t expect that she would be so small. So wounded. When I met her...” Jonathan looked away from Max and climbed into the bed, the side he usually slept on when he stayed at Max’s place.

 

“Jonathan?”

 

“She was...she was sorrow.” Jonathan cleared his throat, but not before Max saw a hint of moisture there. “I...I didn’t know. I never felt..., um not before, I never...”

 

“Never felt?”

 

Jonathan just shook his head. “I don’t know. There can be no naming, no words to touch the silence that held her. She didn’t speak a word for a year, you know. It was as if sound would break the air around her, the very fragile hold she had on reality. Her father was gone. Her brother being a murderer and her watching him slaughter her boyfriend...it hurt worse than the cuts he left on her tiny body. Deeper. Running blood.”

 

Max didn’t know what to say. So much of his life, losing his parents, felt intolerable at times, but what Jonathan was describing were made worse by knowing Maria, imagining it.

 

“She loved him.”

 

“Him?” Max was confused. “Her boyfriend?” Strange thought. Max couldn’t imagine Maria loving anyone but Michael.

 

“No. Her brother. He terrorized her, made her afraid, but she still loved him. His death and who he was, tormented her for the longest time, and she wished she had died that day too.”

 

“What do you mean you searched for her?”

 

Jonathan just shrugged. “Like you said, she's special. She has this ability to clear the mind, to give a sense of clarity. I knew that people like her existed, special people with special talents. It was what I surrounded myself with all my life. When I saw her, I knew. And the fragile state she was in offended me, made me angry, and I guess at that moment she became mine. Something I protected regardless. I just didn’t know I could feel...not like that.”

 

“Love.”

 

Jonathan nodded. “Yeah. Not a romantic love, not even sexual, but something else. Like she was...looking at God at the impression of purity.”

 

“Cleanness.”

 

“Yes. No hate. No spite. Just pure feminine sorrow, and she was like a princess encased in ice, held there suspended, untouchable.” Jonathan laughed. “And then she shocked me.”

 

“How?”

 

“She looked at me and said I had to either speak my mind or move my fat ass, because she was one busy chick on a quest to find the perfect cup of coffee.”

 

Max laughed. Maria.

 

“It was a novelty. All those months I took over so many of her affairs, helped her mother and Sean, and she looked like a waif that barely could hold her own weight, and the first time I heard her voice...it was the voice of an angel spewing words that would have sent sailors running.”

 

“A perfect mate for Michael.”

 

“I hate to admit it, but yes. They fit in places I didn’t know were supposed to be matched.” Jonathan sank down into the bed and waited for Max to move down closer to him. “I, who usually felt nothing, but with her I felt everything.”

 

Max was quiet, resting against Jonathan. “And me? What do I make you feel?”

 

“Confused. Horny. Pissed off...happy? You never inspire the same feelings at the same time, Detective. You are an anomaly in my life. I want to push you, but I find myself holding back. That, in itself, is highly unusual for me. At all times, I am a man with a plan.”

 

“Because I won’t move in with you? Or is there some other reason?”

 

“Maybe it’s many things. Things known, and things untold, or maybe it is just stress. My life. Yours. All the places between. Will he stay? Will he leave? Is he just using me? Stupid shit. But still important. To me.”

 

"When I was feeling this stressed in my life, as you put it, I discovered the perfect way to end it, and make myself come down from the high of shocking uncertainty."

 

"What was that?"

 

Max smiled evilly in the dark, his deep brown eyes shining mischievously. "Sex." The matter of fact reply completely contradicted the gleam in the eye, but then Jonathan realized there was more to come. "Besides bringing good luck, it relieved stress and helped me go to sleep."

 

Jonathan just stared at his bedmate, trying diligently to decipher what was likely going on in the depths of the other man's mind. The brown eyes shone brightly, but gave away little more than Jonathan had already picked up. Dammit, hint a little more here Evans! Jonathan took a deep breath and all the tiredness that plagued his body was suddenly gone. He was more than willing to relieve all the stress Max might need relieving. Jonathan jerked his head, and realized, yup, he'd just thought that. He was such a fucking slut. It wasn’t his intention to find Max that late for anything other than comfort and to make sure he was all right. Endless lectures of not giving up too much of himself, since Max seem incapable of making a real decision or commitment, went out the window in a second.

 

Something needed to be said, to break the silence they were experiencing, and he was sure Max wouldn’t say any more.

 

"So you what? Fuck your brains out, pass out, and everything is suddenly okay?" Jonathan swallowed a curse. What the fuck was he  saying? He had kept Max at a distance over the past four months, and now he was offering to just let it all go?

 

"Basically, yeah. Worked almost every time." Max said, eyes watching Jonathan in the dark, making Jonathan feel even more disconcerted, making him regret having hurried back from his business trip. That's when he saw it, the little flash of something that said there was definitely a discussion going on here between the lines, or under them, behind them maybe? He wasn't positive what that discussion was exactly, but he was damned if he was going to give up on finding out yet.

 

"Almost every time?" Jonathan's genuine curiosity was outweighed by the bright light of encouragement in the other man's eyes, and he just prayed he was reading it right.

 

"Yeah, didn't last night, couldn't find anyone to help me out, give me a hand."

 

Yup, there it was again, a flash, a glimmer of something a whole lot more important than what was actually being discussed.

 

What to say? That door had been slammed in his face too often in the past few months, but nothing ventured was nothing gained. Jonathan's own face grew mischievous, a smile lighting the angled features. "Maybe now is the time to talk to Mary, huh?" His smile grew as Max was suddenly still and tried to appear more thoughtful. "Samantha maybe? Or Carol, Denise, Jenny, Lisa, Carmen…"

 

Max stopped him with a hand to the mouth and rolled his eyes. "Where the hell did you get all the names of my past girlfriends?"

 

"Weren’t they carved in the wood of your bedpost?”

 

“You’re not going to forget this and not remind me of my past promiscuity?”

 

“Not likely," Jonathan said seriously. It was Max’s past relationships, or sexual partners that made him want a promise of commitment, exclusiveness. Silence descended again, but this time it was bridged by the connection between the two sets eyes in the room as so much was left unsaid, yet both heard it all loud and clear.

 

They had been working up to this. They were at a breaking point. Going forward, or ending it. Handsome? No, more like pretty. Max’s features were almost too finely defined for a male. This wasn't the first time he had noticed it. He realized this little flirtation game had begun a few months ago. Shortly after that night in the club when Max had feared him dead or hurt, after they had found the bodies. Max came to him with no questions asked or even permission, and he let him back in, and he had done it every time since. It had been as if the dam had broken, and all the tension released to flow out of their lives.

 

Jonathan had started noticing slightly heavier gazes being directed at him from Max, and realized that Max was trying to overcome a mental hurdle, make a decision he knew would change his life forever. So he practiced patience until the days ran into months, and suddenly he tossed out the gauntlet, demanded a decision. He did it by asking Max to move in with him. Max said no, but Jonathan couldn’t just walk away, so they stood at an impasse.

 

Then the masked innuendoes, the somewhat veiled allusions, and the outright advances that had only gotten more intense and more playful as the weeks and months wore on. The two of them had been heading in this exact direction, possibly for longer than either were conscious of, and there was no way in hell Jonathan was turning back now.

