The UFO Convention…..

The annual UFO convention at the UFO center was bigger than usual this year. Rumors of the sightings helped to fuel increased enthusiasm, and Michael, following Maria’s prediction, was heavily into the middle of it searching for answers that might explain the mysterious symbol burned in the ground. He had spent the day talking to an "alien expert", asking his opinion on aliens.

“I've concluded, Mr. Guerin, that yes, these aliens do exist. Yes, they're among us today. And yes, they're brutal, dangerous killers and must be stopped at any cost.” Michael flexed his hands in anger, but schooled his expression to remain passive. Isabel saw Michael across the way, and quickly spirited him away before he could cause any problems.

“Hey, I wasn't finished talking to him.”

Isabel looked around the place, her nose shriveling at the alien souvenirs. She couldn’t believe she had let Michael talk her into coming here, as if they could find an ounce of truth in the sea of paranoia fantasy. “I want to get the hell out of here. This place is psychologically damaging.”

“Hey, I've got no choice here.” Michael told her, his whisper loud and angry. She could at least try to be supportive. “We've got cave paintings we don't understand. We've got Nasedo sending us messages. This place could hold the answers to everything.”

Isabel snorted her derision of the UFO center holding anything possibly informative. “Yeah, I'm sure it's a real Mecca for factual information.” They both looked up as a large Alien, with an oversized head came wobbling down the stairs into the main UFO Center rotunda.

“Save me. Save me. I'm a human trapped in an alien body!” Max’s voice came out of the alien body.

Isabel rolled her eyes, not recognizing her brother. “Excuse us.” She stopped in front of Michael, staring at Max as he took off the alien mask.

“Ugh.” Max said, breathing fresh air for the first time in a while.

Isabel put her hands on her hip, and Michael shook his head at Max. “You realize that we've just lost our last shred of dignity.”

~~~

Max took the first opportunity he had to drag Michael into a back room at the UFO Center, after Isabel stomped away, irritated by the festivities.

“Michael, I've got to talk to you about something...personal.”

Michael shrugged. “Nothing's too personal.”

“How'd you do it with Maria?”

Michael startled. Well hell! “Too personal.” What the hell? Okay, so he spent a lot of time with the dizzy chick, but hell, now Max thought they were doing it?

Max shook his head, not meaning that. “No, I mean...how did you stop?” Max paused frowning. Michael and Maria were…he shook his head. “I can't stop thinking about Liz. Every time I see her, she just starts going into slow motion.”

Michael frowned. Maybe he was right the first time when he told Maria that maybe the human could infect the aliens with a disease. This sounded whacked.

“Maxwell, you've gotta be strong. You can't let yourself be led around by your...,” Michael struggled for a polite term, any other guy, he’d just be crude, but Max’s queer romantic crap with Liz made it seem somehow harsh, “...energy source.” Michael shrugged, giving to a moment of honesty that normally he would’ve bitten out his tongue before admitting to anyone, especially Maria. “It wasn't easy for me, either, but you gotta throw yourself into something else,” Michael lectured, “...anything else. Something just to get your mind off her.” That was the closest he would come to admitting that he thought of Maria at times in a totally different way…one that wasn’t just friendly. Some journeys were best not to venture into, especially when they had the potential to cause a lot of pain. He was leaving, and that was all he could guarantee.

“Throw myself into something.” Max said to himself. Michael nodded. Yeah, he had found counting ceiling tiles to be very helpful.

~~~

Michael continued to look around at the various exhibits. It was a lot of information, but most he could easily discount as fabrication and pure paranoia. He stopped at an area set up for something called the "Alien Takedown". Normally, he would’ve bypassed it, but Maria was there, helping to set it up.

“Alien Takedown? What's that, some kind of wrestling match?”

