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something from the archives: stranded - part 1

Title: Stranded
Author: Eva aka etoile1
Disclaimer: I own nada
Category: Michael and Liz
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Born out of a little fantasy with mechanic Michael, it evolved to become Liz gets stranded in the desert with no one to help but mechanic Michael.









Part 1


The sun bore down heavily on the expanse of dry grass and sand. Few trees or vegetation peppered the barren landscape, a study of shades of brown. Proof of modern civilization was nonexistent, no edifice or sign of urbanity for as far the eye could see.

Liz Parker was on a therapeutic road trip back home to Roswell for her best friend, Maria's wedding. Originally she'd planned to fly out with her boyfriend Max, but those plans had fallen through when she'd walked in on him having sex with her friend Judy. She'd grabbed some clothes, some cash, and the keys to his car before fleeing their apartment with tears streaking her cheeks.

The drive had been going well until the bad radio reception had forced her to listen to sappy ballads. If she had to listen to Celine Dion belt out one more note of song, she would drive herself off a cliff a la Thelma and Louise. Not that she was sure where to find a cliff.

She wasn't entirely sure about where she was, having turned off the main road a few miles back on the advice of the friendly clerk at the last twenty-four-hour convenience store she'd stopped at in Portales. But as smoke began to billow from beneath the hood of the car she began to regret her decision. She grabbed her bag of clothes and purse and ran out of the car. She didn't really think it would explode, but she'd seen enough bad movies to acknowledge the possibility.

She tried using her cell phone to call roadside assistance, but apparently, there was no such thing as signal in this neck of the woods or desert. Glancing over at the smoking car, she knew that getting back in it was not an option. Not that it would be much use, even if she could manage to start it, as she was pretty certain it had basically been running on empty for at least the last mile, added to the loud clanging noise it had developed in Lubbock as she had crossed Texas, the one she'd effectively ignored until now.

Liz had no choice but to walk. She wasn't sure of her exact location, the winding path she'd taken added to her general poor sense of direction left her with only the certainty that she hadn't crossed the Pecos River, and that she was somewhere between Portales and Roswell unless she had strayed north. So she slowly began the second leg of her road trip by walking towards what she hoped was the direction of a town.

*****

It had been hours upon miles, miles upon hours and still, Liz had yet to see any sort of building, any sort of structure that would make her hope for a town in the vicinity. Even worse no one at all had driven past her and she was beginning to wonder if nightfall would find her alone on the open road.

Suddenly she saw what seemed to be a house way off in the distance. If she'd had any energy left she would have run towards it like a thirsted man toward water, when she finally was close enough to discern what it was her excitement lessened significantly. The building was apparently an abandoned gas station, something that could have possibly been very useful a few miles back, but lying empty and desolate as it was, wasn't.

For the sake of trying out of sheer hopelessness and exhaustion, she walked through what was the station's store calling out a cautious hello so as not to startle the possible owner or employee. Making her way through the service center she saw two decrepit old cars parked on the side, their inside parts gutted and used for what must have been other repair jobs. A well-worn tractor and a newish looking car were standing in the center of the two clearly defined work areas.

Again she called out hello, even though there seemed to be a lack of signs of life, and was nearly startled out of her skin when a young man slid out from underneath the car and sat up. Saying with a drawl, "Honey, I heard you the first time. Now, what is it you want?"

"I…um…my car…smoking…and I…walked…so tired…do…water?" Liz tried to reign in her surprise, but not only was she flustered by this man's sudden appearance, and the sudden attraction she felt when she'd first seen him, but her throat was parched and it was difficult to get her voice working.

"Sure thing honey, but you'll have to repeat the rest of it for me, I'm not sure I got it all." He said lazily with a smirk. He pulled back his longish caramel colored hair with a rubber band, the movement of his arms accentuating his broad chest and shoulders, encased as they were in a blue-gray jumpsuit with the name Michael stitched on the left breast-pocket opened halfway to reveal a grease-stained and sweat-soaked white t-shirt.

Liz was overwhelmed by such raw masculinity, she barely managed a nodded thanks as he handed her a plastic cup filled with water from the tap. Swallowing quickly she eased the scratchy dryness of her throat, and licking her lips she tried again to explain what brought her to this place. "My car started smoking a few miles out, and before that it had been clanging and just acting up, so I got out and tried to call for roadside assistance but I couldn't get a signal and so I walked here."

"How far out did you leave it?"

"The car?"

"Yes, the car." He answered patiently.

"Um…At least six or seven miles."

"You walked all that way here?"

"Um…yeah."

"Ok. Listen, it's kind of late to drive out to tow your car here, especially since it sounds like it's dead, and it's even farther to get to town. If you don't feel at all comfortable with this just tell me, but you can stay here tonight. And tomorrow just figure out what to do."

"Stay here." Liz's voice faded out on a sort of shriek.

"Yeah. I have a pullout sofa. And I'm a decent cook, the house is just around the back. I was about to call it a day, and really am in no mood to drive you all the way to town only to pick you up again tomorrow to find your car."

"Um…it's fine I guess. I don't want to be any trouble." Liz answered hesitantly. He didn't seem menacing. And she really didn't want to be an inconvenience.

"Right." He muttered under his breath.

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