 

"So, any other contenders?" Jonathan had intended to sound more innocent than that, but the huskiness in his voice was more than obvious, and Max's smile only grew. He had never promised to date and see Jonathan exclusively, but it still had turned out that way.

 

"Possibly. Not sure if this other contender is up to the challenge," he replied, leaning forward to prop himself up on and arm above Jonathan. "Or if there's actually time to investigate said contender's prospects."

 

"Prospects?" Jonathan’s jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth and forced himself to proceed at Max’s speed, and not force him to hurry this along. He absentmindedly reached out to move a finger up Max’s jaw line just in time to be caught by Max’s graceful hand that reached for his cheek. He looked up into the wide eyes above as he was pushed back into the mattress and the sturdy body leaned into him. "What's there to investigate exactly?"  Jonathan asked huskily, slightly clearing his throat.

 

"Umm, let me think," Max murmured, allowing his hand to caress the features of the older man. Jonathan turned his head to brush his lips over the palm, never taking his eyes off the man above him. Max seducing him? Yup, that sounds about right.

 

"I think that it would have to be something simple, due to time constraints and the lateness of the hour, and the fact that the contender has probably been up all day and traveled late into the night to get here. There's only one more thing to do tonight than what was expected." Max's face had moved closer until his breath was a warm, moist touch on Jonathan's lips.

 

"Quite right," Jonathan was able to get out just as Max’s lips finally completed their descent. Any hesitation that might have been present disappeared at that exact moment. Max’s hand slid down to a muscular shoulder and began to knead, but quickly moved back to cradle the back of Jonathan's head. Jonathan's own hands moved as they originally desired to sink into Max’s hair.

 

Tongues met finally as mouths slanted, grips became tighter, breathing became unnecessary, and the first taste caused an addiction Jonathan didn't ever want to rid himself of, even if he could. He hated Max for that. He felt as Max had discovered every chink in his armor, and proceeded to take from him all his control. It became something akin to a race to see who could control every movement, find every dark corner the fastest and make it their own.

 

When breathing became necessary, Jonathan felt Max pull away to pant into his mouth. A low moan of passion mixed with a pout of chagrin, and he pulled the head the last inch forward so their foreheads were resting against each other. They panted together for a few more seconds, slowly calming down as they ran their hands across each other's body. Jonathan knew what Max was thinking, and he wanted just as much to let things keep going. It was Max’s party.

 

"We've got ground to cover, huh?" Max said breathlessly.

 

Jonathan nodded in answer to the younger man's breathy question, rubbing their foreheads together. "Unfortunately, yeah," he whispered. He smiled, though, and resituated their position to bring their lips near again. "So how did tonight's contender do?"

 

Max shook with silent laughter. "I do believe he did quite well," he answered, letting their lips meet again for a quick moment, an unwanted validation as they began to untangle themselves. Jonathan felt his face being held again between strong hands, and he met the glassy eyes. "I think we may be able to waive a couple of the other pieces of crap I usually put you through and go straight to the heart of things."

 

"Oh, is this one of those accelerated courses?"

 

"Yup, self-paced, but with large rewards to get things done real quick." Max planted another peck to Jonathan’s mouth, and then backed off. "But I've got to be honest with you, I can’t live with you, not yet. I...I know you get irritated with me, and how slow I go, but something in me, like my heart stops and everything is hushed, and I feel a sense of caution. Go slow. We've got time, Jonathan. Time. I just feel that somewhere, somehow I made a big mistake once. I made a decision that cost too much, and something inside me remembers that, and tells me to stay the course, be cautious, and make the right choices. I can’t fail this time,” Max said fiercely. “Not this time."

 

Jonathan squeezed the hand that he caught tenderly. Yup, they had time, for now. It could wait, and would.

 

“So you can’t live with me, so what does this mean exactly Max? Do you even understand how much of who and what I am that I’ve changed and altered for you? I changed my sexual orientation, put things on hold…dammit, you’re rewriting my life and…”

 

“I can give you a promise.” Max said quietly. Jonathan stopped and waited. “I can’t live with you, but I can promise you exclusiveness. No dating. No others. Just you. And…I can promise that once I can make a commitment to live with you…I will.”

 

Fair enough. Jonathan nodded. He wanted more, but that would do for now. It was one more step closer to his goal, better than what he had when he woke up this morning.

 

“I missed you.”

 

“I was only gone for three days.”

 

“It felt longer.”

 

Jonathan smiled at that. “Oh baby…”

 

“Baby? Okay, we need to set some rules! No cutesy nicknames…and baby? That is totally out!”

 

“Sweetheart? Honey?”

 

Max made a face and hit Jonathan hard across the chest as the older man started laughing. “Okay! Okay. But just once…in front of Michael.” Max looked at Jonathan and they both dissolved in a flood of laughter.

 

~~~

 

“Maria! We’re late!”

 

“I’m coming! I can’t find my watch.”

 

Michael looked down at their kleptomaniac cat. “Don’t even get me started on that shit again. No more hoarding for the babies.”

 

“Found it!”

 

Michael looked back down at the cat. “Don’t think I’m going to apologize. You’re still under suspicion.”

 

Mr. Boo regarded him with disdain. Yeah, yeah. Always my fault.

 

“My back, it's killing me,” Maria said as she came down the stairs.

 

Michael looked at her shoes and frowned. “It’s your shoes. I’m telling you, they’re bad for your legs and back. Dangerous.”

 

“Michael,” Maria said warningly. Her shoes were an off-limit topic. “Are you going to drop me off at the hospital to see Mom afterwards?”

 

“No. I’m bringing you home to rest. I’ll take you to the hospital after lunch.”

 

Maria opened her mouth to protest, but decided to be reasonable. Waiting for Michael to close the loft door and open the door of the car for her, she noticed his gun.

 

“Oh, no you don’t! Leave the gun home.”

 

Home? Michael looked at her like she was three degrees shifted to insanity. Not going to happen. Fingering his weapon, his eyes narrowed. “I need it.”

 

“No, you do not. We’re going to the baby doctor, Michael, not into a hostage situation.”

 

“That’s what you think. Have you even bothered to notice the women that frequent that place? They’re…”

 

“Pregnant! They’re pregnant, not insane, not criminals, and they are not going to attack or maim you.”

 

“No. I’m required to have my weapon at all times, even off duty. As an officer of the law…”

 

“Bullshit.”

 

Michael raised a hand. “I swear, it’s true. Ask Kyle, Sean or Max…”

 

“I will not. That’s just ridiculous! I saw the group of you sitting around comparing your ‘pieces’ talking about barrel size, and muzzle velocity. Don’t try that one on me!”

 

Michael just shrugged. What the hell was her point?

 

“Dammit Michael, you’re all obsessed with your phallic hardware! Don’t even deny it. You even name the damn things!”

 

“I call mine Maria.”

 

Maria looked up at him where he stood close holding open her door. “Really?” Ridiculously pleased, she noticed he was looking so incredibly fine. He smelt…

 

Michael groaned as she sniffed him along the side of his neck. Looking down at her, he kissed her hard, and then he firmly put her in the car. “Stop it. We’re finding out about the twins today. For once, let's not be late. I’ll treat you to a Burger Barn double cheeseburger with extra pickles afterwards.”

 

Maria smiled and settling back in her seat with her hands folded across her stomach she said simply, “I love you.”

 

Michael smiled and started the car. He was getting so damn fucking good at this relationship shit…um, stuff.

 