Maria looked over at him, smiling slightly. “Yeah, the Alien Takedown.” Seeing his face, she stood up her arms crossing. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Yeah, you know what? I do.” Michael said. Actually he hadn’t at first, but the more he thought about it, the more he did. Maybe it was all the stereotypical depictions of his ‘kind’, or maybe it was the sheer commercialism. Hard to say. “I'm here trying to figure out the meaning of my existence, and I'm tired of having to wade through the kooks like you and the freak shows like this in order to do it.” Maria opened her mouth ready to retaliate on the ‘kooks’ remarked, but her mother, a small attractive woman, hardly appearing old enough to have a daughter Maria’s age intervened.

“Nothing personal, but this freak show keeps my kooky daughter and myself off the streets.” Amy looked the large young man over, noting how familiar he and her daughter appeared to be. They were standing very close together, in each others personal space. Her eyes narrowed.

Maria decided introductions were in order. Her mother hadn’t caught Michael in her room or hanging outside her window, but it was only a matter of time. “Mom, Michael. Michael, mom.”

Amy huffed. “Nice to meet you,.” she said pleasantly taking herself off before she said something indiscreet.

“That was some guffaw.”

“Guffaw?” Michael frowned. What did he do?

“Yeah, my mother. Great first impression.”

Michael made a face. “Why would I want to make an impression?”

Maria mimicked his face. “Oh, I don’t know? Maybe because you spend more time at my place than your home lately, and sooner or later, my usually occupied and absent mom might figure it out? She can come in handy at times with people like…cops?”

“She knows cops?”

Maria shrugged. “Some horrific events too terrible to retell, but traumatic enough to put me in therapy. Thank god that’s over in the distant past.” Or at least she hoped it was. Maria never noticed her mother and Jim Valenti talking over in a corner.

Michael blew out air forcefully. “Yeah, thank god for that. I can’t take much more of Valenti in my life.”

Maria rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it’s always about your life, your quest. Ever think that we ordinary humans might have problems too?” She looked at him, suddenly not so happy with him. “Nope. Didn’t think so.” She walked off, leaving him to chew that over.

Michael tossed his hands, looking around in confusion. “What did I say?”

~~~

Max found his distraction from thinking about Liz. He allowed himself to be volunteered to coordinate the UFO Convention. Manning the Information booth, he tried to remain impartial, biting back his irritation with a young boy.

“So, why'd they kill the aliens?”

Max was concentrating. “What aliens?”

“From the '47 crash. Why'd they kill them?”

Max smiled pleasantly. “Well, maybe you should visit our "Theories on '47" exhibit.”

“But I thought this was the information booth.”

“Well, yeah, it is, but...” Max stopped talking as he became distracted by the sudden appearance of Liz just entered the UFO Center . The little boy gave up tossing his hand, he walked off as Max watched Liz walking straight towards him.

“Mud.” Michael’s voice came from behind Max’s shoulder, startling him.

Michael leaned on the information booth counter looking over at what Max was watching. Liz Parker. Michael sucked on his cherry lollipop. He didn’t get it. What was to get distracted over? Liz Parker’s legs weren’t great, her lips weren’t full and red demanding attention, and she didn’t have penetrating green eyes that were so alive, and seemed to look through a person, seeing everything.

“What?”

“When you're with her, think about mud. It helped me.” Michael decided to keep his ceiling tile counting trick to himself. That was for emergencies only, and shouldn’t be used lightly.

“Michael, I don't need some trick. I can handle this.”

Liz saw the two alien boys, and smiled uncertainly. “Hi, um, I just wanted to talk to you about the luncheon that we're catering.”

“Oh, yeah, if it's work-related, sure. It's just...,” Max said stuttering over the words a little, “...I'm kind of busy.” Michael shook his head in disgust. He couldn’t watch this. It was too humiliating.

“Ok, um, I'll just...come over...it's just that, um,” Liz lowered her voice, “...Larry and Jennifer are back. You know, the ones that were there the day that I got shot? And now, Jennifer won't leave. She just planted herself in the Crashdown.”

Liz frowned at the distant blank look Max seemed to have on his face, as if he were not paying attention to her. Max's mind was wandering as he saw Liz talking in slow motion.

“It's like, I don't know, she's been sitting there for hours. And it kind of feels like she's been watching me or something. So I came here to tell you that they're here, in case anything should happen,” Liz finished trying to get his attention, “...I want you...”

“Mud.”

“What?”

Max physically shook himself out of his stupor. Hated Michael Guerin. Hated. Him. “Pie. Mud pie. For the lunch the Crashdown is catering tomorrow. I was thinking about mud pie.”

Liz nodded, still confused. “Ok, um, I'll see if I can arrange it.”

“I gotta go. I'm really busy.”

“Ok.” She watched him scurry off, shaking her head. Did he even hear a word she said? He didn’t seem in the least concerned about Jennifer and Larry. Liz sighed. Maybe she was wasting her time.

