Title: Risks - Michael
Author: Trinity Day
E-mail: trinityday@hotmail.com
Homepage: http://www.dazzled.com/trinity;
http://alienattraction.tripod.com
Disclaimer: Roswell and its characters do not belong to me
Rating: PG
Distribution: Ask, please.  I'll probably say yes anyways, but it's polite to ask.

I wonder if Isabel ever knew how upset I got every time I heard she was out on a date. I haven't really thought about her for awhile, but this whole mess with Hank brought my feeling for her to forefront.

It used to be that all I could think about was Isabel. Then Maria came along and thoughts of her occupied me almost constantly. I never completely forgot about Isabel, but for a couple of months I thought Maria was more important to me.

Now I know that is wrong. Maria will never be, could never be, the girl for me. I like her, yes, but I couldn't spend the rest of my life with her. It just wouldn't work out.

But I didn't realize this for awhile. Not until Isabel found out that on occasion Hank hits me. Well, I didn't realize it just then, but that is what starting everything. 

Isabel got so worried and insisted that I stay at her house. Like that would do any good. I'd still have to go home eventually and I'd be right back where I started. But I agreed anyway. There are some times when I just can't say no to Isabel and this was one.

My stay at their house, short as it was, turned out to be a horrible disaster. I wasn't even able to spend one night there. So I stormed off and went home.

Then they did it. They followed me.

There are reasons I try to never let them inside the trailer and it's not just because I'm embarrassed that I ended up there and they ended up in their huge house. Hank at the best of times, is crude, and at his worst . . . while, I never wanted to subject Isabel to his behaviour.

As predicted, Hank hit on Isabel. Then she, like the wildcat she is, threw the drink in his face and threatened to kill him. Max and I had to hold her back as she tried to launch herself at that bastard of a foster father of mine.

When Hank pulled out his gun and threatened us, that was the last straw. I was mad enough as it was when he was only threatening me, but when he pulled Isabel into it . . . well, the plain and simple of the matter is that I snapped.

I used my powers in front of him. Admittedly not the smartest thing to do, but I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time.

Hank, unfortunately, wasn't drunk enough to realize what I did was out of the ordinary. But I guess Max and Isabel were right and he was too drunk to remember it, because a few days later the sheriff informed me that he had skipped town without mentioning the fact Michael was, as he put it, a freak to anyone.

Isabel, Max and I got into yet another fight. It seems like that ever since Max healed Liz, all we've been doing is getting into one fight after another. I went to Maria's and, after repeatedly telling me to go away, she let me in. 

She could see I was upset, but didn't press me. I was very grateful for that. I know I wouldn't have been able to tell her why I was upset if she had asked. It's not exactly tactful to tell the girl your spending the night with that you're upset because the girl you're in love with was almost killed, then you two got into a huge fight. Even I know that.

That wasn't the only reason I was upset, but it was the reason I finally broke down and started crying. Even a stone wall can only take so much before collapsing.

It felt like a kind of betrayal that I realized I was in love with Isabel when I was lying next to Maria. I really hope for her sake that she never knows that was when I had my epiphany. She's a nice girl, a little odd, but I don't want to hurt her. I never wanted to hurt her.

I guess the only thing to do now is to break it off with her for real this time and wait for Isabel to come around. She knows how I feel about her. She's always known. Now all I can do is to wait for her to realize that she cares for me too.

The End