~~~

 

“Twins?”

 

“I’m sure.”

 

DocJim looked at the schedule on her chart. “Well, you’re up for a ultrasound today, so we’ll check it out. That would explain the muffled Doppler results. I see they took your glucose test today, so I’ll let you know the results of that too. Blood chemistry will be back soon. I told them to put a rush on it since your chemistry is always all over the place.”

 

DocJim put the chart aside and looked over at Michael quietly sitting in a chair in the corner. Sighing, he shook his head. “Your weight is too low, Maria.”

 

“I eat. I eat enough for ten men.”

 

“I know. I can’t explain it, but you’re seriously underweight. The babies seem to be thriving, but it would be remiss of me to not be concerned for the mother as well.” Jim looked at his patient. “I heard about Amy and Jim. And I know that this is a hard time for you, a lot more stress. I need you to stay as calm as possible. Rest. Eat well, and take care of yourself. I realize that both of you are doing everything you can, but I’m worried.”

 

“Don’t be. I’m fine.” Jim looked at Michael and then to Maria again. “Okay. But I want you in here twice a week for blood draws, and to see me at least once a week. Normally we wouldn’t schedule your appointments so close, but it’s still going to be a few weeks before the baby…babies... are old enough to survive if we need to take them early. You’re twenty-six weeks, and I’d like to see you about thirty-two. That’s six more weeks. The babies will be fine after twenty-eight with some difficulties, but still fine. The longer we can give them, the better.”

 

“No one is taking my babies. They’ll be born when it’s time, and not before.”

 

“Maria…”

 

“No.” Maria refused to discuss it. “So I think it’s time to see if an ultrasound can confirm what I already know, don’t you?”

 

DocJim discreetly looked at Michael, who had been strangely quiet. “Yes. Let me get Carolyn to set up the room. She’ll come and get you when she’s ready.”

 

 

Michael sat transfixed, looking at the screen. If he had to put his money on anything, he’d have put it on Maria’s knowledge, but there was something about seeing his unknown child for the first time that meant something to him. He was expecting only one, but two was like a bonus.

 

“Stop. Carolyn, back it up a little to the right upper field. Can we move in on that?” DocJim waited as his technician moved the screen, changing the viewing field. “There.”

 

“What?” Michael tried to figure out what they were looking at. Holding Maria’s hand, he leaned forward.

 

“Two placentas. So you were right. Why does that even surprise me?” DocJim moved his finger along the field and talked to Carolyn again. “See if you can get a better view. I’d like to have measurements on both.”

 

“Is something wrong?” Maria asked her hand tightening on Michael’s almost painfully.

 

“No. You’re not a very big person, Maria. That’s an incredibly small space for them to be sharing, and we haven’t seen the other baby because one is behind the other. So we need to get them to shift, so we can see both at once. We’ve been tracking the growth, but now it’s hard to say which baby we were tracking, if not both.”

 

Carolyn helped Maria shift more to her side, and after a few moments they got a better view.

 

“There! Freeze that one.” DocJim smiled. “Well, hello there. You want to know the sexes?”

 

Michael looked at Maria with a raised eyebrow. Maria nodded. “Yes.” Michael was surprised how strange his voice sounded until he realized he had been holding his breath.

 

Jim pointed to one image with an obvious curled fist. “That’s your son. And…” He waited as Carolyn tried to fix a better image. “And there is your daughter. One of each.” Hitting Michael on the shoulder he smiled. “Guess you’ll be wanting a copy of the videotape?”

 

Michael just nodded, his eyes remained fixed on the monitor watching them. They looked so small. “They’re okay?”

 

“They look perfect.”

 

Perfect. Michael looked at Maria, and a slow smile moved across her face leaving him breathless again. Perfect.

 

~~~

 

“We haven’t talked names.”

 

“I know.” Michael took another bite of his burger.

 

“Don’t you think we should?” Maria asked quietly.

 

Michael put down his burger and looked at her. Reaching out a hand he moved it gently down her face, his eyes traveling softly over her features. Moving his hand down, he rested it on the swell of her stomach.

 

“I can’t. Not yet.” If they lost the babies, it would be so much harder if they had names. He already knew that Michael, called 'Mikey' would be his son, but the girl…his daughter... Michael looked out the window and gulped.

 

“Hey, it’ll be all right.” Michael looked at Maria, and tears collected in her eyes at the look on his face. Despair. Pure panic. “God, Michael…”

 

He lowered his head next to hers and pulled her close in a hug. “I just can’t. Okay?”

 

Maria nodded. Terror. She understood the feeling. He was afraid, and fear wasn’t a feeling he could express well. Michael didn’t want her to feel his fears. Losing them, all of them, or even one of them, was plaguing him.

 

“Okay.” Maria ran her hand over the back of his bent head. “It’s okay. I understand. You don’t have to say anything.”

 

Michael looked up at her soft reassurance, and then leaned into a kiss. Maria could feel him. So much of everything inside him, and as awesome as it was, it was also overwhelming. Laughing, she pulled away and grabbed his hand placing it over her stomach which was suddenly moving.

 

“What does it feel like now?” Michael asked smiling at the feel of his children under his hand.

 

“Something to wondrous to describe. At first it felt like a fluttering, like wings of a butterfly. Now it’s like my entire stomach is alive, moving, almost like a rocking motion on the sea.” Maria laughed at his expression when her stomach moved again under his hand. Maria could feel the building energy. Uh oh! “Maybe you should remove your hand?”

 

“What?” Maria laughed again at his adorably confused look.

 

Michael Guerin. Hers. The way she saw him, so few other people were allowed to see that part of him, if any. To others he was a stand-offish man with a fierce temper and sharp sarcastic tongue. With her, he was soft, gentle, romantic, roguish and outrageous. A young boy - a beautiful young boy.

 

Leaning into him, she whispered in his ear. “Remember that new thing I started doing? The glowing thing that causes me to…”

 

“Oh!” Michael looked around quickly. “We were going to investigate that a little more.”

 

“Uh huh. You keep touching me, and we’ll be doing that right now!”

 

Michael laughed, polishing off his burger and reaching for some of her fries, he quickly waved down the waitress for the check. “C’mon. I need to get you home for a quick nap.”

 

Maria slapped his hand away from her food, and quickly stood with his help. “Oh? Is that what we’re calling it now?” Taking the rest of the food with her, Maria let Michael worry about the bill.

 

Michael just laughed again and pulled her out the restaurant with him after tossing money on the table.

 

~~~

 

“Yeah!”

 

“Michael?”

 

Michael covered the phone and fell back in the bed with a moan, mouthing Max’s name to Maria whose eyebrow went up in question.

 

“Max, what is it?” Michael looked at the clock at the bedside and swore. They were running late. Between the doctor’s appointment, eating and sex, he was already half an hour late for the time he told Max he’d meet him at the Department.

 

“Nothing good. Look, you think you’ll be making it to work today? Or does Maria…”

 

“Maria is fine.” Michael looked at her, his eyes smiling with mischief, taking in her state of undress. Maria leaned down close and kissed him hard, biting him. “I need to drop her at the hospital and then I’ll be on my way in.”

 

“You might want to hurry, partner. You’re going to love meeting our replacement Captain.”

 

Michael swore and looked at the time again. “I’ll be there within 30 minutes.” Michael hung up the phone as Maria kissed the side of his neck.