~~~

Michael moved away from the latest batch of self proclaimed UFO experts, seeing Max. Rushing to him, Michael pulled Max aside.

“Maxwell, you gotta show me the real guys.”

“The real guys?”

Michael gestured at all the ‘experts’ gracing the area. “I'm sick and tired of talking to all these frauds. I mean, you're on the inside. Where are the real guys?”

“Michael, there are no real guys. It's a freak show.”

Michael looked over at Hubble pointing him out. “Who's that?”

“Nobody.” Max tried not to make direct contact with Michael’s eyes. He would know he was lying. If he told Michael that Hubble was what Milton, his boss, considered an expert, having had direct contact with an alien, Michael would be uncontained. Max frowned remembering how Hubble said the alien looked like him…like everyone, that the aliens weren’t little green men. He couldn’t afford setting Michael loose.

“Come on, Max, don't toy with me.” Michael’s natural instinct that Max was holding back had kicked in, but before he could pursue it, he spotted Larry. “Oh...there's the geek from the Crashdown that day.”

“I know. He's been hanging around. I'm sure he's just here for the convention.” Max said vaguely remembering some of the conversation he had with Liz.

“I'm gonna go keep an eye on him, all right?” Michael said, and Max worried. It was hard to say which was the greater evil, Hubble or Larry. Either could be trouble.

~~~

Michael leaned back against a wall listening to a panel discussion that had been organized as part of the Convention. A panel of ‘experts’ gave their expert opinions and answered questions. Larry was there, as was that strange man, Hubble, so Michael kept a careful watch, occasionally making eye contact with Max.

“The experience of Mr. Grabowski has been well documented. His encounter with the smooth-skinned ovoid E.B.E. contributes to a growing body of evidence as brave men like himself bring their stories to the public eye,” stated an expert.

Jonathan Frakes, an actor on a popular Sci-Fi program, and the special guest of honor was chairing the panel discussion. He smiled warmly at the crowd. “Well, there you have it. Thank you, Mr. Grabowski. Our next direct contact witness is a Lawrence Trilling.”

Michael’s waning attention revived when Larry stood up. “Right here!”

Jonathan Frakes smiled pleasantly. “Good afternoon, Lawrence . Do you mind if I call you Larry?”

“No, that would be great. First of all, Mr. Frakes, I just gotta say that...you know how some people say that Clapton is god, you know? But I say you. You are god. I mean, I got...I got goose bumps.”

“Thank you very much,” the actor easily taking the compliment.

“It's gotta be Frakes!”

Jonathan smiled, waving at the crowd. “Ok, let's go to your encounter.”

“Yeah, right. Ok. Um...it happened right here,” Larry said, stressing the importance of the circumstance, “...right in Roswell , New Mexico . September 17th. I was in the Crashdown Cafe. Now, that's right across the street. So I'm sitting there. Two guys come in.”

Michael and Max exchanged alarmed looks. Michael, unable to let this go on, made his way towards Larry.

“Boom! They start having an argument. Boom! A gun is pulled.” At that moment Michael purposely bumped into Larry from behind, putting his hand on Larry’s chest. Using his powers, he gave Larry a nasty itch, much like the one he gave Kyle Valenti’s friends, back when Liz’s grandmother was in the hospital, and they were harassing Max.

“Sorry,” said Michael moving on.

“Oh...no, that's ok.” Larry went back to this story. “So these two guys, they start to...ahh,” Larry began to scratch, the itch on his skin like thousands of ant bites, “...they start to struggle, ok? Boom! A girl is shot. Boom! A seemingly normal teenage boy,” Larry’s itching becoming more apparent as he squirmed in his closes drawing laughter from the crowd, “...now this teenage boy, Mr. Frakes, is someone who looks just like you and me. Boom! He goes up to the girl and puts his hand over her, uh, wound, and then, boom! She,” Larry is almost pulling off his shirt, “...uh...she's miraculously healed.”

Jonathan Frakes laughed, not taking the man with the skin problem, or infestation seriously. “Ooh! Well, all I can say is, boom! What do you think?”

“I'm insulted by this ridiculous story,” said one of the experts on the panel.

“Yeah, well, he’s here. He is right here! Ok, Pal? He's right here. Right now! He's in the very audience!” Larry couldn’t hold still. The itching was maddening.

“That's enough, monkey man!” Jonathan said wanting to get rid of the whack job who was disrupting their serious panel.

“Listen, cool it, Frakes!”

“Security?” Jonathan called for help from Milton .

“You and me, Evans. Let's get him.” Max nodded following his boss.

“Hey, this is the guy right here!” Larry said seeing Max, as Max and Milton tried to subdue and remove him. “This is the guy! He's the one! He's the guy!”

Frakes laughed. “Well, he may not be the best convention coordinator, but I would hardly call him an alien.”

“You're just like the rest of them, Frakes! There was a bullet...ah,” Larry was squirming from the itching and trying to elude Max and Milton’s hands, “. ...the bullet disappeared! So where's the bullet?”

“All right, careful, Evans!” Milton said as the ushered Larry through the crowds.

“The bullet disappeared! It was never found! Where's the bullet? Ahhh...” Larry yelled as he was dragged away. Outside, after Milton and Max returned to the panel discussion, Larry was approached by the mysterious Mr. Hubble wanting to know more about Max Evans.

