One For The Ages
A/N: Well hello gentle readers. I've been on a real Roswell kick lately, watching back through all of the old eps, and I forgot what a Michael/Isabel fan that I was. Honestly I'm a Cliffie and a Rebel, so Tess/Ava haters might want to stop now (I don't make Liz look bad or anything, I just don't adore her the way others seem to). Mostly I wanted a continuation of the show with a MiI theme to it…so here we go. To be fair, it's very Maria friendly, and Kyle isn't just a lusting puppy dog: basically I tried not to destroy any of the characters! I'm not sure how long it'll be, but I'm thinking about 5 chapters…and don't worry, my chapters are long! So here we go…
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Roswell, it's creators, cast, or crew and obtain no profit from writing this besides a warm fuzzy feeling.
Rating: PG for now (perhaps PG-13 later)…rating will be adjusted if necessary.
Pairings: Michael/Isabel, Max/Liz, Max/Ava, Rath/Vilandra, Kyle/Maria (possible), Zan/Ava
Chapter One: Flight
When you drove long enough down the interstate a strange phenomenon seemed to always happen, where the broken yellow lines would blur into a long, never ended, streak of yellow. It could be hypnotizing, and tended to make you drowsy…
Which was exactly what had happened two hours previously, and was why Michael Guerin found himself stuck behind the wheel of the old van, driving in the middle of the night when it was not supposed to be his turn. He didn't complain though; Kyle had felt so awful almost falling asleep that Michael had switched places with him with little more than the customary glare that he so regularly doled out. Behind him he could hear the rhythmic breathing of the others, long since fallen asleep. He smirked slightly, as he always did when noting that Kyle and Maria both snored.
A part of him liked the silence (especially as Maria was rarely silent) but still…it made for a long night. As if hearing his silent wish, Michael could feel someone watching him, all of a sudden. There was that familiar, prickling sensation on the back of his neck, like a heat lamp.
"Is?" he asked quietly into the darkness. Wordlessly she picked her way over the seat divisions and climbed into the passenger seat beside him.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked him, breaking off into a yawn. His natural response was that he always knew when it was her, but he didn't tell her that, and just shrugged instead. She knew anyways. "You doing okay? Need me to drive for a while?" she asked him, relaxing into her seat and turning her face towards him with a sweet smile.
Michael shook his head and gave her a small smile in thanks. "I'm okay," he assured her. "Wouldn't mind the company though." She smiled at him again and turned around, pulling the flimsy curtain divider across the expanse of the van, effectively separating the sleepers from them. Then she waved her hand slowly over the curtain, turning it into a thicker partition that would at least muffle the sound of their voices, and not wake the others.
"So how many days has it been?" she asked him nonchalantly, though they both knew that she knew exactly how many days.
"Four hundred and seven," he told her with a sigh, as he did everyday. She nodded thoughtfully.
"That's a lot of days," she murmured, more to herself than to him, as she did everyday.
"More than a year," he remarked, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "I'm about ready to stop Is."
She looked up at that with concern. "Oh, well pull over then," she stretched her arms out. "We can switch."
"That's not what I meant," he shook his head, not slowing the van down at all. She didn't know what to say to that, and just looked at him thoughtfully. He didn't mind though; her steady gaze was always calming, and it just felt like second nature for him.
"I know what you mean," she finally said, turning her gaze back to the road. "And I feel the same way," she admitted to him.
"Really?" that surprised him more than it should. Isabel had left her husband and her family to ride along in a bus with a married couple and Michael and Maria (and their strange, on and off relationship)…and Kyle. She gave up more than any of them, and it was really just a matter of time before she wanted to go home again.
"I just can't help but wonder what would have been different if…"
"If we hadn't left?" he tried to finish for her. "We would have all been killed."
"No," she shook her head. "If we had gone to Antar with Tess…if I had let you talk me out of marrying Jesse…if we had fought back instead of running away." Michael didn't know what to say to that, because he asked himself those same questions everyday as well. "Maybe it doesn't matter now…I just know that I'm getting sick of driving everyday Michael, with no destination in mind. I have to stop soon."
