The Missing Piece (CC, MATURE/ADULT accepted)

[BrokenAngel]

OC: I just talked to Kat and I'm going to take over Maria. Hope this works for everybody, as I try and get in here.

We've recently arrived in New Mexico. Roswell, New Mexco to be specific. In search of the fourth. The queen. The alien queen. G**, who says things like that? We skipped off to another state so Max could 'bond' with the alien queen becuase after all what else is an alien king supposed to do?

Michael's agitated. He almost always is, but it's been super sensitive lately. Now that we've actually found the girl, he seems to always be on edge. He wants this whole thing to move smoothly. he wants it to be quickly. He wants it to be over now. Part of me even suspects that he wants max to just get it over with and 'bond' today. How unromantic and insensitive he can be baffles me sometimes.

And if they do bond, then they're going to leave. They're going to go home. And you'd think that I'd now where I stood well enough to know if I was going too. But truth, I don't. I love him. And I know, eventhough he's not big on admitting it that he loves me. But I don't know if it's a love that gets me a ticket on the ship home with him. And I really don't want to lose him. I don't want to lsoe him so much that it hurts already. I'm mad already and he's still here. But there's no way I could tell him any of this. He'd probably completely shut down on me.

I smile slightly as Isabel notices my lack of speech and asks me about what I want to order. And then I busy myself with looking over the menu and blocking out the happy couple sitting across from me.

My head snaps up from the menu at Alex's comment and I blush more than even I expected. What did I have to be so shy about? And then I glare at Michael for bringing the whole thing up, and for not saying anything in response to try and make this whole situation better.

But I can handle this, I decide as I set the menu aside after Michael orders us some Onion Rings. And I smile slightly at the thoughtfulness. it's little things like that that proves we're a happy couple, that we both care.

"Don't do it Michael." I hear Isabel state to him and I glance over, for the first time, completely shaken out of my reverie. He was going to contact Max, bother him agian. He should leave him alone. Maybe that's partly selfish, since if Max does it his way, they'll be here a lot longer. but a girl can be selfish from time to time, can't she?

"Michael, just give him a bit more time," I argued,"He's got to tell ehr everything that's going on first." It was a logical point, but I knew it wouldn't matter much. He didn't want to wait. He simply wanted to leave. And that thought made me want to look away from him, despite my resolution to try and enjoy this time with him, if he did leave without me.

[isabelle]

Great Post BrokenAngel. (Love your s/n, too. ) So glad that you've joined us.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*Max* (continued...)

I drop my hand to the table, fighting my own desires, because it’s all I can do not to wrap both arms around her and pull her close. She's been so quiet. Shocked, I think. I can't really tell what she's thinking but I'm sure she's feeling confused and upset. Nacedo said she was safer where she was, but she was alone and scared.

Then, looking into her eyes, I lose my reserve. I scoot my chair a little closer and put one arm across her shoulders. “We’ve been looking for you for two years. We’ve found you now. You’re not alone any more.”

[KatnotKath]

OOC: Great starter BrokenAngel, welcome to the story

Storm - I know I still owe you an Alex, and hopefully it will come soon, but I have a lot of other posts to get up to date too as you will know I am trying though.

~Liz~

“Liz…”

Again Max speaks in that soft, gentle voice of his. He puts his hand over mine and somehow I can’t help looking down at him, meeting his gaze.

Why am I doing this…? Why am I sitting here, listening to tales of things which sound completely crazy…? Every bit of common sense I have says that this is a complete sham… I don’t know what this guy is up to, but what he’s saying is so ridiculous that there’s no other explanation…

Well, I guess my common sense is saying that until I begin to try and think about myself…and then as I realise that nothing about me seems to make sense, well, I can’t help beginning to wonder…

“You weren’t abandoned. You were lost…”

Lost or abandoned…what’s the difference…? I try to tell myself there isn’t any, but in truth I know that there is… Lost means that someone cared…

Now more than ever I want to believe what he’s saying…

“We wanted you more than anything, but we didn’t know where you were. That day, when you were six…that was the day you were born…”

He makes something so crazy sound so possible… I really don’t know what to think about all this…

“You only looked like you were six. That’s why you can’t remember anything from before that. It’s why you were naked…”

What to believe…parents who left me for dead out in the desert, or that I am an alien and I was found out in the desert because I hatched there… Not exactly a great choice…

If it wasn’t for the fact I am me, I’d say that both possibilities sound absolutely crazy and impossible, but while for anyone else this would all found like a show of cartoons or some other such programme, but to me, it’s my life story…my history… Whatever the explanation, the fact that I was found naked, wandering by the roadside, at six years old,in the desert.