 

“Need to go in, huh?”

 

“Yeah. You going to be okay on your own?”

 

Maria sat up and looked at him. “Of course. I actually am able to do many things by myself, Detective. It's only recently that I started practicing the ‘I’m helpless’ routine.”

 

Michael sat up on the side of the bed and reached for his clothes. “Look…dammit, Maria. I know you hate this. And I know you’re being a good sport about it because of me. I know you’re not helpless, but I can’t…”

 

Maria moved up along his back. “I know. I do understand, really I do. Sometimes I just feel so…restless sitting at home and waiting. It’s like my life is on hold, and letting you decide everything isn’t sitting well either.”

 

“I know that too.” Michael pulled her arms closer around him and closed his eyes at the feel of her along his back. “I just need this. I need to know where you are every moment of the day. Know you’re okay, alright? I can’t do this worrying about you.”

 

Maria hugged him tight. “It’s not like your life hasn’t changed too. You barely work three hours a day, sometimes four if you’re lucky.” Maria’s voice went softer. “I didn’t mean to make your life so hard, so miserable.”

 

Michael turned around to really look at her. “I’m not. I cut my hours by choice.” Michael sighed and put his forehead next to hers. “Nothing is more important to me than you and the babies. After that, finding out who hurt Jim and Amy. There is nothing else. We agreed, remember? Whatever we had to do for the babies, we’d do. You’ve given up more. Working. Teaching. The museum. All of it is on hold until the babies are born. I know how much this is costing you. I can’t keep working like I was if you need my blood every three to four hours.”

 

“It's not just your blood I’m taking, Detective.” Michael laughed at that. “If only I was…more like Tess...this wouldn’t be happening. Or maybe Isabel. I…”

 

“If you were Tess or Isabel this wouldn’t be a problem, true. It sure as hell wouldn’t be, because you’d wouldn’t be pregnant, at least not by me. I don’t want anyone else but you, Maria.”

 

“I love you. And don’t think I’ve forgiven you for that yet!”

 

“Okay, so what rule are we up to?”

 

“137.”

 

“Damn! Already? Do you even remember all the rules?”

 

“Of course. I wrote them down.” Maria laughed at the skeptical look on his face. “Oh! Okay! So I added a few you don’t know about!”

 

“Well, add number 138.”

 

“That would be?”

 

“Maria remains calm at all times. If she feels upset or stressed she calls Michael, no matter where, what time or the situation, and…” Michael held up his hand before Maria could interrupt, “and if she can’t find him, Maria must go home immediately.”

 

“I don’t like the wording of your rule, and it should apply to both us equally.”

 

“What? Meaning that if I’m upset I have to call you immediately or go home?” Maria nodded. “That makes no sense. I don’t blow up shit every time I see a new pair of shoes and realize I forgot to carry my VISA card.”

 

“That’s not fair! That only happened once!”

 

“Maria…”

 

“They were an awesome pair of shoes, too.”

 

Michael got up from the bed and pulled her out with him. “We’ve got to go. Let’s jump in the shower...quickly and I’ll drop you at the hospital.”

 

“Shower? Together? Quickly?”

 

“Good point. You go first, and I’ll wait.”

 

“Good. Could you make me something to eat? I’m hungry.”

 

“Wonders will never cease.”