He tore his eyes off of the road and caught her gaze with his own. "Isabel, I know that you've given up a lot to come with us—"
"We all gave up a lot Michael," she shook her head. "I'm not special there."
"You're always special Is," he teased her for a second.
"It's just hard to know that this is going to be our life indefinitely," she waved a hand vaguely towards the back of the van. "Traveling in a van until…what? We can't outrun them anymore? Never meeting new people? Liz and Max getting to build a life in the constant company of the four of us? And me and Kyle never being able to meet anyone else because we can't stay in one place for more than one weekend? It's just…it's a long way from these grand destinies that we were supposed to have. It's a long way from these normal lives that they were supposed to have."
Michael didn't reply to that, knew he didn't need to. He had thought that same thing too, several times. It was hard to believe that only three years ago he stood in the chamber beside Isabel and heard of their destiny, to rule a distant planet, to save a race…and now their world was so small. What a difference a couple of years can make.
"We'll stop eventually Is," he promised her, a large part of him unsure even as he said it. "We have to. This can't go on forever. Max and Liz will want to start a family, Kyle and Maria will want to start their lives, or go to school. And we'll…"
"We'll what?" she asked him, her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. He looked over to her again, catching her gaze. Even with the tears and the slightly sleep-tousled hair she was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. She had her knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around them tightly, and was staring back at him hopefully, desperate for him to say something to reassure her, to let her know that they would be okay.
He didn't really have an answer for her, he realized with a sinking feeling of dread. "What do you want?" he finally asked her instead. "Once it's safe," he said the word with obvious distaste, hating the term because he knew of its difficulty. "Do you want to go back to Roswell? To Boston?" He didn't want to ask the question on the back of his mind, but he wondered if she would flee to Boston, to find Jesse and try to pick her life back up where she left it.
Isabel smiled sadly and he saw her finger the place on her left hand where her wedding ring used to sit. "I don't think that my future is with Jesse," she told him honestly, her voice lilting a bit as she said his name, as if saying it aloud made if real. "Not anymore. I told him when we left that in my next life maybe we could be together…but I knew that it wasn't true, even then."
"Why not?"
"Despite the fact that Max and Liz are together now, we just don't seem to be able to escape these destinies that were decided for us," she told him with a small sigh. "Despite our best attempts to find happiness with the people in our lives, it keeps ending up the three of us, and Tess's ghost. You tried to stay behind and start a life for just you, and we all ended up together here with the same problems. Max tried to start his life again when Tess died and Zan was gone…and the whole alien thing came back again. I tried to start a new life with Jesse, but I've spent the last four hundred and seven days in a van with you and Max! Maybe it's just time to admit that our destiny is going to get in the way of anything else that we want in our lives. That in my next life I'm not going to have any more luck being with Jesse than I do in this life; that I'm still going to be with you and Max, running from normal."
Michael felt himself agreeing with her words, though he didn't want to. He had no reassuring words for her, no empty condolences that he could bring himself to say to comfort her. He knew that she didn't expect them from him, knowing him as well as she did, but he also knew that she needed something. He couldn't hug her without putting the van and it's passengers in serious jeopardy, so he did the next best thing: he reached his hand over to where hers were resting and entwined their fingers.
Michael could feel Isabel smile and squeeze his fingers in return. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes until, seemingly reading his mind, she reached forward and began the search for a decent radio station.
Maria had found a pattern in her splashing. She was sitting on the edge of a pool, the concrete lining digging into her heels as she kicked her legs, making a "swish" than a "thump" noise. Over, and over, and over… She had been feeling more and more claustrophobic lately, stuck in that van. Seeing Liz and Max so happy was only serving to point out the obvious cracks in her own relationship with Michael…if it could even be called that. Their relationship had technically ended well before they embarked on what she was calling Vanapalooza: now they we just teetering on the edge between friends and falling back into that complicated mess.
Maria DeLuca had no doubt in her mind that she loved Michael, but she was beginning to think that the days of being so in love with him that she could blindly accept him mood swings and secrecy were behind her. Michael was a good person, but maybe he just wasn't her person anymore. She saw the way that Max looked at Liz, and couldn't remember seeing that same look from Michael in a very long time…if ever. Heck, she couldn't even remember Michael looking at her the way he looks at Isabel! That look of absolute adoration and acceptance of every one of her quirks, habits, and moods.