“Nacedo came for you, but you were already gone. When he realised where you were, you already had a foster family and he said it was best for you to stay there. Isabel, Michael and I begged him to get you for us. To bring you home, but he wouldn’t. He said you were happy…”

Common sense tells me that this is ridiculous…that there’s no possibility that he’s for real, but deep down I find myself wanting so much to believe him… To know that someone wanted me…

I shake my head mentally, trying to tell myself not to be so silly. However much I might want him to be for real, it doesn’t change that his story begins to fall down when he says I was happy…

How could anyone think that…? How could anyone think that I enjoyed being passed from one family to another. A home was all I wanted…a home to call my own and which I knew was not going to be taken from me in a couple of months or years.

Since that day in the desert I have had at least five foster families… Plus a couple of temporary arrangements too. I always knew it was never going to last, I tried not to let myself get attached…

My social worker said that she couldn’t understand the fact I’d never managed to find a permenant placement… I was well behaved, sweet and gentle…everyone should love me right…? Wrong apparently… I don’t know what it was myself really, but I never lasted more than two years with a family.

There was only one which I actually thought might be for real… A young couple. They had been trying for children for a couple of years and had sadly come to the conclusion that they weren’t able to. That was where I came in…a ready-made daughter… To be honest, I have to admit they were different to the others. They actually seemed to care, and the two years I spent with them were the best in my life… Unfortunately, like all good things in my life it seems, in the end it came to nothing… I was just beginning to let myself think that maybe this was going to work out after all, when they dropped a bomb shell… Nancy was pregnant…and given that they were young, and didn’t have very well paying jobs, they couldn’t afford to keep me and the baby…

So once again I found myself on my own, being passed from one home to another, and from that day I don’t think I ever even dared hope…

That’s why this apartment is so important to me…it’s my home…

The thought that there might have been people out there who wanted me…that there might have been a home…cuts deep, and I have to bite my lip, fighting to stay calm and control my emotions. I won’t lose it…

Max reaches for me and to my surprise, his finger brushes my cheek. I look up at him, almost questioningly. I don’t know what I’m looking for…just something…something to tell me if this is for real, or if it’s part of some sick joke…

I can’t actually believe that I’m considering this…it’s impossible, crazy…yet then again what about the things I do…?

Maybe I’m so desperate to have a plce to belong that I’m willing to believe anything…I just don’t know what to think…

As my gaze meets his, I find myself slipping deeper though and I have to concentrate to remain focused. What is it about this man…he’s just so different…

“I know things have been hard for you. You’ve been alone and lost with nobody to give you the answers you need. I don’t know why he never told you. Why he left you in the dark, but maybe we can make it better. We’re here for you now, Liz. And we still want you. We always have.”

How does he seem to know me so well…? Does he mean what he says…? I’m wanted…really…?

Before I have a chance to respond, his hand drops to the table and I look up at him, hoping that I haven’t done something to offend him.

I want so much to believe him, because to believe him means that I’m not alone, that I wasn’t abandoned, and that I was wanted… To believe him gives me all the things I ever wanted, but at the sample time, to believe him means to accept something which I never believed was possible… I shake my head, struggling to come to terms with it all.

For so long I’ve been on my own…I’ve had to cope and deal with things, and Max is right, it’s been far from easy… I-

There’s a noise and I look over to see Max moving his chair closer. Before I realise what he’s going to do, he puts his arm across my shoulder and looks into my eyes again. “We’ve been looking for you for two years. We’ve found you now. You’re not alone anymore.”

For a moment, I do nothing, completely surprised by his actions, but then I pull away slightly to stand and pick up my cup which I then put on the counter before looking back at him. “Y-you’re serious…you really believe all this…”

The thing that I’m not so certain of at the moment is that I don’t too… When he started I was dismissing it completely… Even when I was humouring him and agreeing to accept the theory, I was doing just that, humouring him…

Now though, the thing that he’s said sound so amazing, so crazy, yet in the same way, they also make some weird kind of sense… I really don’t know what to think about all this, but somehow, I think at least a tiny bit of me believes him…

I take a deep breath, fighting to keep calm. “So you’re saying that you, and the others…” Although I’m still not too sure on numbers regarding them… “…have been looking for me for two years…” I look up at him. “Why…?”

