Maria and Michael walked up the pathway to her house. "Are you sure I'm ok? That I'll be fine? What if I'm not? What if I blow it big time? What it-" Michael was cut off by Maria, "Michael, not being confident is a great way to blow it. So breathe. Be calm. And smile." She said with an example smile on her face. There it was. That smile that made his knees weak.

"Ok your right. I can do this. It'll be fine. I'll be fine."

They walked through the front door. They had heard giggling come from the kitchen. Hmmm. That's odd, mum should be here alone. Preparing dinner for her, Michael and I. Maria thought in a suspicious manner. She just shrugged it off. They walked up the hall and peered through the kitchen door. Maria could not believe what she saw. Her mother, in the arms of Valenti!!! That is so wrong!!! What is she thinking? With Valenti? Ewwww!!! Grosse!!! "Oh, Maria, I didn't hear the car pull up. How long have you been standing there?" Said Maria's mother, a little flushed. "Not long, why? Did we interrupt something?" "No, no it's not like that. Um, ready for dinner? We're having Italian. Your favorite."

They all took their seats. Michael, next to Maria. Amy next to Jim. "I hope you don't mind but I thought this could be like a double date for us all." Said Amy with a tad of nervousness in her voice. "Oh, but I thought that you were, ahhh, taking a break while I was in my, 'I like boys' stage, so you could watch out for me, and not get distracted." Said Maria. She wasn't happy with this new change. She never did like change. Not after she chased her dad's car along the street the day he left. She couldn't deal with anyone leaving her. That's why she fell apart more that everyone else after Alex died. That's why she hadn't sung in months.

Her whole world had changed when her dad left. She had finally adjusted to that, and then found out aliens were real. She had just adjusted to that then Sean walked through those crashdown doors. Again, her life had been turned upside down. Then Alex died! He left her just as her dad did. Just as Sean did over and over. In and out of jail like it was fashionable. Now her mum was dating Valenti!

"Are you ok?" Michael whispered in her ear. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about something. It's not important. I just got carried away." They both looked across the table at Amy and Jim. Amy was picking up his fork full of spaghetti putting it in his mouth. "That is embarrassing." Maria had said it with a straight face. Michael knew she wasn't kidding.

Amy looked at them. She had a serious look in her eyes now. "Listen, I wanted this dinner to happen to tell you that, I am happy you two are dating, I know I said this to you, Michael, right after Alex died-" there it was. That phrase. After Alex died. A tear rolled down Maria's cheek. Her mother voice faded away. She was in a place where she was alone. Not that there was much difference to a normal day. She'd wake up, go to school, be with her friends and feel happy. Then she'd get home, her mum was always, either, at work, out of town or out with one of her friends.

The only time she'd ever felt lonely. Scared of her thoughts. Scared that this is reality. Scared that in reality she really is alone, and that her friends are just figments of her imagination. But completely terrified that in reality she loved her dad. After all he had done she still loved him more than anyone else in the world, as most daughters do. Another tear ran down her cheek, and she felt a warm hand brush it away. It brought her back to him. Back to Michael who still cupped her face, waiting for another tear to fall, and it did. She looked around to find that Valenti and her mother had gone. "They went outside to sit on the chair, to talk." He said gently. "I didn't even notice." Maria said in a shaking voice.

They went into the lounge room where Maria was laying on top of Michael, singing an old lullaby to calm herself. It put Michael to sleep. Soon after Maria fell asleep as well.

Amy had said goodnight to Jim, and walked inside. She took off her jacket and looked over to the couch. She smiled and pulled a blanket over both of them and walked upstairs, and got in to bed, and went to sleep herself.

Although Maria had kept drifting in and out of dinner, it had been a success. Michael had understood that he will always be apart of the family. He had even thanked her for that. It had been sweet and now her family was almost complete.