~~~

Michael, who left the panel discussion of experts after infecting Larry with the itch, went around a corner, and then drew back quickly in the shadows. Amy DeLuca was talking on a cell phone, obviously more than a little upset. Michael listened as she talked to one of the wrestlers she hired for the Alien Takedown.

“You can't quit now. The Alien Takedown is in an hour!” Amy’s voice took on a pleading sound as she tried to convince the man on the other end. “Ernie, you have nothing to be afraid of. Raging Ray is a...puppy dog.” Amy lied. “Look, he's not really gonna do anything really rough. I realize you suffered a broken rib last year,” she paused listening for a moment, “...fine, two, I...did you not receive my gift basket? Look, Ernie, if you don't do this, I'm broke. Ok? I'm out of business, ok? I...I have half my annual revenue tied up in this thing!” Amy looked at the phone when she heard a click. “Hello? Hello? Oh...” Barely suppressing a sob, Michael watched the woman, melding back into the shadows the way he came. He hated it when Maria was right. Humans had problems too, and sometimes he forgot that since his own life was always foremost in his mind.

Michael scratched his brow, uncertain what to do.

~~~

At the Crashdown, Maria was trying to cheer her mom. They were both depressed over Ernie’s quitting the Alien Takedown wrestling match. Maria squeezed her mother’s arm in comfort. They would figure it out, somehow. They always did.

“Here you go. Drown your sorrows.” Liz said setting drinks in front of Maria and her mother.

“Oh, girls, girls, girls,” Amy said dramatically, showing exactly where her daughter got her flair for the dramatic, “...if I'd known real life was gonna be this difficult I never would have signed up.”

Alex came to sit at the dairy bar with the others. “You guys look as good as I feel.”

“Root beer float?” Liz asked seeing his downed face.

“No, uh...orange soda on the rocks.” Alex said, still feeling the sting of Isabel’s rejection, her suggestion that he was an obsessed stalker harassing her.

“Mmm,” Amy said looking at Alex knowingly, “girl trouble.”

“Oh, it's that obvious?” The group of females all nodded at once. “Great. Great. Hey, listen...let me ask you guys a question. As women...do you find that all men are obsessive?”

“Yes,” said Amy.

“Absolutely.” Liz put the orange soda in front of Alex.

Maria had to agree. “No question.” Snorting, she couldn’t find a better word to describe Michael’s lifelong quest. It was all he thought about, and all he cared about. If that wasn’t obsession, she would eat her shoes.

“They find something...” Amy explained.

“Usually something completely inane and useless...” Maria added in.

Liz thought about it for a second, “Oh, like football!”

All the females looked at each other, Amy thinking of Jim Valenti’s strange behavior, Maria snorting at Spaceboy’s obsession, and Liz, still confused over Max’s distraction. They said in unison, “Or UFOs.”

Amy shook her head confused by the male species. “Oh, and then they just don't let it go!”