 

~~~

 

Maria walked into her mother’s room and found it empty, so she went to Jim’s. The staff had moved their rooms closer together, but they were already talking about transferring both of the patients out of the ICU to a general care unit.

 

“So does the doctor know you two are playing doctor?” Maria asked as she walked in on her mother kissing Jim.

 

“Maria! I told you to stay home and rest.”

 

“Phish! When have I ever followed instructions? Plus…” Maria waved a small stack of pictures in the air. “I thought you might want to see ultrasound pictures of your grandchildren!”

 

“Give me!”

 

“Grandchildren?” Jim looked at the mother and daughter talking over the pictures excitedly. “Maria...? Grandchildren? Plural?”

 

“Twins,” Maria said smugly. “Needless to say Michael is feeling very virile right now.”

 

“I bet. Honey, let me see.”

 

Maria left them looking at the pictures and went to find the nurse.

 

“Maria?”

 

Maria stopped and smiled widely, seeing Jonathan Stiller coming towards her with a few packages. She hugged him back when he took her into a strong hold.

 

“Jonathan! I thought you were gone until tomorrow late.”

 

“I was, but came home early. I was just coming to check on both Jim and Amy.”

 

“That’s kind of you.” Jonathan waved away Maria’s remarks.

 

“You look tired. Why isn’t your boorish detective taking care of you?”

 

Maria punched him playfully in the gut, laughing. “Stop it! He takes excellent care of me. Actually, he takes such good care that I'm hardly allowed to breathe on my own.”

 

Jonathan looked at her critically. There it was. Just below the surface, a creeping blueness and washing away of color. The healthy bloom that should have graced her skin was absent, and he frowned at the amount of clothing she was wearing. Coldness was slowly finding its home in her again.

 

“I thought you would be here. So I brought you a present.”

 

“Me? I thought it was for Mom.”

 

Jonathan led her to a chair and sat next to her. Unable to resist, he rested his hand on her stomach. “This one is for Amy, and this one,” Jonathan handed her a golden foiled wrapped box, “is for you.”

 

Maria tore into the package placing her hand over his lightly. “I’m getting fat, huh?”

 

“Nowhere near fat enough. This little guy better be born soon because I swear you weighed more when you weren’t pregnant.”

 

“Oh god! Funnel cakes! You brought me funnel cakes!” Maria looked at her friend with misty eyes. “I love you! Did I tell you that lately?”

 

“Not often enough, and don’t forget to share.”

 

Maria was already shoveling the cake in her mouth. Giving Jonathan a piece…a small one, her eyes twinkled in glee. “Not one baby, Jonathan. Two. Twins. I’m having twins!”

 

Jonathan’s face shuttered and darkened as his eyes roamed over her too thin face, taking the cake in his hand he dropped it back into the box with the remaining other ones. “You eat that one too. You’re eating for three, and dammit, Maria, you’re too thin.”

 

“I’m fat! I can barely see my beautiful shoes, and Michael already has to help me get up from the sofa.”

 

“You look tired and cold, and worrying about Amy and Jim can’t be good for you or the baby…babies.”

 

“I’m fine. Really. I swear, Jonathan, if you join Michael in his possessive nature I won’t be responsible for what I do.”

 

“Eat your damn funnel cake.”

 

“Coffee. I wish I could have a cup of coffee with it. Real coffee. The kind that eats the stomach lining. I miss coffee.” Jonathan smiled as Maria started a tirade on the sacrifices of pregnancy. “So when did you get in?”

 

“Early this morning. I woke up Max.” Maria’s eyebrow went up at that, and a light of interest entered her eyes.

 

“Hmm, so are you going to tell me more, or do I need to ask?”

 

“Maria...” Jonathan warned.

 

“C’mon, Jonathan! I’ve had no fun lately. Take pity on the pregnant lady.”

 

“No.”

 

“Hmm, okay, okay. Chivalry. I thought it was dead.”

 

Jonathan laughed at that. “No. Not dead. Just obsolete.” He gave Maria a knowing look. “You want to share some details about the Detective?”

 

“Oh, would I! But, I won’t. I don’t want you lusting after my man,” Maria said smugly. “Once you know what I do, it’ll be unrequited lust for all eternity.”

 

Jonathan laughed. “He’s a keeper, huh?”

 

“Oh yeah! Like a devil from hell in the sheets, and that is all I’m going to say.” Maria sat back and relaxed enjoying the company. “So? You going to tell me?”

 

“What?”

 

“You and Max? I thought you were pulling back from the relationship, or not?”

 

Jonathan was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know, Maria. I tried to stay away from him. Really I did.”

 

“Last night was special?”

 

“No. It was the same. Me giving in, and letting Max decide the pace.”

 

“Jonathan…”

 

He took her hand and patted it, pulled it under his arm and settled back with his long legs in front of him. “He made me a promise last night. Fidelity, which I take as a huge step forward since his previous record was pretty dismal with lots of one to two date affairs. The man had a turnstile on his bedroom door.”

 

Maria looked at the man sharply. “Really? A commitment of sorts? Finally.”

 

“I was…” Jonathan closed his eyes. “I don’t know. I really don’t know where I’m going with this.”

 

“Do you need to know? I mean really? Shouldn’t it be about how you feel?”

 

Jonathan laughed at that. “Feelings. Yeah, I guess. Who would’ve thought I’d ever get this involved? I wasn’t looking for this. In a million years I couldn’t have predicted Max Evans and the effect he has on me.”

 

“In love. You’re in love with Max Evans.” Maria said it in an annoying sing-song voice that had Jonathan glaring at her.

 

“If you’re going to be mean to me, I’ll just take myself off to work.”

 

“Coward.”

 

Jonathan looked at Maria, and the two of them shared a silent understanding. Love. It was a terrible emotion. One that made them willing to change their well-organized lives and include that special someone they came to find more essential to them than air. Lines were drawn, and along the parameters of the soul was the understanding that love and hate shared a common edge.

 

“I’m many things, and yes, coward is one of them. How can I not be? I risk everything for him, and I’d risk more. Do you think I don’t hate that about myself? Dammit, I could just convince myself it’s just the sex and companionship, but it’s more. It has to be. I feel…” Jonathan paused, and continued with a hushing awe. “I feel.”

 

“Why is that so unusual? I’ve never thought of you as incapable of feeling. And before you wax over the topic, lets go back to the sex thing.”

 

“Maria!”

 

“Okay just a little. Blowjobs, maybe a little domination and slap…”

 

Jonathan put a hand over her mouth to stop her from continuing as he was losing the delicate control over his own humor. Damn her. Maria De Luca was his girlfriend in a giggly, ‘Let’s tell secrets’ sort of way. Like Max Evans, she was so much more than he expected.

 

“Stop it. Oh, thank god! There's Tess.” Maria spied Tess coming towards them when Jonathan pointed her out. “Damn, she looks ready to pop out that baby any moment. Are you sure you’re only six weeks behind her?”

 

“If you imply she’s fat, I’ll tell Max about that model you dated...Lisa...who was almost arrested because she was…”

 

“Okay. Resorting to blackmail? You are bored.”

 

Tess stopped at where they were sitting, and Jonathan quickly stood up and gave her his seat. “Tess, you look even more radiant every time I see you.”

 

“Liar, I look like a double-sided beef loader, swaying from side to side. My feet hurt. My back is almost terminal, and Max and Kyle took to counting my calories. I’m starving!”

 

Maria offered Tess a funnel cake. “Here. The two ogres of Roswell aren’t here, and neither Jonathan nor I would snitch you out.”

 

“God bless you both.” Tess took a hardy bite of the confectionary delight moaning in total appreciation. “Dammit it, Jonathan! If you came back in the night, couldn’t you do something about distracting Max enough to keep him off my doorstep at dawn with nutrient shakes made with some kind of putrid grass and kelp?”

Maria put a hand over her mouth in horror at the very thought. “It was green wasn’t it?”

 

Tess nodded joining Maria with a look of horror and repulsion as well. “You don’t want to know. Not really.”

 

“He's diabolical. Deranged.”

 

“I know! And he’s got my sweet loving sexy Kyle caught up in the madness. The two together are sick!”

 

“I thought Michael was bad. I can’t imagine two Michaels at once…” Maria paused and smiled. “Actually, I could, but not harassing me about the babies.” Clicking her tongue, she let her fantasies take her somewhere else, and wondered suddenly where the man was, what he was doing, and…

 

“I heard. Max told me that you’re having twins.”

 

“A boy and a girl.” Maria patted her stomach. “I feel bad. I’ve been assuming it was only one and a boy, now I need to make up time and talk to my daughter too.”

 

“I know I need relief, or to have this baby born. Yesterday.”

 

Maria was suddenly uncomfortable. Tess didn’t deserve it, but… “I’ve got bad news then.” Tess held her breath and waited for the next shoe to drop.

 

“Just tell me.”

 

“Michael and I have rejoined the Tuesday and Thursday Lamaze classes.”

 

Tess put her hands over her face and moaned. Peeking through her fingers she looked the quiet Jonathan up and down. “You’ve got to save me, Jonathan. I’m begging you! Sex. Sex can be very drug inducing, draining. Why a sated man could say…oversleep a few days, and give a very tired pregnant woman a break. Max. Max is a fine looking man. What the heck is wrong with you? That man should be too tired to get his ass over at my place at the break of dawn. If you take care of Max, I’ll make sure Kyle won’t want to move, and maybe, just maybe I can get a reprieve.”

 

“That sounds like a good plan. Jonathan, you’ve got to do it for the cause. For God, country and Queen.”

 

“America doesn’t have a damn Queen.”

 

“Well, do it for Tess then.”

 

“Please, Jonathan. What’s a blowjob between friends?”

 

“Oh god! Not you too! That’s it. I’m going to go see Amy and Jim.” Jonathan shook a stern finger at both women and walked off.

 

“He’s got an incredible ass.” Tess said watching the man rush away in a hasty retreat.

 

“Yeah. I noticed it long ago. Wonder if Max thinks so?”

 

Maria and Tess looked at each other, and they both dissolved into laughter.

 

~~~

 

“Detective Guerin. Nice of you to finally grace us with your presence.

 

Michael swore under his breath and confirmed his worst nightmare. Captain Strickland. No. It wasn’t possible.

 

“Sir. I’m afraid that I’m on limited duty. I only work three to four hours a day, and three days a week.”

 

“I read that in your jacket, but there was no explanation for this limited duty you requested.”

 

Michael looked over at his partner who was trying to appear busy, as were the other members of the bullpen. Michael’s jaw clenched and he held his hands behind his back.

 

“It’s personal, and approved. Cap knows and pushed it through.”

 

“I don’t care. I’m asking you to tell me, or I’ll have it overturned. You look healthy enough, and with all the problems lately, and Captain Valenti almost blown away, I’d thought you would want to be active on this investigation.”

 

“It’s personal.” Michael said refusing to give more. “Do what you feel you have to, but I will protest having my limited duty taken away, and I will fight it to the full extent given to me by the Policemen’s Labor Union and with legal representation.”

 

Strickland’s jaw clenched. Getting into a pissing match over something that was already approved, and putting himself in the limelight at this time wasn’t something he wanted to do. Guerin. Fuck him. He had wanted the man's ass for years. Wanted him under his command, and then just wanted him humiliated and fired, after he had made his disrespect of Strickland clear. Now the opportunity was given to him, and because of PD politics, Strickland was forced to back down.

