Author: Ruby
Disclaimer: I do not own Roswell nor do I own the song Lips of an Angel.
Rating: Teen
Couple: Kyle and Maria
Timeline: Post The Departure although no evil Tess!
Summary: One shot, short, angst Maria and Kyle fic. Sequel to Stolen Moments. Takes place two year later. This story was inspired by the song ‘Lips of An Angel’ by Hinder.
Author’s notes: Thanks to Anna-Lissa for making the banner for the story. Also, this story has yet to be beta'd so please excuse all mistakes.
<center>
</center>The apartment was dark and empty. It reflected Maria Deluca’s mood to perfection. She sat in the middle of the bed she shared with her boyfriend, Michael Guerin, and sighed. She was so tired of pretending that she was happy. She was tired of ignoring the pain in her heart.
It had been two years since she had left Roswell and said goodbye to Kyle Valenti. Leaving Kyle had been the hardest thing she had ever done and it was one of her biggest mistakes. She shouldn’t have stayed with Michael and she certainly shouldn‘t have moved to LA with him. They were miserable together but neither one could end the relationship. They only had each other.
She had lost touch with everyone back in Roswell. The only contact she had was the occasion letter or postcard from Liz or her mother. It was in one of these letters that she had first found out about Kyle’s engagement. She had cried nonstop for a week. Michael had tried to find out what the matter was but they had ended up arguing and he had stormed out of apartment. He was gone for five days.
On her bedside table, the phone beckoned to her. There had been so many times over the last two years that she had wanted to call Kyle, just to hear his voice. There were so many things that she wanted to tell him. Her hands shook slightly as she pick up the phone and finally gave into the temptation to dial his number.
It rang four times before he answered, his voice was still thick with sleep. “Hello?”
Her breath caught in her throat and her fingers tighten around the phone until it hurt. She couldn’t speak or move. All she could do was listen to his breathing. She could hear his movements and could almost picture him sitting up in his bed.
“Maria?” His voice was as soft as caress.
“Hey Kyle,” She sobbed, all the emotions that she felt for him came to the surface.
“Are you okay? Has something happened?” He asked, sounding frantic with worry.
She shook her head even though she knew that he couldn’t see her. “Nothing has happened. I just wanted to hear your voice. I’m sorry. I know its late. I just…I just really needed to speak to you. I‘ve missed you so much, Kyle.”
“Kyle, who is it?” Maria heard Kyle’s fiancée ask.
“Nobody. Go back to sleep, baby.” His words were slightly muffed but Maria was still able to make them out.
Nobody. The word echoed in her head and made her heart ache. How could she be nobody to him? She loved him. She shouldn’t have called him. Speaking to him was just going to make her hurt more. She hadn’t thought that it was possible for her to hurt anymore then she already did.
“Nobody? Ouch, that hurts.” She said, trying to make a joke of it. “I’m sorry, Kyle. I shouldn’t have called. It was mistake. I’ll let you get back to bed. Good…”
“Wait, Maria! Don’t hang up. I want to see you.”
“Ok.” Her response was quick and firm.
“I’ll come to you. Is Saturday okay?”
“Saturday is okay.” Maria confirmed. She gave him the details of a café just around the corner from her apartment and told him that she would be there waiting for him at one o’clock.
“Okay then. I’ll see you on Saturday.” Kyle murmured. “And Maria, I’ve missed you too.”
<center>***</center>
“You’re crazy.” Tess Harding stated after Kyle had finished telling her about his phone call with Maria. “You can’t go. You can’t do that to Hannah.”
Kyle rested his head in the palms of his hands. He knew Tess was right. Meeting with Maria was only going to cause a whole load of pain and heartache but he couldn’t not meet with her. He needed to see her. It had been so long.