Jen, who had been listening, drowning her sorrow over Larry’s obsession, piped in her two cents. “Until it consumes every waking minute of their day! Sorry.” She said when the other looked at her. “Couldn't help but deeply relate.” She had waited forever for Larry to propose, but his alien obsession was making it so that she may have wait forever. Why couldn’t he be that obsessed over her?

Liz refilled Jen’s drink, totally relating to her. “Yeah, but then they use it as an excuse.”

“Oh, whenever it's convenient for them...” Amy added, still upset that Jim Valenti brushed her off, even after the heatwave, and the interrupted dinner. Pig.

“...To just completely ignore you.” Maria sniffed. Yeah, right. Everything was hunky dory, as long as she was listening to him obsessing over his life, but did he even know she was alive, that her life sucked? No! Did he ever care to make sure she was all right? No! Self absorbed alien pig.

“Yeah, and it's so clear why they're doing it.” Amy offered her more mature observation.

“Oh, yeah.” Liz knew too. Hard not to. “It's an avoidance thing.”

“They hide behind their obsession!” Jen slammed her drink down violently.

Amy played with her straw. “Because what they really are is afraid.”

Maria frowned. “Deathly afraid.” Okay, so she knew he was afraid to care too much, to make ties, but friendship was a two way street, and it still hurt.

“...Of commitment.” Liz finished, leaning dejectedly against the counter depressed along with the other girls, all of them sighing thinking their own thoughts.

Alex stared at these women, all of them sitting at the bar, and for a moment, he actually was afraid of them. “Ok. I got it. Crystal clear. But...what if, uh, there's a guy whose obsession is a woman?”

“Oh!” ‘Heh!” They all made a disbelieving snort, derisive of the possibility that a guy’s obsession could be a female.

“Oh, yeah, right.” Amy shook her head at the poor deluded child. A man child, granted, but still deluded.

“Dream on.” Liz said wiping down the counter.

The morose group of depression junkies missed that weird Milton man rushing into the Crashdown. “Amy! Where are you? The match is almost over!”

Amy stood up as did Maria. “What? Ernie showed up?” They rushed out of the Crashdown.

~~~

Raging Ray flexed his…man meat at a terrorized Maria, as Amy rushed around him to poor Ernie, laid out on the mat. “Hey, yo! You better call an ambulance, huh? Bang! Ha ha ha ha!” Amy rushed to the "Alien Takedown" area. She stopped for a moment, afraid that poor Ernie was dead.  He was lying masked in the middle of the ring...he was not moving.

“Ernie! Oh, my God! Are you ok?”

The masked wrestler slowly took off his mask. “I'm just resting.” Michael said.

Amy threw herself on the mat next to Michael, hugging him quickly. “Oh, you dear, dear, boy! Oh!” She was so excited she ran off to check the receipts.

Michael slowly sat up as Maria joined him, sitting down beside him. She was overcome, unable to form words to express her chagrin. He had certainly surprised her, and that made her smile.