She shook her head bitterly at that. Isabel Evans…or Isabel Ramirez…Maria supposed it wasn't really fair to begrudge Isabel for the fact that all of the men in her life seemed to adore her. After all, Isabel was in Michael's life far before Maria was…and just because Kyle was obviously so head over heels with her, well that didn't make it her fault. The blonde-turned-brunette had not lead him on in anyway, and no one could call fault to the proper amount of remorse that she had displayed over Alex and Jesse. Maria actually felt bad for her, almost as bad as she felt for herself: the girl had been a princess, and now she was forced to ride along in a van with her brother (who got to be happy) and leave her husband behind. Not that Maria really ever believed that Isabel loved Jesse the way she'd seemed to think that she did…
"You okay?" a familiar voice asked her, even as he sat down beside her, quickly ridding himself of socks and shoes and mimicking her swish and thump actions. She was a little morose, but all in all she was okay. She was, after all, the only one that didn't have any alien spookiness to her: once this was all over, she was the one the most likely to be able to have a normal life.
"I'm okay," she confirmed with a nod, and then elbowed him in the ribs for good measure. He pretended that it hurt…and then reached out and grabbed her waist, tickling her until she couldn't breathe through the laughing.
"Yeah, now you're sorry!" he laughed too but released her and slung an arm over her shoulder instead. Maria smiled at the comfortable weight and allowed him to pull her towards him slightly, laying her head back onto his shoulder. They took turns trying to splash each other. They continued on that way, for how long Maria knew not, until the sky turned red with the setting sun.
"Hey," Michael's voice from behind them cut through the laughter. Maria and Kyle turned to look back at him. "Meeting in Max and Liz's room." He walked away without another word on the subject and Maria and Kyle sighed.
"What? Oh sure," Kyle joked, already climbing to his feet and then holding his hands out to Maria to help her out. "We'd love to join in. What's that? Take you time, you say? We couldn't dream of starting without you? That's so sweet…"
Maria laughed and took the offered hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet. They pulled their socks and shoes on and walked off in the direction that Michael had headed. For the first time Maria realized that the temperature had dropped considerably in the time that she'd spent by the pool. She rubbed her bare arms to generate a little warmth.
"What do you think this one's about?" Kyle asked her, slipping out of his long sleeve button down and handing it to her. He didn't seem to be cold in his t-shirt so she took it with a thankful smile.
"I have no idea," she admitted, slipping the shirt on. The sleeves were nice and warm and though the cuffs reached almost to her fingertips and the shirt itself was halfway to her knees, she was glad to be wearing it. It smelled good…
"I hope Liz hasn't developed anymore powers," he groaned. They all knew that Kyle hadn't yet started to exhibit any powers, but that he lived in constant fear that he would one day wake up with antennae or something.
"I doubt it," she reassured him with a pat on the arm. He smirked and they finally reached room 245, where Liz and Max were staying that night. They tried to do at least one night in a hotel room a week, just to get out of the van for a while and get some individual space. Money wasn't really an issue, what with the Pod Squad's handy ability to turn 1s into 100s, but they didn't like to be tracked anymore than was absolutely necessary.
Tonight they were staying at the Lazy Corral, a two-story motel in southwestern Texas. It was on the interstate in the middle of nowhere. At least they had a pool though.
The others were already in the room when they arrived. Max and Liz sat side-by-side on the bed while Isabel sat at one of the chairs at a small table, and Michael leaned on the windowsill behind her. "What's up?" Maria asked them, taking the second seat at the table. Kyle hopped up onto the small counter and stared at their fearless leader, with a "lay it on me" expression on his face.
"We thought we should have a talk and decide what our next move should be," Max began, his voice taking on that automatic "I'm in charge" quality that it did whenever he addressed the group. Maria supposed it was because he was programmed to be a King, no matter what he remembered.
"I'm guessing that it's going to be more of the same," Kyle raised his hand mockingly. "Aren't we just going to keep driving…so they can't track us down?"
