Author: ArchAngel1973 (in collaboration with xmag)
Banner by: Kate
Disclaimer: Characters and plot lines that appeared in the series, the books, and the concept of Roswell are not ours. Belong to Melinda Metz, UPN, etc, etc…
Pairing: M&M
Rating: Teen
Summary: Post-Graduation. After a few years on the run, Michael and Maria go back to the States and settle down in San Francisco.
Part 1
A gentle breeze blew across the San Francisco Bay area, bringing with it the salty scent of the ocean and the distant sounds of the cable cars as they rolled along their tracks. The steep streets that seemed to run uphill regardless of direction were bustling with activity as the couple walked through one of the city’s older neighborhoods.
Maria DeLuca was a vivacious blonde and despite nearly seven years on the run, hiding from a ruthless government unit, she hadn’t lost her zest for life. She chattered incessantly about everything and nothing as she walked beside her long-time boyfriend, unconcerned with his monosyllabic and often non-verbal responses.
Michael Guerin had hardened towards many things over the years they had spent on the run, but not to the woman beside him. Ten years they had been together, and seven of those years had been spent constantly moving from one country to the next, evading government agents more times than he liked to remember.
They had been back in the States for the past few months, moving around and trying to find someplace to settle, someplace that felt right. They had stayed in Florida for a while upon their arrival but it hadn’t taken very long to decide that they couldn’t stay there long-term. They had ended up in Los Angeles a couple of months back, but that hadn’t felt right to them either. A weekend trip to San Francisco was all it had taken for them to know where they wanted to begin their lives.
Neither of them had ever had much growing up and due to the circumstances they had been living under they had quickly learned how to cut corners and save every possible penny. They had been staying in a run-down motel on the wrong side of town, scrimping and saving so that when they found the right place they would be able to afford the deposit and first months’ rent without completely bankrupting their savings.
He glanced at the animated woman beside him when she waved her left arm in a wide arc, the folded newspaper in her hand flapping madly in the wind. “I’m telling you, Michael, this is gonna be the one. I can feel it!” He smirked at her and shook his head. They had looked at dozens of apartments recently and so far none of them had been acceptable for a wide variety of reasons. “I told you about the rooftop garden, right?”
“Yeah, you told me about it.” She had expounded upon it repeatedly and he most likely could’ve recited the ad verbatim, but he bit his tongue to keep himself in check. She was happy and there was no way he was gonna ruin it for her; she hadn’t smiled nearly enough the past few years and he was determined that things were gonna be different now that they were finally free of the shadow that had been looming over them for so long.
“I know it’s only 700 square feet and that’s not really a lot of room – “
“If you like it I’m sure it’ll be fine, Maria. God knows we’ve lived in smaller places.”
She stopped at the entrance to the apartment building and turned to face him, her hands coming up to rest against his chest. “You have to like it too, Michael.”
“If you like it, I’ll like it.”
That brought the smile back to her face. “You’ll like it. Seriously, Michael, this’s the one!”
*****
This was so not the one.
Maria turned in a circle as her unimpressed gaze moved over the interior of the apartment. “Okay, I don’t even need to take measurements to know that this isn’t anywhere close to being 700 square feet.”
Josef Moskowitz scratched one grizzled cheek and shook his head in confusion. “No, I’m afraid it’s not much more than half of that,” he said. He was very soft-spoken and he had a strong Austrian accent.
“And the rooftop garden?”
“No, I’m afraid this is all there is to it.”
Michael’s temper was quickly approaching the boiling point in response to the disappointed look on her face. He snatched the newspaper out of her hand and held it less than an inch from the old man’s prominent nose. “Your ad states that the apartment is 700 square feet with a friggin’ rooftop garden.” He gestured at the minimal space around them. “This is obviously not it; she wants to see the apartment listed in your ad.”
