In the meantime, Michael's new stepmother, Claudia Zacchara (Sarah Brown), begins fishing for information trying to figure out if Michael remembers her bedside confessions about her involvement in his shooting. During his recovery, Michael takes a liking to Claudia as his stepmother, according to Garrett "because she tells me what I want to hear," and though she starts out trying to manipulate him, Claudia actually comes to care for him, and Michael sees this. Michael even goes so far as to label Claudia as being "cool." This does not sit well with Jason who suspects Claudia of having something to do with the shooting that landed Michael in a coma. In the summer of 2009, as Claudia begins to grow paranoid, she gets into a car accident which leads to her suffering a miscarriage. Michael is believed to be responsible for the accident; to avoid facing what he believes he has done, Michael and Kristina run away to Mexico. Claudia then enlists sociopath, Jerry Jacks (Sebastian Roché) and orders him to track them down and kill them; instead Jerry uses the teens to lure Jason into a trap. Fortunately, Michael realizes that Jerry is holding them prisoner; Michael is very much like Sonny when it comes to recognizing a threat. Kristina doesn't want to believe Jerry is going to hurt them, but because the siblings were brought up differently, they see the situation differently. Michael and Kristina's attempt to live independently and start new lives in Mexico is cut short and they are forced back to Port Charles. However, the adventure leads to Michael's first kiss with a local girl, Marita.