'Maria, we've eaten here one billion times,' Michael said, pulling a napkin out of the dispenser and starting to shred it in front of him. 'One billion times you've eaten veggie pizza. What is the problem?'

'The problem is just because you're a guy, you think you get to make all the decisions about everything,' she shot back, her eyes as bright as blue flames.

'This has nothing to do with being a guy-' Michael began, shredding faster.

Trevor cleared his throat and leaned forward in his seat. 'Can we talk about our nonexistent backup plan?'

Maria ignored him. 'You know I'm a vegetarian, and yet you still went ahead and ordered chicken wings,' she said accusatorily.

'What? You wanted the pornographic fried cheese?' Michael demanded in a whisper.

'Obscene,' Maria muttered, seeming to have forgotten how to speak in any other manner.

'When I was with DuPris, he made me watch all these old sitcoms,' Trevor interjected in a matter-of-fact tone. 'There was one where, I think it was Bobby and Peter, drew a line down the middle of their room. And then there was one where the Skipper and Gilligan drew a line down the middle of their hut. There was also one where Grandpa and Herman drew a line down-'

'Excuse me, but what the hell are you talking about?' Michael exploded, ripping the last of the napkin in half.

'I was thinking that maybe if I drew a line down the center of the table, and we said that half was yours and half was Maria's, then we could start working on a plan, which is why we're all here,' Trevor explained, clearly irritated.

'I didn't do anything,' Michael muttered, flopping back in his seat. Little pieces of napkin fluttered to the floor, and he just watched them.

'Yeah, right,' Maria muttered, flopping in the exact same way.

'Max,' Trevor said. He laid his hands flat on the table and looked back and forth at the two of them. 'Max Evans. Your friend. That's why we're here, remember?'

Michael shoved his hands through his hair. Trevor was right. Time they wasted now could endanger Max later. And arguing with Maria was definitely a waste of time.

'So, what did we learn with our last, massively failed plan?' he asked.

'That connecting to the consciousness and trying to shatter it from the inside is not an option,' Maria answered, her voice ultracalm. Her gaze was focused on the table.

'We also know that when we connect and use the two Stones in tandem, it doesn't give them more power,' Trevor added. You could hear the relief in his tone, and he sat back slightly.

'So basically, we have squat.' Michael dropped his head back on the booth and waited while Lucinda deposited the drinks and wings on the table. 'Maybe we're going to have to go with DuPris's plan after all,' he said when she was out of earshot again.

'But that means killing all those innocent beings,' Maria protested. Still no eye contact.

'None of us want that,' Trevor said, taking a sip of his soda. 'But it's starting to look like it might be the only way. So much death to save one life-even Max's life-would be unthinkable. But this isn't only about Max. The consciousness must be shattered for every being that is fighting for the right to an individual life.'

'If it comes to that, you won't have to do it alone,' Michael told Trevor. His heart was pounding with fear, but he meant every word he said. 'I'll go through the wormhole with you and help you lead the squadron on the mission to capture the other Stone.'

Maria made a gasping, gurgling sound but didn't say anything. Michael got very busy pouring some sugar into the blue cheese sauce and stirring it with his finger so he wouldn't have to look at her.

He dipped a wing in the blue-cheese-and-sugar mixture, then took a bite, but he could hardly taste it because he could feel Maria's eyes on him. Reluctantly he looked up at her. God, her face was so pale-which made her raspberry lips look even more raspberryish. Even from across the table he could see how tense the muscles in her neck were. He wanted to reach over and smooth the knots out with his fingers, and-

'I have to take a leak,' Michael blurted suddenly. And then he bolted. Ate one bite of a wing, and I turned into a total chicken, he thought, disgusted with himself for running away He stomped into the men's bathroom and did a quick foot check under the stalls. Nobody

Michael glared at himself in the nearest grungy mirror. 'Face the truth. The tapering off, the Operation Cold Turkey, it wasn't just for Maria's sake. It was for yours, too. And you totally blew it last night. Now leave the girl alone. Stop even thinking about her, especially thinking about anything that involves touching.'

Michael paced in a tight circle, then returned to his position in front of the mirror. 'The way you feel about Maria-that's not a reason to give up the biggest dream of your life. It's not a reason to blow off helping to rebuild a freakin' world. It's what your parents would have wanted. You and Trevor, continuing their work together.'

He leaned over and splashed some cold water on his face. 'Remember Cameron?' he asked himself as he raised his dripping head back up. 'Remember how you felt about her? Well, you don't really feel that way anymore. So, who knows? In a few months Maria might not even-'

Except now that he'd had some time away from Cameron, he didn't think he'd ever come close to feeling about her the way he felt about Maria. What he and Cameron went through in the compound was so intense, it formed an instant bond between them. And yeah, she was hot. But he and Maria had spent nights, and nights, and nights together, watching horror movies and babysitting. It was like Maria had put down roots in his body without him even noticing. Until now. Until he thought of never seeing her again.

'You've got to do this,' Michael told himself, dunking his head again. 'Operation Cold Turkey is in full effect.' He grabbed a couple of paper towels and dried off his hair as he returned to the booth.

'The Stones are so phenomenally powerful,' Maria said as he approached. 'It's hard to believe there's anything two of them couldn't do.' She didn't glance at Michael as he slid back into his seat.

Trevor grabbed a slice of the pizza that had been served while Michael was lecturing himself in the can.

'I'm not totally sure all three Stones are absolutely necessary to shatter the consciousness,' he admitted. 'It may just be that as long as the consciousness has even one of the Stones' power available to it, it will be strong enough to hold off an attack from the other two.'

'That doesn't help at all, does it?' Michael said, stirring his straw in his drink. 'Getting the Stone away from the consciousness isn't any easier than taking it for ourselves.' He took one of the meatball-and-pineapple slices and coated it with his own personal dipping sauce.

Maria wrinkled her nose in disgust and took a long sip of her mineral water. 'I wonder what kind of range that device Kyle used on the Stone has. Remember-it sucked all the power out of the Stone in seconds.'

'And it took days to recharge it,' Trevor added.

'There's no way it's powerful enough to reach all the way to the home planet,' Michael said, taking a bite of his concoction.

'What about a timer? Or a remote?' Maria asked. She wasn't eating a thing, and Michael had a feeling his offer to Trevor was the reason, but he didn't say anything. 'I just don't want you-you two-to have to go back there, and-and have all those beings die if there's another way.'

Trevor dropped his slice back to his plate. 'Maybe we could rig up a timer to that device and send it through a wormhole. It would take out the Stone at home, but the two we have would be safe.'

'So, step one-we get the device,' Michael said, feeling the adrenaline begin to pump through his body. This was good. They were starting to form a plan. A shoddy plan, but a plan nonetheless.

'Right,' Maria said, shifting in her seat. 'But only Kyle Valenti knows where it is.'

'Okay, so where's Kyle?' Trevor asked, taking a huge bite of pizza.

'He's still… resting,' Maria answered. 'In the mental institution.'

***

Liz tightened her grip on Max's leg. She kept her eyes focused on Alex. If she let herself glance down at Max's body, she got the chilling feeling that she, Alex, and Isabel were his pallbearers. He's still alive, and he's still Max, she reassured herself. He's just… hidden from you right now.

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