"Well, there have been some requests," Max didn't name any names, but from the way his eyes flitted briefly in Michael and Isabel's direction, Maria had a good idea who he was talking about. "To try to settle down for a little while in one place…and I have to admit that it is appealing."
The surprised look on Kyle's face mirrored the shock that Maria was feeling. "Really?" Kyle asked eagerly, and Maria and Isabel smiled warmly at his genuine excitement. "Do we think it's safe?"
Max hesitated. "We don't think anyone's been on our tails for the past few months," Liz reminded them all. "I think that if we get out of the South West we might be able to stay in one place…at least for a few weeks. I know we're all getting tired of that van!"
There was a general murmur of consensus around the room at that. "I don't want to rain on this parade," Maria raised her hand, mimicking Kyle. "Because god knows I love a good parade, but are we sure that this can work? Aren't we just putting ourselves in more danger by standing still? The FBI has pretty long arms…"
"What if we leave the country?" Kyle suggested. "The FBI can only go so far, if they have no jurisdiction."
"But what if we can't get back in again?" Isabel pointed out. "The ship is in Roswell…what if we need to get back to it?"
"We can forge documents," Michael reminded her. They all considered that.
"Does anyone speak Spanish?" Kyle asked them.
"Not enough," Maria sighed.
"Canada?" Liz asked instead. "Or maybe we can go to Europe?" Maria and Isabel both perked up at that and immediately began to weigh the options in Europe.
"We can't go to Europe," Max told them with a sorry smile. "It's too far…like Isabel said, if we need the ship…"
"So do go to the middle of nowhere?" Kyle asked then, a look of dread on his face.
"I was thinking somewhere bigger," Max told them. "We need to go somewhere where the six of us can stick together and not stand out. We need to completely disappear from the radar."
"New York," Michael said, a tone of finality in his words. Maria wondered if he'd been considering it for some time.
"New York," Isabel repeated softly, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. Maria liked that too.
"What do we think?" Max asked the room.
"The Dupes are in New York," Isabel pointed out. "Lonnie, Rath and Ava are out there somewhere…"
No one said anything for a few moments. Finally, "We don't know that they're still there," Liz pointed out. "It's possible that Lonnie and Rath killed each other off, and Ava isn't a threat…"
"They won't want exposure any more than we do," Kyle told Isabel. "Right?" They all nodded at that.
"So, let's vote I guess," Max sighed. "All in favour of going to New York?" Six hands raised into the air. "Okay, New York it is."
"Centre of the universe," Michael muttered, and Maria was reminded of those same words being proclaimed proudly by Rath…was that already over two years ago?
"Depending on how things go there, we might be able to start splitting up," Max told them all gravely.
"What do you mean splitting up?" Isabel asked, her voice panicky. "We can't split up Max! You, me and Michael are strongest when we're together!" Michael put a hand on her shoulder to calm her but he looked as worried as she did.
"I didn't mean…" Max turned to look at Maria and Kyle. "It's something that I've been thinking about for a while now. Kyle hasn't started to develop any powers yet, and it's possible that he won't. And Maria doesn't have to worry about that at all. If we can disappear in New York for a few months with no problems…you two might be able to get out. If you want."
Maria could feel her mouth open in shock. She could get out…or did they want her out? She looked at Kyle and saw the same shock on his face. They could never go home again, but maybe they could have real lives. She couldn't bring herself to look at Michael, so she locked eyes with Liz and saw the fear there.
"But Max, we don't know that they'll be okay," Liz shook her head, panicking. "It's not like they can just go home and pick up their lives again, as if nothing happened!"
"But they should be able to start new lives for themselves, if they want to," Isabel said quietly, locking eyes with Kyle. "At least some of us should be able to have normal lives." No one else seemed to have much else to say. Maria felt as if all of the wind had been knocked out of her.
"Well, it's something to think about," Max said unnecessarily, trying to break the tension. "We'll leave for New York in the morning."
They all took that as their cue to leave, and climbed to their feet. Maria tried to catch Michael's gaze and he left, but he swept past her without looking, and followed Isabel down the hall towards his room. Maria sighed and went to her own room, the door slamming behind her.