“May I see that?” He pulled a pair of glasses from his shirt pocket and slid them on. His bushy, steel-gray eyebrows lifted comically as he read the tiny ad. “Oh, I knew I should’ve handled this myself; I’m afraid this ad was placed in error,” he apologized. “This is the apartment that’s available.”
“You’ve already rented the other one?”
“Not exactly.” Josef observed the couple, studying the way the young man watched his girlfriend as she moved around in the confined space. “My nephew was living here in the studio apartment for a few months and he was supposed to be renovating the larger apartment and handling basic maintenance, but…” He shook his head. “He took off a few months back and it was never finished. I can at least promise that it will be quiet,” he offered with a small smile. “You’d be the only tenants on this floor.”
“So, this apartment and the one that’s unfinished are the only two up here?” Michael asked. His mind was working over this new information, considering what he could do with it.
“Yes.” Josef tipped his head to one side as he wondered what the young man was thinking.
Michael looked at the wall at the end of the living room/dining room/bedroom area as he mentally pictured the layout of the building. “The living room for the other apartment…” He ran his hands over the wall before moving along the length of it, knocking at intervals. “It’s on the other side of this wall?”
Josef nodded. “Yes.”
“And the other apartment has that rooftop garden thing? And it’s got a bedroom, too, right?”
“Um-hmm.”
Michael nodded decisively. “We’d like to see the other apartment.”
“Well…” Josef threw caution to the wind and led the way out into the hall, sorting through a large key ring as he made his way next door.
“Michael?” Maria glanced up at him as they followed the old man and waited for him to open the door. “What’re you thinking?” She could barely contain her excitement; she didn’t know what he was thinking, but she recognized the look in his dark eyes.
“I’ll tell ya when I know if it’s even possible.” He turned his attention back to the landlord when the old man unlocked the door and pushed it open. “You own the building, Pops?”
“For almost 50 years now.” He gestured for them to enter the apartment. “Please be careful; it’s a mess.”
It needed a lot of work, was Michael’s first thought as he looked around at the destruction caused by an unskilled worker.
“It’s beautiful,” Maria breathed, her gaze tracing over the front wall as she moved closer to it. Windows adorned the entire wall and large bay windows had been built at each end, drawing in plenty of natural light.
“Your nephew didn’t know much about this kinda work, did he?” Michael commented, internally appalled at the havoc the man had wreaked on the apartment.
“No, not really,” Josef sighed sadly. To see what was once such a beautiful apartment in such a state just broke his heart. The building had been so important to him and it had been a big part of his life in this country.
Maria patted the old man’s arm and smiled at him. “But, he’s family and you were trying to help him.”
Josef smiled in response to her open expression. “Yes, exactly.” Josef pointed at the French doors on the far wall that led out onto the roof and he chuckled when she squealed in delight and skirted around the debris on the floor to get to them. “You must have your hands full with that one,” he murmured, watching her as she ran through the garden that was in poor shape from lack of use.
“Always have,” Michael agreed.
Josef gave the young man a tour of the apartment while Maria was otherwise occupied. “There are doors off of the bedroom that lead out into the garden as well.” He reached out to pat the molding around the doorframe.
“This is all original,” Michael said, leaning in closer to admire the craftsmanship that had gone into the hand-carved molding.
A quiet chuckle came from the old man. “I was quite thankful that my nephew didn’t destroy any of it in his endeavor to renovate. I had a tenant quite a few years back who painted over all of the woodwork.” He shook his head as he reached up to run his trembling fingers over the painted surface. “People have no understanding of true craftsmanship; they don’t see the beauty in something as simple as a piece of carved wood.”
Michael turned to look at the old man and he froze when he saw the line of numbers tattooed on Josef’s inner forearm. He looked back at the way the man’s fingers traced over the carved surface so reverently. “You carved them yourself,” he guessed.
Josef smiled. “It’s busy work; helps keep the mind occupied.”