It’s a strange feeling being told I’m not alone anymore…I’m so used to it, it’s not like I really know much about having family…

I shake my head. “And still saying for the moment that I believe you about all the incubation stuff, why would anyone want to do that…?”

[isabelle]

*Max*

Liz pulls away from me and I wonder if I haven’t gone too far. I know it was rather forward of me to hold her like that, but it just seemed like she needed a hug. I watch her as she stands, fidgeting, her eyes darting from place to place as if she doesn’t want to even look directly at me, for fear of what she might see. Does she think I’m crazy or is she simply afraid to believe?

“Y-you’re serious…you really believe all this…” she says

She does think I’m crazy then. All I can do is nod. “It’s all true, Liz.” I tell her. I should show her some evidence, I think. But is that really going to help? Before I can offer it, she asks about why we searched for her and about the incubation ‘stuff.’

“Why have we been looking for you?” I repeat her first question. “Because you’re one of us. I told you, we’ve been wanting to see you and be with you since before you came out of the pod. We were really looking forward to having you in our family. When Nacedo came back without you, it just about broke our hearts. Especially Isabel. You would have been like a little sister to her, and she was really looking forward to that. I guess the two of us guys kinda gave her a hard time, sometimes.” I give Liz a self-depreciating crooked grin, hoping she’ll understand.

In truth, I wasn’t all that excited about meeting my ‘girlfriend’ at that time. I wanted her around ‘cause she was part of the group, but the rest of it was a bit strange. All ten-year-old boys know girls got cooties. Well, except Isabel, since she was my sister and that made her okay.

“Nacedo died just before we were all eighteen.” I say, getting back to the story. “Or, rather, it was 12 years after we were born, or over fifty years after we arrived on the planet. Whatever. Legally, we were eighteen and could make our own choices and we chose to come find you. So we could all be together again. We thought you would want that, too.” I stop there, not wanting to go further yet. I don’t want to scare her off. Besides, that was the main reason when we were eighteen. We hadn’t heard from Antar at that point and we just wanted to find her. She was still 14 at the time and even Michael wasn’t insisting on ‘bonding’ right away then.

“As for why we were sent, well…” I sigh briefly. She hasn’t taken to any of this really well yet, but I have to try to explain. “I’m sure you’ve heard the story of Superman. A little baby sent to Earth alone because his planet was about to be destroyed?”

“That’s just a story!” Liz says, sounding impatient. “Isn’t it?”

“Of course,” I agree. “But what happened with us isn’t that different. There was a war on Antar. All of our parents were afraid we would be killed even ‘though we weren’t born yet. They couldn’t leave, themselves, but they sent the four of us to Earth with the protectors to watch out for us. They just wanted us to be safe, hoping to be able to call us back later. Unfortunately, there was no later for them. Our parents were all killed there not long afterwards.”

I have to stop there, watching for Liz’s reaction. She’s been alone for a long time, but still, the first time you hear the news that your parents actually are dead, it can’t be easy to take. Even if you never did know them.

[KatnotKath]

OOC: don't know how good this is, and I don't have time to format, tell me if you think anything needs changing Isabelle, but I hope it'll do for you

~Liz~

“Why have we been looking for you…Because you’re one of us. I told you, we’ve been wanting to see you and be with you since before you came out of the pod.”

His words make it sound so simple, and even almost normal… As though talking about pods and aliens is an everyday thing. Of course for me it’s not far of it, but usually it’s by way of jokes or simply humouring someone, and as he gets further with his tale, I just can’t help wondering if there is something more to this than the possibility that he’s simply another UFO nut…

I mean I saw him warm my drink…it was cold, and he warmed it, without the use of a kettle… How else do I explain that…?

The fact is that I can’t…just as I have never really been able to explain my own abilities…

I looked for stuff on it, but I never found anything that sounded like me…

But an alien…? I shake my head inwardly, still not sure what to think. Max sounded just so genuine when he said that it’s true…whatever else might be a show, I’m pretty sure he believes…

Of course maybe I’m just allowing myself to get swept away by the idea that the dream I have had for so long, to have a family and to be cared about, might actually be a reality. Of course if it is, it still means that I have missed out on so much, but perhaps that doesn’t matter as much as the idea I might be able to have it now…

“We were really looking forward to having you in our family…”

A family…a dream… I swallow and try not to think about how different things might have been.

“When Nacedo came back without you it just broke our hearts. Especially Isabel. You would have been like a little sister to her, and she was really looking forward to that."