He looked across the semi crowded club to where his fiancée, Hannah Daniels, was playing pool with Tess’s boyfriend and his best friend, Jake Turner. He watched as she laughed at something that Jake said. He didn’t want to hurt her. It was the last thing that he would ever want to do. He did love her. Hannah was just about perfect. She was sweet, kind and beautiful. There wasn’t a single bad bone in her body. And she loved him with all her heart.
“Don’t do it, Kyle.” Tess said. She reached across the table and took one of his hands in both of hers. “You’ve moved on. You’re getting married. Don’t ruin that. Going there tomorrow is only going to cause you more grief.”
“I have to go. Its Maria.”
Tess shook her head in disgust, “She broke your heart and not once over the last two years has she called to see if you were okay. Kyle, don’t go. Think about Hannah. It would kill her if she found out.”
“She’s not going to find out. Its one day. I just need…” His voice broke and he looked at his best friend pleadingly, “I just need one more day. Can’t you understand that? If things were different. If you were me and Maria was Jake, you would do the same thing. Please just try to understand.” He looked up to see Hannah and Jake heading back towards them. “Please understand. I would do the same for you.”
“Why do you two look so serious?” Hannah asked, her blue eyes sparkling with happiness. She sat down next to Kyle and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“We were talking about the wedding.” Tess said, covering for Kyle. “I was telling Kyle that whitewater rafting was not a good idea for his bachelor party. I mean, we wouldn’t want him drowning.”
“No, we wouldn’t.” Hannah stated with a smile as she kissed Kyle’s cheek. “I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.”
“You’re never have to find out.” He stated, holding her tightly against him.
Tess sent him a meaningful look, which he ignored. She was his best friend and he loved her like a sister but she just couldn’t understand how he felt about Maria.
“Whitewater rafting sounds cool,” Jake said, obviously sensing the tension between Kyle and Tess. He tried to lighten the mood and grinned wickedly at Tess. “But if you ask me we should just go to a strip club. I’ve been saving up my dollar bills”
“Ugh! You are such a perv!” Tess wrinkled her nose in disgust and elbowed her boyfriend in the stomach. “Sometimes I just want to punch you in the eye.”
“But you love me,” Jake stated proudly.
“You better not punch him!” Hannah warned, wagging her finger menacingly at Tess. “The wedding is in a fortnight and I don’t want no black eyes in any of my wedding pictures.”
“She won’t hit me. She loves me too damn much, don’t you baby?”
Tess sighed, “I do. I don’t know why but I do.”
“People can’t help who they fall in love with,” Kyle said meaningfully. His eyes locked with Tess’s for a moment and he thought that he saw some understanding in her blue eyes but the moment was over too quickly to be sure.
<center>***</center>
Maria stood in front of her bathroom mirror and studied her reflection with a careful eye. She wanted to look perfect for her meeting with Kyle. She hummed softly as she brushed her blonde hair back into a ponytail. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t see Michael stood against the door.
“You look nice,” Michael said after a brief silence. “Where you going?”
“I’m meeting someone for lunch,”
“Who?”
“Nobody that you know.”
“Its him, isn’t it?” Michael said, his voice had turned cold. “You’re seeing Kyle.”
“What are you talking about?” Maria asked, startled.
“What? You thought that I didn’t know about your little affair with Kyle. I’m not stupid, Maria. I knew what you were doing and who you were doing it with. That’s why I accepted Kal’s offer to move here. I thought that if we moved here, we could go back to how things were between us before you starting fucking Kyle Valenti.”
He stormed out of the bathroom, leaving Maria to stare after him in shock. She couldn’t believe that he had known all this time and that he hadn’t said a word. She left the bathroom and walked down the hall to the bedroom. She could hear Michael move around the room frantically and the sound of drawers and cupboards being opened and slammed shut.
“Michael, what are you doing?” She said softly.
“Isn‘t it obvious? I’m helping you leave.” He said as he threw some more of her stuff into the suitcase that laid open on the bed. “I thought that things were starting to look up between us. You’ve been so happy the last couple of days. I haven’t seen you that happy since we left Roswell. I should have known that Valenti would be the cause.”