Michael, seeing her reaction, quickly relieved her of any mushy notion that he did it for her, or that he cared. “It was easy money.”

Maria nodded, still smiling at him. She pulled his head towards hers, and softly kissed him on the lips. Michael sat stunned, staring at her mouth.

“Mud.”

Maria frowned at him. “What?” Oh god. That beast Raging Ray must have caused brain damage!

“Mud. I'm thinking about mud.”

Maria smiled again looking at her friend. “You know, I should have guessed that!” She looked at his wasted body, still resting on the mat. “Do you need a hand up?”

“Nah. The world looks good from here. Did you know, there are three hundred and forty-eight ceiling tiles above this ring?”

“I’ll put that in my notebook for future reference.” Maria’s face suddenly was serious. “Thank you.”

Michael cleared his throat. He just nodded his head.

~~~

Michael came out of the UFO Center just in time to see Max and Hubble leaving together. Frowning, he noted the direction. Larry was watching Max and Hubble as well. Walking up to Larry, Michael grabbed him forcefully demanding answers.

“Hey, what the hell's going on? What's that guy doing with Max?”

Larry tried to get away. “I don't know.”

Shaking the man, Michael got in his face. “Tell me what he's doing with Max!”

“All right.” Larry could feel the sweat moving down his back. “He came up to me after the panel discussion, all right? He asked me questions about Max. You know, what he did the day of the shooting.”

Michael let him go. “You stupid ignorant, freak!” Michael looked around. There was no way to catch Max on foot. Spying the Jetta, he quickly went inside to find Maria.

She was at the “Alien Takedown” helping to remove the banner and pack up things.

“Maria!”

Looking up from her job, Maria frowned. Michael had already left. “Hey. What are you doing back here? I thought we were meeting at the Crashdown for a late dinner.”

“Keys! I need the Jetta.”

“What? But...,” Maria saw his face, and she quickly nodded, pulling the keys from her pocket to toss at him. He snatched them from the air, turning to run. “Be careful,” she called after him, knowing he didn’t hear.

~~~

Michael caught up to them at an old abandoned roadside café. The jeep was parked in front of it with its lights on, and from the highway, Michael could see that the man had a gun on Max. Turning off the lights to the Jetta, Michael quickly drove the car as close as he could. Getting out, he ran for the jeep as fast as he could, keeping in the dark.

“I know you.” Hubble said as Michael hit the ground behind the jeep.

“Whoa, mister, you are making a big mistake!” Max held up his hands.

“I know how you can change your face, your body,” Hubble kept the gun trained on Max, “...you're a shapeshifter because you're always running. You changed yourself into that drifter when you killed my Sheila trying to get our car. What were you running from then? Somebody else find out your little secret?”

Michael swore, slowly inching forward along the ground towards the front of the jeep. The lights were on, and hopefully no one would notice him.

“Sir, I know you're upset,” Max’s voice broke under the strain, “...but I did not kill your wife. I wouldn't kill anybody.”

Hubble was beyond hearing. “Valenti told me about the healing, about the handprint...just like on Sheila.” Michael swore closing his eyes for a moment. He could see them now.

“I am not him. Whoever you think I am, I swear I am not him.”

“I know who you really are, what you're capable of, and I won't let you kill again.”

Michael didn’t like the sound of the older man’s voice. The resolve, the anger, and the fear, all it together felt wrong. It felt like a bad situation about to get worse. Standing up, he moved forward before the man could shoot Max.

“Hey!” Michael said stepping out of the dark into the lights of the jeep. His sudden appearance was enough of a distraction to startle Hubble, long enough for Max to knock the gun away from him. Max and Hubble hit the ground in a scuffle. Struggling in the dirt, Hubble tried to reach his gun with Max desperately trying to prevent him. Max reached out his hand using his powers to push the gun away just as another set of headlights appeared.

Hubble struggled to his feet picking up his gun. “I knew it was you, you bastard!”

Sheriff Valenti got out of his car holding a gun on Hubble. “Drop the gun! Drop it!”

“It's him!”

