Title: Ambiguous Resolutions
Part: 2
Author: Tammy
Email: tammyathome@earthlink.net
Disclaimer: I Own Nothing
Summary: After high school, Michael leaves town-and comes back with a wife.
Category: Mainly focuses on Michael-M/M; I/A; M/L So i will put this under both General conventional and Character: Michael
Rating: PG
Author's Note:These "" are quotation marks, and these '' are character's thoughts. Takes place in the future, but any episode after Tess, Lies, and Videotape never happened-i.e. 'Destiny' has no role in my story! Who will Michael marry? I'll let you the readers decide-I've already made my choice-can you make me change my mind?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Oh," Maria slowly hung up her purse on the shelf

Isabel stuck her head out of the kitchen, wide eyed, mouth gaping, "Maria, I…uh…didn't think you'd be home. I thought you were at work…I mean…"

"Lunch break."

"Oh."

"Where is he?"

"Right here," Maria looked behind Isabel. There he was, leaning against the wall that connected the living room and the kitchen, as if it was the most natural place for him to be. She walked closer, but he put up his hand, mimicking the same gesture he had used that night, well, over six years ago.

"Take me with you," She had looked up at him, with complete trust. Her eyes pooling with tears that were yet to come.

He held up his hand, "No. You can't come."

She cocked her head to the side, "No? Why can't I come?"

"Because I can't give you what you want," She looked up at the ceiling, forcing back any tears.

"How do you know what I want?" She asked indignantly.

"Because I know you," She had held up her hand, palm facing him. He put up his own palm, pressing it lightly into her hand.

"And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss." She paused, "Ms. O'Connor, 9th grade English. If you go, don't expect a welcoming party from me when you get back."

And then he left.

"Maria?" Liz broke the silence. Maria looked over at her friend and smiled reassuringly. When she looked back over to Michael, she saw her, holding the same hand that only moments before had been offered to her.

"Maria, this is Samara. Mara, Maria." Michael said. Maria. Now there was a name that rolled right.

"Yes, Alex introduced us." Maria took a step forward and shook her new enemy's hand. She plastered a fake smile on her face, "Nice to meet you."

"You too." The house was silent as the two stared each other down.

But both came to the same conclusion, 'Damn. Now I've lost him. How could he not love her?'

~*~

A few hours had passed uncomfortably, and Liz was relieved when she had to leave. An emergency down at the Crashdown, she had told them. Something about there not being enough ketchup. She wasn't surprised when Alex and Max stood up quickly to join her in her getaway, but she was surprised when Samara asked if she could go too.

When Michael stood up slowly and resigned himself into going, Samara quickly turned around, "Who said you were invited?"

Liz smiled. She had to hand it to her, she could read Michael…just like Maria. It was obvious that Michael hadn't wanted to leave the house yet, but Liz knew that she would never have left Max in the same situation. She knew she should trust Max, he had been pretty committed to her for the past six years. But he still refused to get married to her, and every time the subject was brought up and every time he tried to change it, it brought back old high school memories. Actually, just one-Tess.

"Ready to go?" Max asked.

"Yeah," Liz grabbed his hand and walked out to her car in the driveway. "Max, Samara, you can ride with me and Alex."

~*~

After the four had left, Isabel left as well, to get a cup of tea. 'Make that coffee. The strong stuff.' After drinking a cup, and fearing the silence she heard from the living room, she peeked her head in to see what Michael and Maria were doing. She was shocked to find them just sitting on the couch, looking at each other. As if trying to memorize the other's face, as if this would be the last time they would ever see each other. 'In a way, I guess it is.' Then she noticed their hands, and her eyes widened in response. 'Michael? Holding hands?' Michael never held hands. The only time she could ever remember him holding hands was that fateful day in the desert, when he had almost died. He had held her hand and Max's hand that day, but she never saw him hold anyone else's hand like that. 'Watch out, Samara. You don't have him quite yet.'

~*~

"So how long have you known Michael?" Alex asked. He was intrigued by Samara. Actually, he was more intrigued by the fact at how much she reminded him of Maria.

"About six years."

"How did you meet?" Liz leaned back a bit to allow the waitress to place their plates in front of them.

"He came into the restaurant that I was working at, at the time. He ordered a slice of chocolate cake and asked for a bottle of Tabasco sauce." She paused and brought a forkful of her own cake to her mouth. "He poured so much of it on I couldn't help but gape. I mentioned that I had only seen on other person who put Tabasco sauce on cake. When he asked who, I told him Nasedo."

Max nearly choked on his cake. "Funny, he had the same reaction," She laughed.

Max swallowed a bit of soda. "You, uh…know Nasedo?"

"No. It's just my word for the strange customers that frequent the restaurant. I picked it up from a couple of my friends, who lived on the Mesolico reservation out here."

"So then what happened?"

"Well, he came by every night for about a week. Always kept to himself, until finally, one night during one of my breaks he started up a conversation."

"Conversation? Michael? That's hard to believe." Alex stated.

"Actually, it was more like an argument. I was reading Ulysses at the time, and when he commented on it, I told him it wasn't a very good book."

"Michael read Ulysses?" Alex asked incredulously.

Liz ssh'd him and motioned for Samara to continue. "Well, it continued on like that for about another two weeks. He'd come in, sit at his usual table, sometimes he'd talk, sometimes he wouldn't. One night when I was closing up, he came to the front door. I let him in and he kissed me. The following day I was fired, apparently a fellow employee had seen me let him in. I didn't see him for another week."

"Why not?"

"Took him that long to find out where I lived." She smiled. "And the rest is history."

"Samara-"

She cut Max off, "Mara, please." Mara-just add an "i" and then-Maria. She worked in a restaurant in Santa Clarita; Maria worked at the Crashdown. The similarities kept pairing up in Alex's head.

"Mara, I want to apologize for Is. She's just-"

"What? Angry that I took her brother away and mad that now I'm going to take him away again? Or angry that I'm with Michael, when it's obvious you all want him to be with Maria?" She sipped her coffee serenely while Max looked dumbfounded. "I may be new to Roswell, but I wasn't born yesterday. The world turns the same, no matter what city you're in, or who's in it."

"It's not that we don't like you Mara," Liz started.

"How could you like me? You hardly even know me. And I don't expect you to welcome me into your lives either. The fact is, you haven't seen Michael in six years, and suddenly out of the blue he comes back into your lives, with a fiancée in tow."

"Are you always this cynical?" Alex cracked.

Mara laughed. "Only when I'm scared."

"Well, don't worry. We don't bite. Hard." Liz smiled.

"Who said I was afraid of you guys?"

TBC