Roswell: Crashdown (Fanfic)

Fanfic - Unconventional Couples

"Who Will Save Your Soul"
"December 26"

Part 28
by Hero of the Day

Disclaimer: Everyone belongs to the WB, except Gaven who will come in later.
Summary: Michael is leaving Maria for Isabel but for a reason he can't explain and only time will make Michael stronger as he searches for what Isabel gave up to save the group.
Category: Unconventional Couples
Rating: PG-13

Max knew it was going to be a bad day when he stubbed his toe on boxes that lined his room waiting to be moved to his apartment. Max went to the bathroom and took a shower. Within 45 minutes he was in, out, dressed, and on his way to work. He parked his jeep and went inside to change in to his uniform. When he was done, he went out to the parking lot to pick up his swat car. "Max!" the Sheriff yelled from behind him. Max turned and saw Jim comming toward him with a file in hand. "Good Morning, Sir." Max said. "Morning Officer." Jim said, "Max you won't be patroling around town today." Jim handed the file to Max, "Insted you will be watching Maria." Max fingered through the file. "You released Steve?" Max said confused. "Yes. We had to, we didn't have anything to hold him on." Max continued to sift through the pages of the file while Jim proceeded to talk. "Max, I'm trusting you to watch my daughter and protect her." Max looked up at Jim and knew that he was talking as Jim Valenti the father of a woman he considered to be his daughter not Jim Valenti the Sheriff of Roswell. "Yes, Sir." Max said. " I just have one question." "Shoot." Max closed the file and handed it back to Jim, "It shows divorce papers on Steve, it shows that he moved to the other side of the country, there are no other records of him beingin jail, no parking tickets, no nothing...like he secretly disappeared of the face of the earth for about, oh, 14 years. Maria's like, what, 21, why would he be back now? Something just dosen't make sense, and after last night, I know he's not here to start a relationship with her." "Max, I don't know what this man is up to, but I will find out what he is doing here, I will make sure he does not hurt my family and most of all I will find out what he is hiding....even if it kills me...." Jim looked at his watch, "Go get your coffee and doughnuts before Liz has a harry canary because you haven't showed up yet then head out to the apartment. Don't talk to Maria unless she notices you." Max smiled as he headed to his car. "And Max," Jim said stopping Max again. "Yes, Sir?" "I wouldn't trust anyone of my other officers to do what I just asked you to do. Besides Michael and Alex, you are the only person who I can-" Jim paused, "Just know I'm very grateful for having you on my squad Ma-Officer Evans." Jim turned and waked back into the office. "Okay, hit me" Michael said to the man across the table. Michael and his co-workers were pretty far into their game of 21. "Damn!" he cursed tossing his cards to Jason. "I'm done!" he got up and went to the fridge, opened it. Closed it. Turned and went to sit back at the table. Above the office area of the fire station was an area that was set up like a house where the guys hung around until the alarm went off. There was a couch, a few reclining chairs, a tv, radio, a small kitchen area with a stove, fridge and table, there was a bathroom both up and down stairs and there was a door that went out the back way where family sometimes came to say hey. "Hey Mike, you in for another round?" Jason asked. "No" Michael said moving to the couch. He rested his head against the wall. Another of Michael's co-workers, Nick, looked over at Michael who had his eyes closed. "What's on your mind?" he asked. Michael opened one eye to see that Nick was directing the question at him. He took his head off the wall and opened the othere eye. "Trouble with the little woman." Michael answered. "I hate that" Jason said from the table. "Seems serious....unless you always look that pissed off." Nick said. "I'm not sure if it is or not. Her dad who has been gone for like 14 years came back into town yesterday." Michael explained. "Thats not so bad." Nick said. "Well, her da-the man who gave his sperm up to make her....not exactly all with it." Michael looked at the guys, "He just hasn't been a father and now it's like he wants to make up for lost time....and there's other stuff, but I don't even know what that is." "Sounds bad." Jason said comming and sitting on the recliner next to Nick. "The bad part is, Maria can't tell me and I can't help her." The guys just looked at eachother then at Michael. "Oh...I'm sorry to hear that man." Nick said, "But don't ya just hate it when they do that? Not tell ya whats going on I mean. I wish I could just touch people and