Unbreakable - A Beautiful Lie · (Roswell Fanfiction) · √

ONE ONE SEVEN

"You got me at the edge of my seat here, Ria."

I really meant it, too. I was bursting with curiosity, feeling left out of the loop, not knowing if I should be happy or worried.

I was not sure about Michael. I had just started to accept him after he had rescued Maria from those men that had been trying to take her away and do whatever horrible things to her. But before that, and after, things had happened to jostle my already uncertain trust in him.

No, not jostle. Violently rattle.

Before Max had healed me and I had found out his double identity, Michael had intentionally tried to scare me. He had gone out of his way to seek me out in school and act creepy. After I had become a more self-evident fixture in Max's life, Michael had at times acted downright mean towards me. He had been disrespectful and rough. Sometimes it left me wondering whether Michael might hurt me if Max wasn't around.

I had hated how he had treated Max. How, as his protector, Michael's allegiance had been with his superior. He had followed rules and orders, failing to show much loyalty towards Max.

Then there was how he had treated Maria. How she, in his eyes, had been merely a girl. A human girl. And how he, despite the fact that he had - uncharacteristically - rescued her, seemed to have wanted nothing to do with her. How she had seemed a nuisance to him. The way he had addressed her.

Then there was the time when he had almost killed her. When his intention had been to scare Max and I with a blast. That alone was disturbing. But to have injured my best friend because he couldn't control his feelings, which might have killed her had Max not been a healer, did not sit well with me. Actually, I hadn't trusted him much since. He never had a chance to fully redeem himself after that, to convince me to think differently, before we had been thrown into full-blown war.

Of course, Michael had seemed very affected by what he had done to Maria when that blast had hit him. It had given me some hope that there was a beating heart in him.

No, sorry. That was rough. But still, he was not the gentlest of persons. He was the kind that you might tell your best friend not to date because he seemed dangerous.

All of this was going through my mind as Maria sat in front of me on the bed, picking at burls in her oversized knitted blue sweater, while avoiding my eyes.

"Well," she started, dragging the word out into a sigh.

Why was this so hard? I frowned. Everyone else seemed to know about it. Everyone had joked about it previously. About Michael and her being a couple.

"Just tell me, Ria," I practically begged. I was crawling out of my skin.

There was a knock at the door.

Maria looked up, relief flashing across her face.

Saved by the bell, I thought tightly.

But I already knew who it was. I had felt him waking up a couple of minutes ago and it hadn't taken him long to figure out where I was.

"Can I come in?" he asked from the other side of the door.

I'm talking to Maria, I told him mildly. So you'll have to ask her if it's okay.

Maria looked at me, questioningly.

I shrugged. "It's up to you."

Max changed his request according to my mental direction. "Maria? Can I come in?"

Maria looked both troubled and annoyed. Obviously, she was hesitant to tell the truth. Even to me. Telling it to both Max and I might just be too much.