Something in Max’s words strikes me, but before I have a chance to respond he continues. “I guess the two of us guys gave her a hard time sometimes…”

He looks back at me and I nod. I remember only too well some of the foster families I stayed at, and particularly the temporary placements… Whenever there were boys there, they tended to make my life hell…

Of course I’m older now, so that’s not so much of a problem, but I can definitely understand what Isabel would have been through. “Oh yeah, you guys can be terrors when you try…” I comment softly.

“Nacedo died just before we were all eighteen…”

As he continues the story, I can’t help wondering at the fact he’s saying I came down with them, yet I supposedly stayed in the pods – if I believe all that stuff, for four years longer than them… If they’re all twenty now, they’re pretty much adults…while I’m simply a school kid… “I’m sorry, that must have been hard…”

“Or rather, it was twelve years after we were born, or over fifty years after we arrived on the planet. Whatever. Legally, we were eighteen and could make our own choices and we chose to come and find you. So we could be together again…”

He frowns a little as he tries to explain it but finally seems to decide what he’s said will surfice and continues. “As for why we were sent, well…” He sighs and it looks like he’s trying to work out how to put this.

As he goes on to talk about Superman, I raise my eyebrows. Surely he doesn’t believe that’s true now as well… “That’s just a story. Isn’t it?”

Strange isn’t it, a few hours earlier I would have said this with no hesitation…now, well I don’t know what to believe…”

“Of course…”

He nods and I can’t help feeling a little relieved. Of course that is before he continues. “But what happened with us isn’t that different. There was a war on Antar. Our parents were afraid we would be killed even ‘though we weren’t born yet. They couldn’t leave, themselves, but they sent the four of us to Earth with the protectors to watch out for us. They just wanted us to be safe, hoping to be able to call us back later. Unfortunately, there was no later for them. Our parents were all killed there.”

He stops, but I don’t know that I would hear him if he had continued anyway. Dead… If what he is saying is true, I did have parents that loved me, but they’re gone now anyway…

I’ve always dreamed about them coming back for me, telling me they’re sorry and they made a mistake. Now I learn that supposedly they didn’t abandon me, but that I will never meet them… I swallow and bite down on my lip. I never met them, but still, it hurts…

Suddenly it strikes me that I’m no longer talking about this so much in a theoretical sense… My chest tightens as I truly begin to think about the possibility of this all being real.

Shaking my head, I look back at Max. “C-can I ask something more…?”

He nods and gives me an encouraging smile. “Sure, go ahead…”

“You’re talking about ‘we’ and ‘us’… Isabel and Michael, are they who you mean, or are there more…?” I ask after a moment before adding. “And y-you said I would have been like a little sister to Isabel…we’re not related…?”

[StormWolfstone]

Welcome Broken Angel glad to have you with us.

Kat, you should know that I am not about to rush you



~Michael~


Why is it that I even bother sitting here with them? We have Alex and Isabel who are going to make me sick with all that mushy stuff, then my girlfriend who's sitting at my side and obviously unhappy about something. However, I have no idea what I did this time to get her upset. Then again, half the time I don't know what I've done when she get's mad. I think sometimes that this whole dating thing is a crock and that I shouldn't even be bothering with it.

Then I think of life without her or think of some other guy holding her and feel rage or fear at those thoughts. Looking over at her, I sigh as she admonishs me right after Isabel does. Again, I feel struck by how beautiful she is to me and wonder how it took me so long in the first place to notice. Of course, I am not much for the whole public affection thing, so without a word, I slip my hand under the table and place it on her leg. I know she wants more, I know she wants answers about some things, but I honestly don't know what to tell her.

She's the one I want in my life, but I am no good at saying things out loud. "Alright, so perhaps one of you can give me an idea of what can be done to bide time while we wait for Maxwell to fill us in?" I can tell the tone of my voice is rather gruff but I don't care.

[BrokenAngel]

OC: Thank you everyone for the welcomes!

~Maria~

For moment after Isabel and I both admonish him, Michael just sits there, thinking. About what I'm not sure. Maybe why he's stillw aiting ehre and not pounding on Liz's door, intervening, interfering in a totally emotionally devoid way. He'd probably jsut blurt everything out to Liz in one breath and scare her. She's probably scared anough with Max. Someone who knows about her. Someone who wouldn't rush the conversation. And that's if there is even a conversation taking place. She could have kicked him out. She could've put some alien voodoo on him. What if he isn't okay? What if Michael's instincts are right? What if he should try and talk to him? But if he was hurt, if somethign was wrong, they would've felt it right?