 

“Well, now that you finally are here, I guess we can get to business.”

 

Strickland turned to the full room of officers. “Full departmental briefing in ten. All non-deployed units will be present in the briefing room immediately. I want your active cases, workload reports, and all pending investigations that have been stalled, ready and waiting. That wasn’t a request people. That’s an order.”

 

He stood and watched as the entire room scrambled. Smiling smugly, he stopped to talk to Rhonda, and made a quick phone call. Major Crimes was his. All his.

 

~~~

 

“DeLuca and Valenti. Report.”

 

Sean looked at Kyle and nodded. Kyle pulled their script sheet.

 

“We have thirteen cases pending. Three are stalled for lab work sent to Federal, and dead ends. Our team is currently on stand-down for the next six days for family obligation and leave.”

 

Strickland looked at them. “What are you two doing here today?”

 

“We try to report in at least once a day, check our pending cases in case things are moving, and we just like the coffee, Sir,” said Kyle, with Sean snickering next to him. They were both off duty for family leave with Amy and Jim out of commission.

 

“Get your feet off the furniture, detective,” Strickland said to Sean who was lazing back with his feet up. Sean reluctantly complied. Damn Strickland. He hated being under that prick's command again. Strickland ignored him and his eyes wandered down the sheet.

 

“Guerin and Evans, you’re up.”

 

Max cleared his throat and read through their script sheet. “We have two cases pending. No stalls, and Guerin is on limited duty.”

 

“Two cases? Just two?” Strickland looked at his manpower sheet. That was impossible. Guerin and Evans were still pulling new cases as fast as the others, despite having Guerin on limited duty. They had to have others on the desk still working. Checking his sheets he stopped himself from whistling. Damn. Over the last four months, Guerin and Evans had a success rate almost equaling one hundred percent, and a turnover of mere days per case.

 

Max looked over at Kyle and Sean, worried. Michael's newfound powers were clearing their cases at unheard-of and alarming rates. He picked up so much information off the crime scenes that it was almost never a question of who did it, but getting the evidence to stand up in court. It pushed their percentages to incredible stats, and Max wasn’t sure how to explain that.

 

Strickland swallowed hard and chose to ignore the team altogether. Quickly reassigning cases and manpower, he reassigned the teams to certain rotations and dismissed them. Michael stayed, watching Strickland leave the room. Sean followed the man, and waited until he was safe back in Cap’s office to shut the door to the briefing room.

 

Michael just stared straight ahead, but Sean was much more vocal.

 

“How the hell did we get settled with StrickDick? I heard he was on forced leave until IA finished investigating Vice.”

 

Max sat down and rubbed the back of his neck. “They needed a replacement fast. They were afraid that our department would go rogue and search for the people responsible for Cap’s attack. This was the best they could do in limited time, and Strickland jumped at the chance to take control. He’ll try to take over Majors and make sure that Cap never gets his command back.”

 

“That’s not going to happen,” said Michael quietly. Standing he looked at the room of detectives. “Cap put Max in charge. Anyone have a problem with that?”

 

Waters looked at his partner and shrugged. “I think we prefer that. Strickland ran Vice into the ground. We’d rather not see that happen here.”

 

Michael looked at Hanson and his partner…um, whatever her name was. “Sam, you and your partner on for Max being in command?”

 

Courtney interrupted Hanson before he could speak. “We’re green, Commander.”

 

Michael’s eyes narrowed at the young woman, but he soon lost interest. “Max, what you got for us?”

 

Max stood up and went to a special chalkboard in the front of the room. Moving the top empty board to the side, they saw another board filled with their names.

 

“We work the numbers. Everyone cover your cases. Business as usual. No exceptions. Kyle and Sean are off for six days, so they take lead with Michael on the Valenti case. Michael will follow since he still has time obligations to the Department. All teams are cut into sectionals. I want all of you to check your sources. I talked to Parker in Forensics. She is shuttling duplicate reports to us. Rhonda is in the know. She will hold all rosters in the morning, and you are to check in with her throughout the day. All reports will be given directly to me, or lead team. Strickland can’t know what we’re doing at any time. He’ll run his own bullshit investigation. It’ll be one of us. We feed Strickland’s investigation all we know, but Kyle and Sean run the investigation. They re-assign any and all manpower as they see fit. Any problems, come to me directly. Let's do this quiet and fast.”

 

“By the book?” Philips asked quietly.

 

“There is no book for this case. No mistake. This will be taken care of quickly, judiciously and without a nod to the law. We’re going to push the line here, boys. So anyone has a problem, they need to say so now, and we’ll reroute you to basic services.”

 

No one spoke up. Taking a knock at a cop was a dangerous and risky business. People understood that. Only a fool wouldn’t expect the cop shop to explode in a full manhunt. Justice was coming. A special type of justice that had nothing to do with books and the law.

 

Max looked over the group. “Where are Sargento and Petrowski?”

 

“They're cleaning up some dogging and shake and bakes in Bean Town. They got a lead this morning on a new cooker.”

 

“How many shake and bake factories we close this month?”

 

“Too many.” Waters looked at Philips. “I think we took three, and I know you and Guerin plugged six.”

 

“Four for us,” said Sean.

 

Hanson raised his hand.

 

“Put your hand down, Hanson. What’s your count?”

 

“Two.”

 

Max nodded and looked at his partner. Michael nodded.

 

“It’s escalating. The drug factories are increasing overnight. We don’t pull back on the shit. We can’t. If we turn our heads they’ll overrun the streets by next month.” Michael rubbed his stomach. He was hungry. “The new dust we picked up was a special. Golden with a tweak. Parker is running diagnostics, but this shit is touchy. So keep it off your skin.”

 

Max sat down on the edge of a desk. “Can we pull from Narcotics? We’re picking off their turf. Maybe we should give it back and stick to major crimes and homicide.”

 

Sean searched for a cigarette. “We can’t. Narcotics is overextended. They aren’t covering half the area. Shit is getting across the border, and they can’t find the area of access. Being so close to Mexico is a problem. Vice is defunct. IA has that house torn apart, and StrickDick is trying to find an out. He’s sizing up our home. And boys…” Sean looked at the rest of the group. “We do not want that pit viper to set up in our house. This is Valenti’s and we keep it safe for him.”

 

“Okay. I’ll rethink the deployment. For now, all drug trafficking and shops are closed harshly. Call for back-up. We don’t pull back. The rest of the units will be looking to our lead. Courtney, you and Hanson cover foot units. They have problems and concerns, I want to know.” Hanson nodded and Courtney started to open her mouth, but Max cut her off by continuing. “Waters, can you and Philips cover all the catch-up cases? We’ve got too many floaters and the work is piling.” Max quickly ran down the list assigning special areas to be watched over. The group quickly dissolved hitting their workloads before Strickland wondered why his bullpen was empty of working detectives.

 

Courtney stopped next to Max and Michael and smiled. “Carl and I think we’ve got a lead on a new talent in town. Rumor is he is good at creating chaos of an explosive kind.”

 

Max nodded. “Just work the information and report back.” Max watched Courtney start to leave. “Courtney. You’re new. Hanson is team leader, so both of you be careful out there.”

 

Sean, Kyle, Michael, Waters, and Philips watched Hanson and his partner leave while Max flipped through more papers.

 

“Who the hell is Carl?” Kyle asked.

 