"I guess I always just thought that when we finally stopped it would be all of us," Kyle sighed and reached back to punch the stuffing of the pillow he was lying on into a more comfortable shape. "I didn't think it would just be me and Maria that got to go."
"It's only if you want to," Isabel assured him. They were currently lying side by side on the bed in his motel room, counting the spots on the stucco of his ceiling. "Besides, we don't even know if your powers will develop or not."
"There's some appeal in going though," he told her honestly, turning to look at her. He pretended that he didn't see the hurt frown on her face. "Because the alternative is running with the rest of you, until…what? You find a way back to Antar? You guys have these big destinies, these grand lives waiting for you, but the rest of us…I could get a job I guess."
She laughed at that, as he knew that she would. "You could meet some nice girl and have a family," she sighed dreamily, and he knew that her thoughts were filled with the possibilities for him. He loved her so much sometimes…most times, but especially at these times.
"Or I could meet a really nasty girl and have some fun!" he joked with a leer, making her laugh harder. The real life, that had sounded so depressing when he first climbed into that van, was incredibly appealing now.
"And Maria could do something amazing," she continued on, this time a little enviously. "Obviously she wouldn't be able to be famous, which is too bad for her…but she could go to Europe though, or backpack across Asia. Any of the things that make her so unique…she could do that for the rest of her life, and be happy doing it." Kyle smiled at the thought of Maria, in a salsa band in Spain or an artist's haven in Paris. She would fit right in there.
"Yeah," he smiled. 'We both could,' he thought silently.
Lying there though, looking at Isabel, he knew that it would be really hard to leave her. And the odds of Maria being able to leave Michael were even lower. That was the ultimate sticking point right there: would they want to leave the other four to continue on without them? Would going on their own life adventures be enough of a draw to justify being cut-off from the aliens?
"Yeah," Isabel repeated softly, her smile fading slowly to be replaced by a thoughtful look. They lay in silence for a while until Kyle began to get antsy. Isabel took that as her cue to leave. "Are you going to go out tonight?" she asked him, referring to the slightly rough and tumble bar about a half a mile down the interstate from their motel.
Kyle nodded. "Probably," he admitted. "I need something to do to kill the boredom." The honest truth was that he just needed some female companionship; and if it couldn't be from Isabel it better well be from some nameless girl that he wouldn't need to see again. "You want to come?" he asked her hopefully. Maybe it didn't need to be a nameless girl…
She shook her head and gave him a wry grin. "I'm just going to watch TV I think," she admitted. "Try to behave yourself Valenti."
"Hey, don't I always?" he cried, mock-defensively. "It's not my fault the ladies love me! You're just jealous that you're not as pretty as I am!"
She laughed good-naturedly at that one and ruffled his hair. "Yep, that must be it! Have fun."
"Okay," he nodded and walked her to the door. "See you tomorrow."
"Bye," she smiled. They opened the door to reveal Maria with her hand up, about to knock on the door. At their raised eyebrows Maria dropped her hand and sighed dramatically.
"Space Boy and I had a fight…I need a drink!" she whined comically. Isabel and Kyle both smiled in amusement.
"Looks like you have some company after all," Isabel patted his arm, gave them a little wave and took off in the direction of her room. "Don't corrupt her, Kyle!"
"No, it's okay," Maria sighed again, pushing past him and collapsing onto his bed in a dramatic heap. "Corrupt me!"
Kyle laughed.
Isabel had just changed into her most comfortable pair of pyjamas (a two-piece, fuzzy blue, button down pair with coffee cups on them) when the knock came at the door. "Come in Michael," she called out, pulling her hair up into a ponytail.
The door clicked open and he stepped into the room, two bottles of Snapple in his hands. "How did you know it was me?" he asked her with a frown, handing her a peach Snapple.
"I ran into Maria an hour ago," she told him with a smirk. "And she said that you got into a fight. I knew that you'd storm around in a bad mood for about an hour, blast apart some poor defenceless rocks, and then show up here." He snorted at that but then shrugged in defeat, knowing how predictable his behaviour was in those situations.