“I’m sorry, Michael.”
“Take your apologies and shove them up your ass. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to sit here and listen to all the details, I don’t want to hear that you’re sorry. I want you gone. For good.” He snarled at her. Grabbing her by the arm, he shoved out of the bedroom “I should have left you the moment I found out. I was a fool to love you.”
“Michael…”
“Don’t. Just run back to lover boy before he realizes what a stupid whore you are as well.”
The door slammed shut in her face. Maria pushed her forehead against the door. She hadn’t ever meant to hurt Michael. She had loved him with all her heart. He was her first true love but they hadn’t meant to last as long as they had. She could hear Michael sobbing on the other side of the door, his rage disappearing for a second to show how he truly felt.
“I’m sorry,” She murmured against the door.
It was finally over.
<center> ***</center>
She was exactly the way he remembered her, Kyle thought to himself as he approached the booth she was sat in. She smiled at him and Kyle felt his heart begin to race. No one had ever been able to affect him with something as simple as a smile like Maria could.
She got to her feet and embraced him tightly. He held her just as tightly and breathed in her scent. She still smelt like fresh rose petals and cedar oil. He savored the feel of her body pressed up against his.
“Hey,” She whispered in his ear. “I’m so glad that you’re here. I was worried that you were going to turn up.”
They reluctantly parted and sat on opposite sides of the booth. Maria reached across and took on of his hands in hers.
“I can’t stay for long. Tess’s boyfriend drove me here. He’ll be back in an hour.”
“Oh, I thought that we would have more time together.” Maria mumbled. “Why didn’t you come here by yourself?”
“Tess said that she would tell Hannah about me coming here unless Jake came with me.” Kyle said with shrug. There wasn’t much more he could say. He was glad that Jake had driven him to LA because otherwise he would have been more then just tempted to stay with Maria.
“Hannah? She’s your fiancée?” She somehow managed to say the word fiancée without breaking down.
“Yeah. She’s great. I think that you would really like her.”
“I don’t know about that.” Maria murmured. It would be impossible for her to like anyone who had such a big part in Kyle’s life. “Do you have a photo? I just…want to see who she is.”
He nodded and silently took a photo from his wallet.
“She’s beautiful.” Maria said with a watery smile. “I could have liked her a lot more if she had been ugly. When‘s the wedding?”
“Two weeks from today.”
“Two weeks?” Maria gasped. She hadn’t thought that it would be happening that soon. She had thought that she would have months to try and win Kyle back.
He nodded again before he said, “Maria, you didn’t call me to talk about my wedding and I didn‘t come here to talk about Hannah.”
“Why did you come here?”
“To see you.” He said honestly. He reached across the table and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I wanted to make sure that you are okay before…”
“Before what?” She asked, sensing that she wasn’t going to like the answer.
“I can’t see you again. I’ve spent the last two years trying to get over you. I love you but I can’t be with you just like you couldn’t be with me. I came to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Maria felt her eyes begin to burn. “You can’t say goodbye. Kyle, I love you too. We could make this work. We belong together.”
“I can’t. It was a mistake coming here.” He got up and started to move away from the booth and her.
“Kyle,” She called out, chasing after him.
“Maria, I…”
“Don’t say it. Please don’t say Goodbye.” She cried, gripping hold of his hand. “Don’t give up on us.”
“I have to. I made a commitment to Hannah. I won’t break her heart. I won’t be that guy. I can’t do it. I‘m sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t going to make this not hurt.”
She kissed him then with all her heart. Everything she had ever felt, everything she wanted to tell him was in that kiss. He hesitated a moment before he kissed her back like a starving man. Their hands explored each others bodies but it wasn't long before Kyle remembered what he had to do.
He broke the kiss and stepped away from Maria. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I can’t.”
“Kyle.”
This time, it was Kyle’s turn to leave.
The End