“Drop it!”

“I just saw it! I was right!” Hubble couldn’t take his eyes off Max, the young man feeling the heat of his stare, the hate.

Valenti looked at Hubble in confusion. “You saw what?”

“His powers! Don't you see who he is? We have to stop him.”

Max pleaded to the Sheriff. “I don't know what he's talking about.”

“Liar!” Hubble advanced on Max, and Valenti moved closer as well keeping his gun on Hubble the entire time. Michael stood off to the side trying not to move or distract.

“Drop it, Hub.”

“This son of a bitch is gonna die today, and nothing's gonna stop me, so go ahead! Unload every bullet in your chamber.”

“It only takes one.”

“Your father couldn't do it,” Hubble told Valenti, “...and neither can you.” He prepared to shoot Max, and Valenti shot one round into Hubble. The man hit the ground.

Jim went to the man, checking him for a pulse. He was dead. He looked up at Max. “I didn't know this was gonna happen. I didn't know he was as dangerous as he was.”

Max, at his end, stared at the Sheriff. “What did you tell him? Why did he come after me?” Max said, his voice unnaturally high, as the events of the evening hit him hard. “You're the Sheriff. You're supposed to protect me. But all you've done is go after me! You believe all these crazy things.” Max said, his anger replacing his fear. “You're just like Hubble. You want me? Well, here I am! Take me!”

Michael moved forward, worried that Max was going to lose it on the Sheriff. “Max, come on, just relax.”

“No, no!”

Jim held up a hand. He was sorry. Really sorry. “Son...”

“Would you treat your son this way?”

Jim looked at the two boys, and the old man in the dirt. “Get outta here. The both of you. You were never here. Go on!”

Michael grabbed Max’s arm, dragging him away from the scene. “Come on, let's go. The guy was crazy, Max, all right? He didn't know what he was talking about.” They walked to the jeep.

“I don't think he was crazy, Michael.” Max said quietly. “I think the one we've been looking for has killed people...a lot of people.”

Michael couldn’t think about it right now. They climbed into the jeep so Max could take him back to the Jetta. 

~~~

“Is Max okay?”

“Yeah. I got there in time to distract Hubble the first time he tried to shoot him, and Valenti the second.”

Maria put her elbows on the table sinking her head in her hands. “Oh god, that was so close!”

“I told you, it’s dangerous knowing us. You should take yourself off now,  reclaim your life before you can’t.” Michael pushed the food on the plate to the side. He couldn’t eat.

“Because the one you seek is a killer? Do you believe that?”

Michael stared at his plate, his hand clenching. “I can’t.”

“Why? Because if he’s a killer, then you waited in vain?”

“Maria…”

Maria reached over and took his hand. It was after hours, and she was closing. The kitchen was closed, and she and Michael were the only ones left in the restaurant. “I know you waited to find him, to know. I know what this means to you.”

“No one can. Not really.”

Rubbing her head, Maria sighed. “Okay, maybe not. So Superman, you go on, and it’s hard being you. That doesn’t mean you can’t hope, you can’t dream.” Maria bit the inside her mouth, wanting to say more, but it wasn’t her place. It wasn’t her right.

“I’m sorry. I’m not really hungry.” Michael pushed the plate away.

Okay, so it wasn’t her place, but she couldn’t not say what she felt. “Michael, maybe things won’t turn out as you hoped, and maybe this Nasedo isn’t who you expect him to be…that doesn’t have to change who and what you are. That doesn’t have to change your dream.”

“How can it not?”

“Because you are still you. You make your dreams, Michael. No one can take away your dreams unless you let them. No one. Sometimes the things we dream about in our youth become something totally different as we age. There is nothing wrong with that.”

Michael stood up picking up his jacket. “He can’t be a killer. He can’t. I…” Michael shook his head. “Thanks for the dinner.” Michael started to leave, but he hesitated. Bending down, he kissed her cheek before walking out the door.

Maria put her hand over her cheek. “Oh god, I hope you’re right. For your sake.