"What are you watching?" he asked her instead, letting himself sprawl out unceremoniously onto her bed.
"Back to the Future," she told him with a grin. She loved that movie. Michael nodded appreciatively.
"I like part 2 the best," he told her, rubbing his arm dramatically when she nudged him to move over and make room for her.
"Yeah, because they go forward and backwards," she agreed absently, popping open her Snapple and taking a tentative sip. "Yum!" Out of the corner of her eye she could see him staring at her with a pondering smile.
"What?" she finally asked, after a minute of him staring.
"Nothing," he shook his head and opened his own Snapple. It was lemon iced tea.
"You don't like that kind," she pointed out before he could take a sip.
"It's okay," he lied, taking a sip. "They only had one peach left." She smiled at that – peach was her favourite too.
"Thank-you, Michael," she sing-songed.
"You're welcome, Isabel," he mimicked with a smirk, his eyes glued on the TV. "Now shush, would ya? They're about to go back…"
Isabel shushed but scooted a bit closer to him and then settled in to watch the movie. He rolled his eyes but leaned back and slung an arm around her shoulders and they both watched the movie.
At the commercial break half way through the movie she pushed herself up off of him and stretched, hearing the satisfying pop as her vertebrae re-aligned. She could feel him watching her again and it unnerved her a little. "So," she started nonchalantly and pulled her hair out of its ponytail, letting it fall down around her shoulder. She used her fingers to comb through it. "What did you and Maria fight about this time?"
He didn't answer her and she took that to be his nice way of saying mind your own business. She rolled her eyes. "Fine," she sighed, still combing her hair. "I talked to Kyle tonight, about what Max said."
"Yeah?" Michael asked, and from the tone of his voice she knew that the same conversation had sparked the fight between him and Maria.
"I think he might go," she added softly, feeling both excited for her friend and deeply saddened at the same time. Michael looked over in surprise at that.
"You do?"
She nodded. "If his powers don't show up, I think he'll be convinced to go," she said.
"Convinced?"
Isabel squared her shoulders. "He'll need to be convinced," she said certainly. "But it'll be best for him. I don't want him to, but…" Michael sat up beside her now and leaned a little towards her, the way he usually did when he was really listening to her. She turned to him. "I think it's too late for Liz, Michael, but for Kyle and Maria…
Just like Jesse, they don't have to be tied to this forever! If Kyle doesn't develop any powers, all he'll need is a new identity. Maria too. As much as we love them, the right thing to do is to let them go on, and have a normal life."
He averted his eyes to where his hands toyed at the bedspread. She turned her body to face his completely and followed his gaze, speaking towards his hands but knowing that he was still listening intently. "Kyle is so sweet…he deserves to find someone to love him, and have a life, and a family," she whispered, tears coming to her eyes as she did. Michael still didn't look up but his free hand reached out and rubbed her back soothingly. "And Maria…she's like this bundle of unexpressed energy, always wanting to bubble over. She needs to go into the world and do something amazing, or else she's just going to waste away. I can already see it… Michael," he looked into her eyes now. "I can't have any part in keeping them here just because it's easier for us."
He nodded slightly, to show that he heard her, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. Isabel stilled his hand on the bedspread with her own, and stared resolutely at the broad expanse of his shoulders, not able to meet his gaze. "I know that we didn't force them to come," she continued shakily. "But if they show any sign of considering leaving, then I have to let you know that I'm going to encourage them. I love them, but this time it has to be about what's going to be best for them, no matter how much it hurts us. If it's safe for them to go, I'm going to support them."
"I know," he finally answered her, the very sound of his voice drawing her gaze up to match his steadily. "Me too. That's what we fought about."
Isabel nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks, and moved silently into Michael's welcome embrace. They clung to each other silently, united in their grief for loosing those that they cared about, some that they had loved, and didn't notice that the movie had started again.
"To New York City!" Maria cried over the loud music, lifting a shot glass of tequila up in the air triumphantly. Kyle raised his own glass and grinned.