~~~

 

Kyle and Sean were on their way out the door. They needed to get to work on what they had on the bombing. Being on leave, they had days off and time to put all their efforts to the one case. Michael watched them leave after Kyle reminded Max about Lamaze that night.

 

“What's wrong Max?”

 

Max sighed and tossed himself down in a chair. Looking at Michael, he was disconcerted at how thin his partner looked. “Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.”

 

“Okay. One thing at a time. What’s wrong?”

 

“I don’t know if I can do this. Why did Cap give the control to me and not you?”

 

Michael shrugged. “I can command men, but I don’t lead. There is a difference. A slight one, but in the grand schemes of things the difference can mean a lot.” Michael stood up. “I’ve got to go pick up Maria. I won’t be in tomorrow. I'm not on the schedule until Monday. So I’ll check on the streets tomorrow for information. You want to come visit an old friend?”

 

“Yeah, just beep me where to meet you? Who we shaking?”

 

“Oh, you’ll love it! A real peach.” Michael said with an insanely evil smile on his face.

 

“Okay. I’ll wear protection.”

 

Michael just laughed. “You might want to wear some tonight. Maria and I are back in the Lamaze class tonight.”

 

“Aw, shit!”

 

Michael headed for the door, but stopped and looked back at his partner. Max. He stood in the room alone. Being the leader, the one in charge was often a lonely task. “Max. As far as being in command?” Max nodded. “All I can say is that no one is every really ready for it, until they have to be. Only advice I can give you is that when in command…command. Simple.”

 

~~~

 

“Detective Guerin.” Michael stopped at the voice that sounded high and screechy as nails on a board.

 

“Ms. Gonzales. A pleasure as always.” Michael gave a frightening smile, belying his words.

 

“New rules. All members of the Roswell PD are required to leave their guns at the door! No guns allowed in the group.”

 

Maria looked at Michael and Ms. Gonzales and decided to leave it to the woman to disarm her man. Good luck to her.

 

“You will notice that I have a liaison officer from the Department here to protect and guard your weapons. I’d prefer that none of you came armed, but I understand that you are required to…”

 

“You want me to remove my piece?”

 

“Just your gun, Detective. All of them, including your clutch weapon…is it an ankle holster?”

 

“You want to disarm me?” Michael asked credulously. “Take my weapons?”

 

“Yes. Please hand them over.”

 

“Off my rotting corpse!”

 

Maria sighed and moved in closer to Michael so she could speak to him in a low tone. “Michael, my back hurts. Could you just do this and help me sit down? I’m not feeling so good.”

 

“What’s wrong?” Michael turned in a flash to check Maria over, quickly removing his guns so he could take her into the classroom. Maria met Ms. Gonzales' eyes over Michael’s head as he bent towards her, and acknowledged the woman’s look of gratitude.

 

In the classroom were a subdued and sheepish looking Kyle and Max with Tess. Michael headed to an empty spot next the trio when Ms. Gonzales rushed into the room and redirected him.

 

“Detective Guerin. I’m sure Maria would be much more comfortable at this spot.” She pointed to a place opposite and away from the Evans-Valenti trio. Lowering her voice, she whispered to Michael, “It’s closer to the bathroom.”

 

“Oh right. Good idea.” Michael looked over at Kyle and Max with a smug look on his face, and both men exchanged looks, trying to figure out what Michael was getting for Maria that they didn’t get for Tess.

 

It took all of ten minutes after the class started for Michael to start bitching about his guns. He kept an eye on the other group and kept increasing the pace of Maria’s panting to keep ahead of Tess.

 

“I don’t know why I have to surrender my arms. It’s not like I was going to shoot anyone.”

 

“Oh?” Maria said slightly breathless.

 

“Professor, pick up the pace…the bastards are gaining, and…I mean, the hees are getting too far from the other hees.”

 

“Hee hee yourself. This is as fast as I’m going. I refuse to be caught in the middle of your insane competitive war with Kyle and Max. And…” Maria groaned softly as she tried to reposition herself causing Michael to rush to her aid. “What about the damn water cooler? Huh? Did it just spring out and attack you, forcing you to shoot it?”

 

“Maria, dammit, I told you, I was provoked!”

 

“By a damn water cooler?” Maria hissed under her breath as she felt a tinge in her lower stomach. Moving to her side, she tried to relieve the cramp.

 

“No, by that bastard, um, I mean by Max and his cootie partner in crime, Kyle. They…” Michael noticed the look on Maria’s face and paused. “What is it?”

 

“What is what?” Maria asked exasperated. Michael Guerin was a special man, and, taken as a whole, he was too awesome for words. But individually, day by day and one event at a time, he could be plain loco or insane, depending on the circumstances.

 

Michael gestured to his face, making a grimace. “That thing you’re doing with your face.”

 

“There is nothing wrong with my face!” Maria said loudly as a light next to them exploded.

 

Michael quickly lowered his voice and rested his hand on her stomach so the twins could feel his presence. “Okay. Okay. Calm down. I meant that you’re grimacing. What’s wrong?”

 

Max was suddenly at Michael’s shoulder while Ms. Gonzales and her helper rushed to the exploded lamp.

 

“Michael? Maria okay?”

 

Maria looked up at him and suddenly moved to the side in pain again. “No! Maria is not okay!” She looked up at Michael. “I…ouch! It hurts.”

 

Michael quickly stood up and picked her up, and shoved the pillows at Max. “I’m taking her to the hospital. Collect our stuff, okay?”

 

Max nodded as Michael quickly vacated the room with a not so happy Maria.

 

“Michael, you forgot your guns.” Michael swore under his breath and informed Maria to shut up. He was taking care of it.

 

Collecting their things Max rejoined Kyle and Tess, who were watching in concern.

 

“Maria?” Tess asked.

 

Max just shook his head. “I don’t know. Cramps? Contractions? She was in pain.”

 

“It’s too early.” Tess said fretfully.

 

Kyle sat down and prompted Tess up against him. Rubbing her stomach in comfort he looked over at Max. The shared a common look of concern, but said nothing so Tess wouldn’t worry too much.

 

~~~

 

Maria was quiet when Michael carried her into the loft a few hours later and placed her on the sofa. Mr. Boo, who had been waiting patiently for their return, jumped up on her lap and quickly began to question Maria about her condition. Maria petted him in comfort, and looked over at the endlessly pacing Michael.

 

“Braxton-Hicks contractions, Michael. You can calm down now.”

 

“It’s too early. It should be in your last month, not at week twenty-six. The book said it was the body's way of preparing the uterus for delivery, and…”

 

“Michael.” He kept talking, so Maria repeated herself, “Michael.” He stopped his pacing and looked at her. “It was just those Hicks contraction things. The babies are fine. I’m fine. The book said that they can start in the second trimester and increase in the third. I’m in the third. So, not so unusual. Not really.”

 

Michael came over and knelt next to her where she lay on the sofa with a purring Mr. B.

 

“You were in pain.”

 

“Well, yeah. You didn’t think pushing out two six to eight pound babies was going to be a cakewalk did you?”

 

“I really didn’t think about much of anything.” Michael rubbed his face. “I hate to think of you in pain.”

 

Maria framed his face with her hands. “It’ll be okay. You’ll see. Women have been doing this forever, and they survive. Think about it. Some even choose to have more children, even knowing what that means. I think I can handle it.”

