Maria ran into the crash down, gave a quick wave to her best friend Liz Parker who was working the same shift as her today and grabbed her apron and headed back out the front.

"Hey Maria" Liz said in a bored tone.

"Hey Liz. How are you on this lovely afternoon?" Maria replied cheerily grabbing a cloth and started wiping the counter.

Liz looked out the window seeing that it was dark and over cast. Liz gave Maria a suspicious glance. "Why are you so happy today? I thought you were angry over the whole Michael thing" Liz replied.

"I was. But something happened and it made me feel better."

"Really?" Liz replied "What?"

"Im not exactly sure. I was going through this box and i found this ring and when i put it on it just made me feel better."

"Really? Wow, can i see it?" Liz extended her hand for Maria to give her the ring. As soon as Maria removed the ring all of the feelings from that morning came flooding back.

"Wow, its a really beautiful ring maria" Liz said as she handed her back the ring.

"Thanks" They were broken from their conversation when Michael, Max and Isabel walked in and sat at their usual booth. Max gave a shy smile to Liz and then continued a previous conversation with his sister and Michael.

Maria pulled out her pen and order book and took a couple of steps towards their booth when liz grabbed her elbow to stop her.

"I could take their order if you wanted" Liz asked kindly.

"Im fine liz" Came the reply as she headed toward the alien trio.

"What can i get ya?" Maria asked with her pen poised over the order pad.

"Can i have a cherry coke and an order of space fries." Max replied

"Just a Cherry cola" came isabel's reply. As maria wrote down the orders and waited for Michael's order, when it didn't come she looked up and saw that he was staring at her. After he saw maria looking at him, he realized he was staring and looked down at the table and mumbled "Same as Isabel"

"No problem" Maria said scribbling down the rest of the order.

"I'll be back in a minute with it." Maria said leaving the booth and handing the order to Jose the chef.

"Well, she doesn't seem upset" Isabel said breaking the silence. Michael just sat there staring at maria's back.

Maria was just leaning against the counter waiting for the order to be ready when she started fiddling around with the ring. And suddenly she froze and dropped the cup she had just picked up. And then she saw

~'Hi Maria' 'Who are you?' 'Relax, im a friend. Im here to help. And don't worry, im not here to get your friends' 'What do you want?' 'Im glad that you found the ring. Now that you finally have it, im here to--' ~

The images were interrupted by Liz gently shaking her shoulder

"Maria, are you okay?" Liz asked gently.

Shaking her head she replied unsurly "Yeah, im fine. I just suddenly don't feel so hot."

"Maybe you should go home. There's not many people here so i can handle things here."

"Are you sure?" Maria asked, looking worriedly around the restaurant.

"It'll be fine Maria. Go home and get some rest or something."

"Okay, thanks liz"

"Good. I'll call you later on tonight." As maria walked in the back to grab her backpack she suddenly felt lightheaded. After that she saw black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Maria! Maria, wake up. Please wake up maria." As maria opened her eyes she saw a fuzzy image of liz looking worriedly over her face. She blinked a few times as everything began to come into focus.

"She's awake" Liz announced. Maria sat up slowly taking into account that she was lying on the couch in the back room of the crash down.

"What happened?" Maria asked slowly

"Im not sure, but i heard a crash and came back here to see what it was and you were lying out here on the floor passed out. I think you hit your head against the table" Liz concluded.

"Do you remember what happened?" Max asked.

"No, all i remember is coming back here to get my bag and seeing black." Maria said purposely leaving out that strange flash she had earlier.

"We should probabrly get her home. Can anyone take her? I would but im the only one here" Liz said

"No liz. No one needs to take me home. Im fine. See." Maria replied jumping up off the couch and walking over to the table.

"Are you sure? 'Cause that's what you said last time."

"Im sure. I'll just go home and get some sleep."

"Okay, but call me later on tonight." Liz said reluctantly "and be really careful!" liz ordered.

"I will. Bye everyone." Maria said as she quickly left the crash down.

When she sat down in her mothers red jetta, she gave a huge sigh. What was happening to her? She was really afraid. First she found some weird ring that made her happy and forget about michael. Then she just got some weird flash. Weren't only her alien friends suppose to get those. Then she fainted. It was weird. What was she going to do? She couldn't tell liz because she would tell max, then everyone would find out. She couldn't tell alex because he didn't really know what was going on. Even though liz told him about max, michael and isabel, he was still kinda weird about the whole thing. After liz and alex she didn't really trust anyone with that kind of secret. *So what exactly is happening and what am i gonna do?* she thought to herself as she pulled up into her driveway. When she stopped the car she noticed a dark figure sitting on her stairs. She cautiously opened the door of her car and stepped out staying as close to the car as possible.

"Hi maria" said the shadowy figure standing up.

"Who are you?" Maria asked still standing close to the car incase she needed to make an escape

"Relax, im a friend. Im here to help. And don't worry this has nothing to do with your friends."

"What do you want" Maria demanded. She was getting really scared. How did he know her name? And all of this sounded really familiar.