"To New York City!" they both licked their hands, downed the clear liquid, and reached for a slice of lime to quell the taste. "Woah!" he grinned again…or maybe he had been grinning constantly for the last hour and a half…he couldn't remember anymore.
"Thank god that we can drink," she giggled, tossing her lime rind aside. "Maybe you're not Czechoslovakian after all!"
"Here's hoping!" Kyle answered, taking another shot. Maria laughed hysterically while he coughed and sputtered, and patted his back. Once he got himself under control he laughed too.
Around them people were drinking copiously, dancing shamelessly, and playing pool. They'd clearly discovered a real dive. "Wanna dance?" he asked her with a shrug, too drunk to care where they were.
"Okay," she nodded and they stumbled off of their stools. She slipped her hand through his arm and they stumbled their way to the dance floor. The music changed to a salasa-esque tune and they both grinned. Kyle loved to dance, with girls anyways…and experience had taught him that girls liked a guy who would dance with them. It worked out nicely.
He spun Maria out away from him and then pulled her in close, blinking his eyes to steady the swaying room as she shimmied. They both laughed again and his hands felt clumsy against her back. "So we have to pick out a girl for you," she said in his ear as they continued to dance.
"Hmm?" he asked, following her gaze to the various women standing around the room without male companions. He'd almost forgot why he'd come here tonight; he'd been having so much fun. "Oh, right! The ladies…"
Together they looked around until Maria nudged him and nodded towards a red head at the bar. Kyle looked over and felt his eyes widen at the sight of her: an incredibly short leather skirt, a barely there top, and long, cascading red curls. She was hot…perhaps too hot for him to handle in his current state.
"I'm a little drunk," he admitted. "I think we should aim lower." They both laughed at that. Instead of scanning for more girls though Maria just caught his eye again and went back to dancing. Kyle found that he was okay with that.
Isabel felt her body begin to pull her from the warm, cosiness of sleep, the way that it tended to do when waking up from a nap. She could feel a soft bed beneath her, and the warm steadiness of a strong shoulder under her cheek. The quiet tune of "The Power of Love" coming from the TV told her that the movie had finished.
Her eyes fluttered open, giving into the lure of wakefulness. She could feel the rhythmic beating of Michael's heart from where her head lay, and she could hear his regular breathing. He was asleep.
She stirred slightly and his grip on her shoulder tightened slightly, hugging her to him. Isabel smiled sleepily for a moment, relishing in the long-forgotten feeling of waking beside someone she cared about, before being hit with the blunt reality that it was Michael. He wasn't her husband, or her boyfriend, and he had that…thing with Maria, that was officially over but still unofficially in the process of breaking apart.
She pulled herself slowly from his embrace, careful not to wake him, and stood up, stretching. Of course she would find herself wide-awake on the one night when none of them had to drive! She switched off the TV, the sudden lack of noise causing Michael to stir slightly, but not quite waking him up. A loud clunk from outside her door caught her attention. She frowned and went to gaze out of the peephole.
Another thump followed, and then a loud giggle, that was quickly shushed by Kyle's familiar voice. She rolled her eyes with a grin. 'I guess he met someone,' she thought in amusement.
"It's…the card thing's not working!" she could hear him cry through the door, laughing himself. He was clearly loaded.
She heard a girl whisper, though she couldn't quite make out what she said. There was a sudden chorus of laughter from the couple in the hallway. Isabel heard the bedsprings behind her creak and turned to look at Michael. "Sounds like Kyle made a new friend at the bar," she laughed. He shook his head in amusement and climbed to his feet, stretching his arms up over his head so that his shirt rode up a little. She turned away.
There was another clunk. "Careful, you'll spill your purse," Kyle's voice was muffled slightly, but he was drunk enough that he couldn't really control the volume. Michael and Isabel both pressed themselves to the door to listen, twin smirks on their faces. "Here let me try and see if I've developed any magic Alien door opening abilities!"
There was another chorus of laughter from the hall and Michael and Isabel's smiles dropped instantly. "Oh, Kyle no," Isabel muttered. "Don't talk about—" before she could finish she wrenched the door open quickly, blocking Michael's view momentarily from the hallway.