 

Michael rubbed his forehead against Maria’s. “I’m sure you can. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. It’s me that I’m worried about.”

 

“I know you. You’ll be there, and you’ll be perfect. Michael, you don’t know how to fail.” Michael stared into her eyes, and felt her sincerity. She had a way of making him feel humble. He’d rather cut off his own arm before losing her trust and belief in him. Some things were too important to risk failure. He couldn't understand why he hadn’t felt the contractions, when he seemed to share everything else with her.

 

“I love you.” Michael said softly. He didn’t say it often enough. A man of few words, he let actions speak for him, but at times, words were all he had.

 

“You better. You’re kind of stuck with me.”

 

“For better or worse?” Michael asked casually, but not feeling very casual.

 

“Is that really what you want?” Maria said quietly trying to read his eyes. “I wasn’t sure. It’s been a while, and I thought maybe you changed your mind.”

 

“Not likely. I just had things to take care of, and with all this crazy…”

 

“Alien stuff?”

 

Michael nodded. It wasn’t a subject they talked about. Ever. Maria had tried at first, but Michael’s uncontrolled emotions made it hard, and after replacing the windows in the loft a few times, she backed off and decided to let him talk when he was able to.

 

“Not all of it is bad,” she said with a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. Actually, some of it was pretty damn amazing. The sex. Oh lord, have mercy! The flooding of power in her body, and the incredible bond she felt with him. Alien sex and love had a lot to recommend it.

 

“I don’t know,” Michael confessed. “I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time, or where this is going to take us.”

 

He rose pick her up and take a sitting position, holding Maria on his lap. Mr. Boo reluctantly relinquished just enough space to allow him to do this. Suddenly, Maria shivered and whimpered into Michael’s chest. The glowing sensation was moving across her abdomen and lower body, leaving her almost boneless and weak. It was incredible that every day she found herself more attracted and attached to him. He smelt and tasted…

 

“I’m hungry,” Maria whispered, looking up at him through her lowered eyes.  “Are you going to feed me or what?” 

 

“What? Oh.” Michael looked down at her, and gulped. Damn. He recognized that look too well, and the increased intensity was hard to miss. He hadn’t refueled in hours, and suddenly he wasn’t so sure he could hold her. “Not too much, okay?”

 

Wide-eyed, Maria nodded, but her smile belied her innocence. Michael pulled away his jacket, and opened the first few buttons on his shirt. Maria lightly ran her tongue over her upper lip as Michael leaned back into the cushion of the sofa, and exposed his throat and upper chest to her. He met the cat’s eyes, and together they watched as Maria smiled beguilingly at Michael, and then leaned forward, as if to gently kiss his neck. In the mirror, across the room, he could see his eyes closing, growing heavy as her mouth found his skin, and he moaned at the first nip of her teeth.

 

“Maria, I’ll cut…”

 

“Shh, no. Let me.”

 

Michael leaned back even more and brought her with him. Bite. She was going to bite him. Hard. Break skin and draw blood. His heart raced in his chest as the beating organ threatened to burst through his chest. How could something so simple mean so much to him? His blood. His life energy. It sustained them. All of them. They needed and belonged to him exclusively. They always would. Aphrodisiac of thought, erotic and hearty, he encouraged her to feast off him.

 

Maria’s lips were soft and gentle, and Michael could feel them brush across his neck before he was swept away on a rush of pure pleasure. He was dimly aware of the fact that her teeth had broken skin and a slight pull and then pain hit his sensory receptors and then quickly was chased away under the sheer erotic release. He could feel a few drops of his own blood slowly trailing down his neck, away from the warmth of her mouth as her sucking overwhelmed his senses. Other than that, all of his senses had overloaded on some chemical rush of total euphoria.

 

Lost time. That was becoming a common theme for them. Both of them seemed unable to comprehend what their bodies did naturally, without them being aware. The quick rush to remove clothes, the joining of flesh, and the feeling of urgency left them both light-headed and disoriented. Nothing made sense but the rush of emotions and energy that fueled their bonding.

 

Michael moaned and felt an unexpected warmth flood down his body, and knew that he had just come. Maria pulled away, after one last lick at the swiftly closing wound on Michael’s neck. Michael closed his eyes and sagged down in the sofa as Maria’s hand gently stroked the side of his face, then meeting his eyes, total innocence and pure lust equally mixed in her eyes. She reached beyond him to a small sharp knife on the table next to the sofa and cut a small thin line on her upper body just below her left collar bone.

 

“I’m still hungry.”

 

Michael swallowed hard. “Wait ‘til we can eat, okay?”

 

Maria nodded, and turned her full attention back to petting him and his body, directing his mouth to the slice bleeding on her skin.

 

I am no longer alone...

 

 

Michael woke up to a sensation he’d never thought he’d feel again: the feeling of being part of something bigger than himself, part of a family. Maria’s lips on his, familiar and warm, tasting faintly of herbs and copper. Copper? All of the events of the evening came rushing back to him, and he sat up.

 

“Dammit, Maria. You just came home from the hospital, and you were having contractions.” She just silenced him with a kiss. It was okay. She felt fine. More than fine. Great.

 

They were in the loft. Michael was lying on the sofa, with Maria sitting on him and looking down in some amusement. Deciding he was awake enough, she leaned down and gave Michael a hungry kiss.

 

“Look who’s awake!” said Maria happily placing his hand on her stomach.

Still only half-conscious, Michael smiled just as he registered two other heartbeats with the movement under his hand. His children. Mikey and his sister…

 

“Amanda,” Maria said. “I was thinking, Amanda. That will make them Mikey and Manda Guerin.”

 

Michael grunted for an answer, and looked around the loft seeing the cat again peacefully cleaning his paws. Amanda? He liked it, but it wasn’t good to give in to Maria immediately because he suspected she was getting to expect that. Maria was leaning against him, breathing deeply and fully, as a woman would who has just experienced an earth-shattering orgasm. Michael looked at Maria questioningly. That wasn’t just a normal mating and feeding session for them. It had gone on for a while.

 

“I was very, very hungry,” said Maria sweetly.

 

“Take it easy on me, Professor.” Michael scratched his eye amused. Someday, he was going to set up closed circuit cameras and record them, just so he could capture whatever the hell they did when they seemed to lose track of reality. “It feels like I haven’t eaten in days. And you’ve been feeding off me for…” He looked over at the clock and was shocked at the lateness of time. “For hours.”

 

Hours of blood, Michael’s brain translated. That’s right, he thought wildly. His family needed him to survive. Sitting back comfortably watching her where she sat on him, her pregnant stomach still moving under his hand, he couldn’t imagine ever not wanting her near and in his life. Never not wanting to get her pregnant.

 

Maria suddenly looked at him seriously. “Tell me we won’t lose this feeling, the intensity, the lust when the babies are born. Tell me.”

 

“I promise,” Michael vowed. “I promise that I’ll never stop feeling this way, or wanting this connection with you.”

 

He’d do anything to keep from losing her, or having her unhappy. Anything. He pulled Maria closer to him. Maria turned Michael’s eyes back to her, and kissed him again, draining away all thought. When Maria’s kisses moved lower on his chest just above his left nipple, Michael did nothing, just moaned when he felt her teeth sink into his flesh. He let Maria drink her fill.

 

“Whatever you need, Professor. Take whatever you need...”