see whats going on in their heads ya know? Like see what's really buggin' 'em or see what really makes them tick!" Jason laughed, "Ya like some weird super hero power." "Hey!" Nick said, "We come from Roswell...it would be a weird alien power!" Michael chuckled, "Sometimes, I would rather not know what goes through Maria's head." "Women are funny like that" Jason said staring at the tv, "they are always so mysterious and you can never figure them out, and just when you think you have, ....BAM! You hit another stone wall where you don't even know where to start looking for the key to get in." "I knew a Maria once..." Nick said, "We were in grade school together....Maria DeLuca....but I moved in third grade before I got to really know her." Michael burst out laughing, "MARIA DELUCA?" he questioned. "Yes..." Nick said looking at Michael, "but I moved away, then moved back, about 45 minutes away from here.....have you herd of her?" Michael looked at Nick, "Dude, Maria DeLuca is my girlfriend!" "No way! My first crush Maria is your girlfriend? Don't even joke about that!" Nick said turning his full attention to Michael. "Seriously! I'm not jokeing!" Michael said pulling out his wallet, "This is our prom picture" he held up his wallet, "This is a picture of us a the Christmas party a few years ago" he held up his wallet again, "This is a nu-you can't see this one" Michael said putting the wallet back in his pocket." Jason laughed at Michael and Nick as they sat there talking about Maria. Michael's pager went off and he looked at it. "Speak of the devil!" Michael laughed and headed down stairs to use the phone. Liz sat at her father's desk in the small office in the back of the Crashdown. He had two, but she had always found this one a little more...fun to work in. "I have to get this done." she whispered as she typped furiously on the little laptop. Her Biology final was due when she went back to school and she was busy all the way up until the new year. It was now or later.....she prefered later but time didn't allow it. Maria hung up the phone and adjusted her head band. She tied on her apron and headed into the office where Liz sat typping away. "Is Shannon comming in today?" Maria asked. "Ya,..." Liz kept her eyes on the screen, "but she's babying a hang over so she called in and said she would be late...she won't be here until about noon or 1-o-clockish." She stopped and reread her paragraph making sure it sounded good then hit the save button and popped out the disk. Liz put it in her apron and headed out to the kitchen with Maria. "hey, there's no one here right now...looks like it's gonna be slow, I'm gonna go work on my final, if someone comes in and sits in my section-" "Liz" Maria cut her off, "the paper is litterally already 30something pages. It's a book and all he assigned you was an essay. Now, Ms.Parker, you are taking a break from the hellish bounds of the lap top and you are going to sit here with me and talk" Maria smiled. "Okay...I guess I can take break!" Liz smiled and sat on a stool,"So...what did Michael want?" "I paged him" Maria said, "I was bored...figured he was too!" They just sat there in silence and bordom. "I'm going to work on my paper!" Liz said standing. "Lizzie!" Maria wined, "Please sit here with me! The man already has enough bathroom material to read!" "Maria!" Liz said shocked, "He doesn't read it on the toilet!" "Riiight" Maria smiled," so exactly how does an old professor who has a weak bladder get all his papers done with taking a few with him?" Liz cocked her head and dropped her mouth. "Maria DeLuca!" Maria giggled. "Sorry...sorry" she laughed, "Go work on your final. I'll call you if I really need you." Liz shook her head as she walked into the office. On her way, Liz picked up the phone that had started to ring. "Crashdown Cafe, this is Liz how can I help you?" she said in to the reciever."Hi Sheriff.....oh....um..ya she is....does she know? I will....okay,..ya, sure....okay you too. Bye." Liz hung up the phone and slowly turned to Maria."Um..Maria.." Maria looked worried, "What?" "That was your dad....he wants you to go home and not leave until Michael gets home...they had to um....they had to let Steve out this morning because they had nothing to hold him on. Maria grabbed her coat and put it on. "I'll call you later" Liz said hugging Maria. Maria went out to her car and noticed the grey pick-up truck that belonged to Steve but he wasn't in it. Maria started her car and headed home. She looked in her review mirror when she was about a two blocks away from home. She saw Max in his cop car and the pick-up behind him. She looked again about a block away from home and only noticed Max in his cop car.

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