“You still make ‘em?” Michael asked, his mind still reeling over his discovery of the old man’s past. He had read about the Holocaust and the concentration camps, of course, but it was the first time he had ever met a survivor of Hitler’s atrocities.
“No, not for years.” He held his hands out. “Not quite as steady as they used to be.” Josef nodded towards the young woman wandering through the garden. “She seems quite taken with that garden.”
Michael watched Maria, his eyes softening. “She has a tendency to see the potential in things regardless of how well it’s hidden.” She was happy, that much was obvious; she loved the apartment. Michael moved through the rooms again, conscious of the old man following him. “Okay, let’s get down to business. You want $1200.00 a month for the studio, right?”
Josef nodded, almost feeling guilty for the price of the little studio. “I know it’s a little steep for an older – “
Michael shook his head and held one hand up to stop the old man’s apologetic explanation. “I’m not tryin’ to talk you down on the price, Pops. We’ve been lookin’ at apartments for weeks, so I know how expensive they are. You said your nephew was handling maintenance for the building…” He glanced around. “Which is kinda scary considering what he did in here, so I’m gonna go on the assumption that you don’t have anyone currently doin’ that for you.”
“No.” Josef’s expression changed to interest and he motioned for the young man to continue. “Go on.”
“You let us have both apartments for the studio price and in exchange I’ll do all the work on the apartment myself, and I’ll take over the maintenance duties.” He shrugged. “I work nights so it wouldn’t by a problem for me to work on your tenants’ apartment issues durin’ the day.”
“Why would you want both apartments?” Josef inquired, interested nonetheless.
“This one’s not in any condition to live in and there’s no reason to be runnin’ back and forth between here and where we’re currently stayin’.” He shrugged and motioned to the far wall. “I’d also wanna put a wide doorway in between the two apartments to turn them into one large apartment.”
Josef rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he considered the young man’s proposal. “The apartment needs a lot of work.”
Michael smirked when the old man started fishing. “We’ll pay for the work we do on the apartment.”
Josef looked around. It was a good idea, but it was too much work for him. “That include tearin’ that wall out?”
“No cost to you, Pops,” Michael answered confidently. He had learned a lot of things while on the run, and he had worked in different types of building construction as well as in other areas. He knew what he was doing.
Josef rubbed his chin pensively. It sounded like a good plan and he had a good feeling about the young couple. “And you know what you’re doing when it comes to maintenance?”
“Wouldn’t make the offer if I didn’t.”
*****
Maria looked up when Michael stepped outside, looking around as he crossed the space that separated them. “It needs a lot of work,” she said, certain they had no chance of finding another apartment like it.
“Yeah.” His answer was noncommittal.
“But, $1200.00 is a lot of money for 350 square feet.” She rolled her eyes. “Hell, it’d be a lot of money for the larger one, but for that little studio...”
“But you still want it,” Michael concluded.
She nodded. Yes, she wanted it! It wasn’t ideal, but it would work for a while. “Well, eventually he’s gonna have this one remodeled and if we’ve already got good rental history with him we’d probably have a pretty good chance of getting it.”
“Yeah, we could do that.” He shrugged and glanced at the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. “Or, we could take the entire sixth floor and work on the apartment ourselves.”
Maria shook her head. “There’s no way we could afford that, Michael.”
“What if I told you the rent would still be $1200.00 for both apartments and the garden?” His eyebrows lifted in expectation. She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, trying so hard to not get too excited about something that seemed impossible.
“How?” she asked cautiously.
“We cover the cost for the renovations and we take over building maintenance. We can live in the studio while we’re workin’ on this side, and at some point we’ll knock out the wall between them and have one large apartment.”
“Are you serious?” Maria asked, her eyes shining at the prospect of having such a big apartment just for the two of them.
Michael pulled his right hand out of his jeans pocket and held two sets of keys out to her. “I told him I had to see what you thought before we gave him a check for – “ He just barely managed to hold onto the keys when she barreled into him and threw her arms around him.