The wheels on the bus go round and round,
Round and round, round and round,
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
All through the town.

Maria had always hated riding the bus.  Always.  Even the school bus.

Buses had a tendency to be gross, loud and overcrowded.

And the kids running up and down the aisle shrieking was not a lot of fun either.

The weather outside was not pretty.  Downpour conditions, basically.  So the bus was crawling along at negative 3 miles an hour.

Why hadn’t she driven?  Or taken a plane?  Even if it was more expensive, anything had to be better than this.

She frowned at her seat mate, who was snoring loudly, oblivious to the nauseating sway of the bus.  It wasn’t fair.

Maria wasn’t sure how she felt about moving back to Roswell.  It had been a while since she had been there for anything other than Christmas with her mother.

But her mom had begged, and pleaded.  Then she had gotten Liz to call to beg and plead.  So Maria had given in.  But she was NOT moving back into the house.  No way.  Way to crowded.

And with Amy getting married to Sheriff Valenti in a few months, things were going to get even more crowded.  Especially with the new baby on the way.  Babies, rather.

Maria wondered at the madness that was Amy DeLuca.  Able to get pregnant out of wedlock twice over twenty years apart.  Sheesh.  You think she would have learned the first time.

But Sheriff...uh, *Jim* Valenti and her mom were excited.  Amy had called Maria three times in the past week to discuss baby names.  All Maria could find to tell her was that matching last names might be good.

It was way too strange to think of Valenti as her step father.  And stranger to think of gaining a brother, and a sister to be, and...whatever Tess was.

Maria flinched away from the window as lightning struck a little to close for comfort.  She mentally added bad weather to her list of oh so fun things about bus rides.

Maria was really starting to get sea sick.  It was hot on the stupid bus, which just made her feel more ill.  Hopefully, they would stop soon, and she could puke in peace.

The two hellions streaked past again and Maria winced.  Her head was throbbing.  And her seat mate was starting to ooze over into her seat.  She glared at him, but since he was still asleep, it didn’t do any good.  Of course, if he were awake, it wouldn’t do her any good either.  Unfortunately, the idiot next to her was her husband.  Shouldn’t he be awake and suffering too?

If she ever moved again, she was walking there.  No more buses.  Ever.

The bus driver gave an exasperated bellow, and Maria leaned forward to see what was going on.  There were two little kids hanging off of the safety bars.  Great.

Giggling madly at the bus driver’s reaction, they went tearing away.  Straight towards her section.

Maria dropped her head in her hands as they thundered past.

Oh, thank goodness, the bus was slowing down.

Finally.  Back in Roswell.  Yee-haw.

Maria elbowed her husband, who came awake with a grunt.  “Wake up, Spaceboy.  We’re here,” she informed him.

Michael ran his hands through his hair and yawned.  “So?”

“So it’s your turn to deal with our adoring public.”

“Do I have to?”  he whined.

“Yep.  I ain’t doing it.”

Michael muttered under his breath as he tried to squeeze past her into the aisle.  Reaching it, one of the kids ran smack into him.  Which gave him a chance to make a grab for her.  Of course, he missed.

She danced out of the way, laughing.  “Can’t catch me, Daddy!”

“Mary, get back here!  Where’s Cody?”

The innocent looking little girl shrugged.  “I dunno.  Did you know the wipers on the bus really do go swish swish swish?  You can hear it if you sit in the driver’s seat.”

Maria smirked as Michael groaned.  He was still trying to corral the kids and calm irritated passengers when they pulled to a stop.

She hadn’t wanted to take the bus anyway.