And then it's like all the crazy thoughts swirling in my head stop, calm themselves down as he reaches out and touches me, putting his hand on my leg under the table. I immediately feel the warmth from his touch. And I covertly place my hand over his, giving it a small squeeze, a thank you of sorts, since I truly needed something right now.

Then he speaks agian, his words coming out gruff. Gruffer than I would like, but this is Michael. "We did just order food," I point out to him, with a raised eyebrow. "If we haven't heard anythign from him by the time we're done, maybe we should at least check that he's okay..." I know it's probably an irrational fear, but when have I let any fear pass me by unspoken?

[isabelle]

*Max*

“Sorry. I should have been more clear about that,” I say, feeling a bit ashamed as Liz recovers and asks a few obvious questions. Still, as simple as her questions sound, it’s not going to be simple to answer them. I also notice a certain air of acceptance in her attitude now. She’s no longer asking looking to punch holes in my ‘story’ but just for information. I think she’s starting to believe me.

“The four of us, Michael, Isabel, you and me, were the only children sent on that ship. There were four others there – the pilot and three Protectors. The crash killed two of the protectors. The pilot was badly wounded but she helped Nacedo hide us before the Air Force came. She died soon afterwards…”

I trail off for a moment, deciding not to talk about all of that right now. How the pilot was captured by the Air Force after helping to hide us. Liz lives here in Roswell so she probably already knows the stories of the captured alien but I don’t want to frighten her over things that happened over 50 years ago. Nacedo never even told us why he was so sure the pilot had died. He couldn’t dreamwalk her like Isabel can so I don’t know how he could have known for sure. Maybe it was just the extent of her injuries, but I don’t really know.

“So, yeah,” I say, recovering a little. “The four of us are all that’s left now. We’re not related, except for me and Isabel but we’re still ‘family,’ in a way. We’re all from the same place. Our families were friends back ‘home’ and we should still have other relatives there,” I shrug, feeling that my explanation is failing, miserably. I’m supposed to be trained in diplomacy, but this isn’t the same at all. I’m glad she’s still listening to me and just maybe, she’s starting to understand… "Right now, the only family I know is here on Earth, and you're part of it."

*Guys,* I send my thoughts to both Isabel and Michael at the same time. *This is going to take a bit longer than I thought. Nacedo never told Liz anything. She didn’t even know that she wasn’t from Earth!*

[KatnotKath]

OOC: ok, very later for me, and I'm tired, so no time to format, I'll do that tomorrow

~Liz~

Why do I feel as though there’s something that Max isn’t telling me…? He’s answering each on one my questions on the surface, but there’s just something which tells me there’s more…

Maybe it’s some sort of test…to see if I can pick the right questions, but whatever it is, I know that there’s more to all this than Max is saying at the moment.

“The four of us, Michael, Isabel, you and me, were the only children sent on that ship…There were four others there – the pilot, and three Protectors.”

Again I wonder why that would be. Max’s explanation about the war sounds so simple, yet a pilot, and three Protectors… This whole things sounds crazy enough, even though I have to admit I’m thinking maybe it’s just crazy enough to be real…but to do that for four children that haven’t even been born yet… No, there’s something more to all this…

“The crash killed two of the Protectors. The pilot was badly wounded but she helped Nacedo hide us before the Air Force came…"

The Air Force… He’s talking about the things that are all supposed to be myth…

“She died soon afterwards…”

I bite my lip, trying not to think too much about what he means by that. I haven’t lived in Roswell my whole life, not to have heard the rumours about an alien that was actually captured. Of course in those stories aliens are three foot high green men, with huge black eyes and an oval head… If everything that Max is saying is true, I have a feeling that that much won’t be accurate, but I have to admit that I’m beginning to wonder about the rest of it… Could it really be true…?

Watching Max, I can see the conflict in his eyes. I don’t think this is any easier for him to talk about than it is for me to hear…

After a few moments, he appears to get a grip of himself though and continues. “So yeah…The four of us are all that’s left now…”

I nod softly, not really sure what I can say.

“We’re not related, except for me and Isabel, but we’re still ‘family’ in way…”

“Right…” I know that I might sound uncertain, but this is all a whole lot to take in…

“We’re all from the same place. Our families were friends back ‘home’ and we should still have other relatives there…”

Okay, now this is getting really weird again… To me, Roswell is home… I know that he’s talking about some strange planet though…

“I guess that doesn’t really matter though…I mean it’s not like we’re ever going to meet them is it…?” I sigh ad murmur softly more to myself than anything. It’s wonderful to think that I might have real family somewhere out there, even if my parents are dead as he says, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m here, and if what Max is saying is to be believed, they’re millions of miles away…

Millions of miles away…probably not even in this solar system, or the next… I grimace inwardly. G** I sound like a bad intro for starwars or something like that… I shake my head. This really isn’t happening…is it…?

