Who: Michael Guerin & Maria DeLuca
What: More conversations
Where: Maria's bedroom
When: early Sunday morning
Warnings: references to sexual activity; spoilers for S1 of Roswell New Mexico
Status: Compete


Waking up with Maria in his arms was a pretty good way to start a Sunday. At least it would be as long as she didn’t have another attack of conscience and try to say that it couldn’t happen again. He considered getting out of bed and putting on a pot of coffee, but ultimately decided against it because this was nice. When you preferred one night stands and casual hookups, morning after cuddling was not a common occurrence. Michael wouldn’t admit how much he enjoyed it.

When he realized she was stirring, he leaned over to kiss her temple. “Morning,” he said.

It still amazed him how easily she’d accepted the whole alien thing and that it didn’t change anything between them. He still wasn’t entire sure what exactly this thing was though he knew it was definitely something. The feelings he was developing for Maria were frighteningly similar to the ones he’d long carried for Alex.

Hopefully, those feelings wouldn’t eventually cause him as much pain.

***

Maria very rarely spent the night in someone’s arms, and when she awoke her first thought was how deeply and comfortably she’d slept. Their activities of the night before had worn her out, but she still didn’t think she would have slept quite as well had Michael left. Which, honestly, she was a little surprised he hadn’t.

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled as Michael kissed her temple. She snuggled a little closer, loathe to actually get up yet.

“Hey, you,” she smiled.

***

So far, so good. She was smiling and snuggling closer, not falling over herself to get out of bed and get dressed, telling him that it could never happen again. Michael was going to count that as a win.

“You drool,” he teased. It was better to keep things light so he could avoid thinking about what any of this might mean. He wasn’t built for relationships and not just because of being an alien.

***

“You snore,” she countered, sticking her tongue out at him. She didn’t have any clothes on at the moment, and she wasn’t in the mood to put any on. Michael was warm...was that an alien thing? and she was enjoying his body heat.

She really wasn’t used to this either...one night stands were her default. She didn’t trust men enough to let most of them see her like this.

***

Michael laughed when she stuck out her tongue. It was such a childish gesture, incongruous with the situation and yet somehow not a surprise at all. For all her gruffness at times, Maria had a playful side that he hadn’t seen too often. He liked it.

Clothes were overrated. Until they decided they wanted sustenance. “We good?” he asked.

***

“We’re good,” she said, her face getting a bit more serious. She felt a little guilty for not feeling guilty, but she wasn’t going to let that bother her, because that would be ridiculous. She wanted this, and she was going to take it.

“Do you have to work today?”

***

“It’s Sunday, DeLuca,” he reminded her. “Shop’s closed.” Most were, in his experience.

Michael wasn’t sure if she had to work tonight or not, but if she did, he knew it wasn’t any time soon so there was no rush to get up and get moving. If he was a different kind of person, he’d suggest they go out for breakfast. Well, maybe brunch at this point given how late they’d been up. They were definitely not brunch people though.

***

Her stomach did growl a little, though. She wasn’t hungry enough to get up yet, but maybe hungry enough to fix some eggs in a little bit. Maybe. She was pretty comfy here, honestly.

“I don’t have to be at work until 5,” she smiled. Which gave them plenty of time this morning.

****

That was good to hear because Michael was also pretty comfortable and not in a big hurry to go back to his own place even though it was only steps away.

“Good,” he said. “We can go back to sleep.” He knew that was unlikely though. There was still a lot he needed to tell her. Maybe now would be a good time to do that while she was all sleepy and satisfied.

***

“Kind of surprised you stayed,” she mumbled, closing her eyes for a moment. “But glad.”

She yawned, and stretched a little. “I’m awake.” And once she was awake she found it hard to fall back to sleep. She was nice and satisfied for now, and was feeling rather languid and lazy.

***

He shrugged. “Didn’t feel like moving.” Her bed was a hell of a lot more comfortable than the Texas ground they’d spent the night on however long ago.

“Need any itches scratched this morning?” Michael asked, his voice laced with amusement. He’d be very surprised if she did.

***

“No itches,” she said, with a smile. She was happily itch free at the moment. It had been a while since she’d been in that condition. She always was left strangely unsatisfied from her one-night stands, no matter how good they might have been at the time.

“You?” She pressed a soft little kiss to his chest, which was tender but not really sexual. She didn’t have much of that in her at the moment.