The second that she did it she wished that she hadn't opened the door. Across the hall and one room over Kyle turned towards the sound of the opening door in surprise, his hand waving over the card key machine in a fruitless effort to open the motel room door. Beside him Maria was leaning against the door, doubled over in soundless laughter at his antics. They were both clearly drunk. Isabel was only vaguely aware of her sudden relief that Kyle hadn't gone blabbing the aliens' secrets to strangers.
Kyle's surprise was quickly forgotten and he greeted her with a loopy smile. "Issy!" he cheered. Maria looked up too and opened her arms in a drunken welcome. "Is, I think the card's broken…" Isabel braced herself for the backlash the second she felt Michael step up behind her, looking over her shoulder into the hallway.
"Michael?" Maria's laughter trickled off slightly as she looked over Isabel's shoulder in confusion.
"What's going on?" Kyle asked, suddenly sounding a little less drunk, though he swayed a little on his feet and him and Maria put hands out automatically to steady each other.
"I should maybe be asking you the same thing," Michael answered disapprovingly, looking between them. "I thought you were going to go to the bar down the road to pick up…" he didn't seem to be able to finish the sentence though, and Isabel thought she could detect a note of disgust in his voice as he looked at them.
"I did," Kyle nodded vigorously, with the slight laugh of the drunken. "But then Maria came by so I hung out with her instead…" Michael leaned towards Isabel and braced one hand on the door above hers while Kyle spoke, listening closely. She didn't have to see him to feel his eyebrows rise. "What are you two doing?" Kyle asked them.
Maria cocked her head to the side slightly, and even through her drunken gaze Isabel could see the glimmer of hurt in the girls eyes as she looked at the two aliens, standing so close together. She knew that had always been a small fear of Maria's and she felt a sudden swell of guilt, though she knew that they had done nothing wrong.
"We were watching a movie," Michael told him stiffly, but didn't budge from his position. Kyle's arm was still around Maria's waist and he and Michael stared each other down in silence. Isabel wondered if maybe they were trying to hurt each other; and she figured that it was working. She had to admit that the thought of seeing Maria and Kyle together like that, so comfortable…it made her a little more jealous than she would have liked to admit.
But a jealous Michael was a dangerous Michael, so she stepped in. "Well, I hope you had fun," she said lamely, with a weak smile. Maria seemed to appreciate the effort at least, and nodded. She turned to Kyle with another drunken grin.
"Thank-you for walking me home anyways," she rested her hand on his bicep for a brief second. Kyle grinned back.
"No problem," he nodded to her. "Is, her key card doesn't seem to be working…"
"Oh, of course," Isabel nodded and, glad for something to do to break up the awkwardness (Michael still hadn't spoken in a while), she took the card from Kyle and crossed over to the door. She swiped the card and used her powers to unlock it. "There you go," she said, holding the door open for Maria.
"Thank-you," Maria smiled, seemingly grateful to get away from Michael's glares. "Okay, well…good-night then!" She gave Kyle one last wink and slipped into her room. They heard the chain lock, and knew that was her way of postponing any confrontations from Michael until the next morning.
Kyle swayed on his feet a little again. "I think I should also go to bed," he declared, able to look at them now that they weren't standing so close together. He smiled a forced grin at Isabel and turned to Michael. "I…I really was just walking her back to her room." Michael didn't answer but Isabel could feel the pulsating anger ebb out of him a bit. "Good night then."
"Good night Kyle," Isabel replied softly to his retreating form. Kyle waved a hand over his head in goodbye and he shuffled off.
Michael tapped his fingers on the doorframe irritably, not looking at her. She sighed and pushed the door open wider, slipping past him and into the room. His gaze stayed on the doorframe. "They didn't do anything wrong, Michael," she finally said.
He looked up and nodded. "I know," he assured her. "But…neither did we. Right?" She shook her head silently, but didn't know what to say to that…she still felt a little guilty.
"Goodnight, Michael," she said instead, walking back over to him and putting her hand on the door, hinting that he should leave. He nodded and let his hand rub her shoulder once before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Good-night, Isabel."
Once he'd gone she sighed again and closed the door, sliding the chain lock into place.
TBC…