Suddenly I realise that Max is still speaking and and I look up, turning my attention back to what he is saying. I'm not even sure he heard my last comment...and whether that's a good or bad thing, well, I'm not honestly sure..."

"...family...on Earth, and you're part of it."

I look into his eyes, searching for any sign that this is all one big front. Whatever I might think of him, or his ideas though, I can't deny that he sure looks, and sounds genuine...

Running my fingers through my hair and pushing it back from my face, I bite my lip. “So, when am I going to get to meet Michael and Isabel…how come they didn’t come with you…?” I ask a little awkwardly. I want to meet these people, but I can’t deny I’m a little nervous… I mean I have no idea what they’ll be like…what if they don’t like me…?

[KatnotKath]

OOC: sorry about the delay, hope this works for you Storm

~Alex~

“Just about every hour…but I will never tire of hearing about it.”

I smile. “Well I can’t help it…I’m only telling the truth…” I tell her softly.

She turns to face me and I smile at the beautiful smile which has settled on her face. “I love you Alex. Nothing will change that.”

I wonder if she knows how wonderful that sounds… After everything we’ve been through, I know what I want, and to know that she wants the same is just wonderful… I never thought it would actually happen…all that time I worshiped her from afar…

But then one day, something just happened…and crazy as it seems, our relationship has gone from one strength to another. She had to leave, and she told me about herself…about her secret, and I came with her. And I know…without any doubt, that if they do go back as intended, I’m going with them… Nothing is going to take me from Isabel short of dying…I’ll do anything, face anything…she is my other half, and without her I’m incomplete…

A waitress comes over and we end up ordering two double batches of O’rings, both with two plates. I look over at Isbael curiously and she smiles. “See, I do have a plan. A plate for you and one for me so I can simply add my favourite condiment to my portion…”

I grin. “Not bad…” I lean over to kiss her again. “Love you…” I whisper softly in her ear. I’ve gone from a light jokey tone, trying to keep spirits up, to now a deadly serious one. I’d never joke about something like this. “Whatever happens, wherever you are, I want to be with you Isabel…I followed you this far…I’ll follow you to the end of the earth…and beyond…”

I pull back as I suddenly hear Michael muttering and Isabel looks over at him. “Don’t do it Michael!”

It doesn’t take much to see that he’s getting impatient again…that he’s considering contacting Max again and I agree completely with Isabel and Maria. It’s a bad idea… Max will contact them when he’s ready… This whole thing is hard enough as it is… I haven’t known Max for over two years without being able to see that his desire to find this Liz was never based on ‘being’ with her. He wanted to find their fourth to make sure she was safe, to compete the group and to allow her to be with people like her…

I reach out, squeezing Isabel’s hand, just showing her that I’m here…

"Michael, just give him a bit more time…He's got to tell her everything that's going on first."

Maria argues, and I can see the hurt in her eyes. Even longer than I have been friends with Max, Michael and Isabel, I have known Maria… I can see how much she loves Michael…and I know he loves her too…but the thing is he doesn’t always show it…

I know from conversations we’ve had that Maria is terrified that if it comes to them leaving, Michael is going to tell her to stay behind…that he’s not going to want her to come with.

The thing is that Michael doesn’t realise all this…he doresn’t seem to get where her insecurities lie, and that’s the problem… He loves her, I know that, Isabel knows that, and deep down I think that Maria does too…but I think she just needs to hear Michael say it…

"Alright, so perhaps one of you can give me an idea of what can be done to bide time while we wait for Maxwell to fill us in?"

Michael’s tone is gruff and I can’t shaking my head. Typical Michael…

"We did just order food. If we haven't heard anything from him by the time we're done, maybe we should at least check that he's okay..."

Me personally, I’d say right now that we should leave it…even after we’ve eaten, it’s not going to be that long… Not to do what Max is intending… I mean she’s bound to have questions…and this whole ‘bonding’ thing…Max has already said he’s not going to do it without getting to know her…to me anyway… So an hour or so, to start to do that…I really don’t think that’s too much.

Still, I know that Maria is a little nervous…and I nod humouring her. “Sure, I guess a quick call in wouldn’t be that much of a problem…”