***

“I’m good,” Michael said, moving his hand to stroke her hair when she kissed his chest. This felt… good. Normally he avoided this sort of thing for fear of giving his partner the wrong idea. He knew that wasn’t something he had to worry about with Maria though.

Though he did need to make sure they were on the same page. “So what is this?” he asked. If they had wildly different impressions of what this was going to be, it was better to sort that out now.

***

Maria just shrugged a little. “It’s good,” she said. She knew that wasn’t what he meant, but it seemed to her that was the most important part. “I mean, I like you. I like this.” She paused. “We can call it whatever we want. It just...is what it is.”

She didn’t really like definitions when they weren’t necessary, but she did understand the desire to be on the same page.

****

Definitions were seldom necessary in Michael’s opinion, but he knew that was an unusual stance and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt Maria. Or anyone, for that matter, though at the moment, he was concerned about the woman he was sharing a bed with.

“I’m not usually one for labels,” he said. “Or commitment.”

As far as he knew, she wasn’t either. At least from what he’d seen of her over the years. “But I know you still think you’re somehow betraying Alex by being with me.” And he even understood why she felt that way.

***

“I know,” she said. “And that’s fine with me. I mean, I wouldn’t mind if whatever we have now lasted a while, but it doesn’t have to be like...labeled. Or committed.” If he wanted to go sleep with Klaus or whoever, she honestly didn’t mind, as long as he didn’t cast her aside.

She frowned deeply and sighed a little.

“I do,” she said. “I mean. I don’t. Not right now. But I feel guilty for not feeling guilty. I mean, he loves you. You’re kind of his dream guy.”

***

Once upon a time, Michael might have said that Alex was his dream guy. Unfortunately, because of a lot of circumstances largely beyond both of their control, those dreams were more a nightmare these days.

“You want to know why things are complicated?” he asked. He was willing to get into the whole thing if she wanted to hear it.

***

She paused for a moment, then nodded. “If you’re okay with telling it.” She didn’t really want to ruin this moment. She was enjoying being with him so much, and really enjoying this...whatever it was they had.

That was one reason she didn’t want to call him her ‘boyfriend’ or something like that. She didn’t want to put any sort of conventional label on what they had. First, because what they had wasn’t conventional, and second because putting such inane labels on what she felt would cheapen it somehow.

***

This really wasn’t the moment Michael would have chosen under perfect circumstances. He was used to nothing being perfect in his life though. He sighed and sat up so he was leaning against her headboard, though he tried not to dislodge her at all when he moved.

“Alex and I hooked up once in high school,” he said. “His dad caught us and busted my hand.” In the grand scheme of things that Jesse Manes did, that was fairly minor at this point. “That’s where it starts.”

There was a lot more though. “Found out recently that his father was part of the government coverup of the crash that brought us here. He knew what I was. And he told Alex.” Also not the worst part. “I found out that in addition to the three of us and Noah, there were a lot of other survivors.” Including his mother, though he wasn’t sure if he could share that at the moment.

“They were experimenting on them,” he said, unable to keep the emotion out of his voice. “Kept them locked in cells for decades. Tortured them. And then, when they realized they could possibly be exposed? They blew up the fucking building.”

***

Maria’s expression turned sickened as she listened to him, and by the time she was finished she’d sat up too. She caught his hand and squeezed it tightly, unable to even conceive of how horrible that must have been for them. Seventy years of being tortured? Of being a prisoner without any sort of recourse to justice? And in her mind, they weren’t aliens, they were people. Just like Michael.

She was just silent for a moment, trying to absorb the horrors, shuddering.

She turned and looked at him, her eyes meeting his not with pity but with complete and absolute revulsion at what had happened to his people. “What is it about fucking white people destroying anyone different to them?” Michael’s people were people too. Good people, if Michael was any indication. She didn’t ask if he was okay because of course he wasn’t.

“And you associate Alex with what his dad did.” She paused. “It wasn’t him, Michael. He had nothing to do with it.”

Although it made sense that he would associate it.

***

“I know,” Michael said. “But so many painful memories in my life are tied up with him. It’s just… it hurts. A lot.” He wasn’t typically someone who exposed his vulnerabilities and it was a great show of trust that he was willing to bare his soul to her.

He ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit he couldn’t shake. “I told Isobel that love is the worst thing that ever happened to me.” Of course, she’d countered by pointing out that her love life issues far surpassed his own and he couldn’t argue with that.

***

She simply nodded. She couldn’t say that she understood how he felt, because how could she? But she could let him know that his feelings were legitimate, and that she appreciated him sharing them with her.

“It can be,” she agreed. “It broke my mom when my dad left. I’ll never forget that. It’s why I don’t trust men further than I can throw them.” She paused. “But I think there’s something special you can get from being with another person, too. Not validation - you need to find that in yourself. But understanding. Companionship. Support.” And she was willing to give that to him, if he wanted it.

***

Michael cleared his throat, grateful for her warm and steady support. “I can’t make too many promises,” he said. “But I will promise that I’ll never lie to you.” Having to lie about who and what he was for as long as he could remember was mentally and physically exhausting. He wasn’t ready to announce it on the network or attend an alien pride parade, but it was nice being able to be open and honest with someone who wasn’t Max or Isobel.

Getting understanding, companionship, and support was difficult when you had to keep most of yourself hidden away.

***

“Promises just end up getting broken, anyway,” she said. “Just don’t lie to me, be honest with me about what you want, and keep giving me lots of orgasms and we’ll be fine,” she grinned, reaching out to kiss him gently on the lips.

“Thank you for telling me this. I’ll keep your secrets, I promise that.”

She picked up his healed hand with both of hers and kissed it.

***

If he had any doubt about her keeping his secrets, Michael would not have shared them with her.

He did smirk at her requests. “I don’t know, DeLuca,” he said. “Giving you orgasms isn’t much of a challenge. There you go setting that bar too low again.” She could ask a lot more from him and he’d probably be willing to provide. Maybe it was better if she didn’t know that though.

***

“There are other guys in Roswell who might disagree with you,” she smirked. “Can’t count how many times I’ve faked it.” She hadn’t with Michael. Not once. In fact, she’d tried to swallow it down a couple of times so he wouldn’t know just how much she needed him.

She raised an eyebrow and grinned a little.

“Do you want me to demand more of you?”

***

“Trust me. I am well aware of how many disappointing guys there are in Roswell.” It was why Michael tended to go for hookups in other towns. He also knew damn well that she hadn’t faked it with him.

It was just a bit more difficult to fake it when you were a dude.

He chuckled at her question. “I guess not.” At least he didn’t want her to demand anything he couldn’t give.

***

“I want you to give what you’re ready to give,” she said. “Nothing more. Nothing less. And I’ll do the same.”

That was all she wanted right now. For them to give what they could and take what they wanted from each other. Maybe it would develop into something more in time, but they didn’t have to have everything at once.

***

He could handle that. “Deal. But you know what I want right now? Food.” As nice as it was lying here with her, Michael was ready for sustenance, even if that meant reluctantly leaving her bed and putting on clothes.

***

“Why don’t we go buy something? Doughnuts or bagels or something. Cooking doesn’t really seem to work too well for us.”

Or at least it hadn’t last time they’d tried.

She got out of bed, giving him a nice show as she made her way to her dresser.

***

“Not my fault you find me irresistible,” he teased, putting his hands behind his head while he watched her move through the room. He’d get up and get dressed. In a minute. For right now, he was going to enjoy the view.

Michael was pleased that they seemed to be on the same page about things. Of course, he wasn’t sure that he trusted the universe in general that things would stay this way.

***

“I could say the same, Guerin,” she teased. Sure, she might have initiated most of the time but it wasn’t like she’d ever gotten a scrap of resistance from him.

She dressed herself a little more slowly than normal, amused and very, very slightly aroused by him watching her. If she hadn’t been so exhausted and satisfied, it might have pulled them back into bed.

***

There were definitely some stirrings of arousal as Michael watched her, but they weren’t strong enough to drag her back into bed. Instead, he finally moved, finding his own clothing and donning it with little fanfare.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, walking over to smack her ass with a grin.

***

That earned him a sharp but - mostly - teasing grin as she slapped his hand away.

“So, bagels or doughnuts?” She asked. “I’m leaning towards bagels.” Doughnuts were a bit sweet for morning although to be fair they sounded delicious too.

***
Michael shrugged. “Whatever you want, DeLuca.” It honestly didn’t matter to him either way. He was simply looking forward to some breakfast and then, eventually, going home to take a shower.