Love Me Or Let Me Go

by Kelly Lucille

  "Come on baby, open those fucking amazing eyes of yours."

  He was still trying to get her to wake up when the cavalry arrived.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Mira woke up slowly, a little amazed as soon as she remembered what had given her the terrible headache that she was able to wake up at all.

  "That's not a thought you should be having,” the gruff voice of her husband warned her. “I had enough of that worry myself without hearing it from you.”

  “Sorry,” she murmured as she looked into relieved blue eyes.

  He got up from his seat beside her bed and pushed her over gently but surely, making her almost smile at his arrogance.

  “You could ask me if I want to share my bed,” she said when he had settled the both of them to his satisfaction.

  “I waited until you were awake,” was his only answer.

  Apparently he thought that was worth some credit. She would have shaken her head at him but she had the feeling the room would swirl if she did, and she was not quite ready to experience that again. Besides he felt good pressed all along her side the way he was. Instead of arguing she sighed with relief and allowed herself to relax. She barely remembered to ask. “Your father?”

  “Better than you. Whatever that fucker gave you both, only you had to also deal with an alien brain strike along with the meds.”

  She did not want to think about that oily mind again, but his words brought it all back. “What happens now?” she asked not sure she wanted to know when she was still dizzy and hurting from the last battle.

  “Nothing,” he surprised her by saying. “It’s over.”

  She opened her eyes, not sure when they closed, but sure she needed to see him after that answer. “What do you mean? What about the alien attack?”

  He pulled her tighter and sighed. “Do you remember what happened in your mind?”

  She almost said of course, but forced herself to think about it before answering tentatively. “I remember the non stranger,” she started and he interrupted.

  “Doctor Hun,” he said, anger ripening in him with that one name.

  She blinked wondering if she was hearing right. “Doctor Hun?”

  “He was the one who attacked you.”

  She almost argued that it could not have been Doctor Hun. The small Asian doctor was quiet and rarely spoke to her, but he was hardly dangerous… Then she really thought about what had happened and something assured her he was right in what he said. It made her sad, not because she had liked Doctor Hun, she had barely talked to the man in the weeks since she had started working at the lab, but because his life and mind had been twisted by something that was beyond his control.

  “Not beyond his control,” Mac growled at her thoughts. “He had a fucking choice. He made the wrong one. Probably a lot of wrong ones. Whatever that thing is that was riding his mind, he had to allow it.”

  “I suppose,” she whispered. Still feeling sad for the man just the same. What would he have been if he had never been influenced by a powerful alien mind?

  “Get that out of your fucking head,” Mac nearly snarled at her. “You might not have been in his head, but I was. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he was looking forward to doing more.”

  That made her shudder. “But you said it was over,” she reminded him, letting the other go. “What did you mean?”

  “You scared him away,” Mac said and the emotion in his voice was equal parts pride and consternation. “I spend my whole life keeping you out of it, while I look for a way to defeat this bastard, and in one showdown you cram emotions down his neck and end it once and for all.”

  “I did…what?”

  “I saw it, you read his reaction to my anger and you magnified all the emotions we were feeling and sent them like a weapon back at his mind. He could not handle it. I felt him run from you. Felt him as he realized we already had the weapon he knew we were searching for. Game over. We won.”

  She had no idea what to say to that, so she let that percolate. “How do you know he won’t send someone else and try again?”

  “Because I got a message,” he said astounding her anew. “In my dreams.”

  She licked her lips not sure she wanted to know but asked anyway. “What was the message?”

  "Stay in your playground,” he answered immediately. “I will stay in mine."

  "So,” she said as soon as she had absorbed what that meant. “No invasion?"

  "No invasion,” he answered but she felt his worry even before he went on. “but when the human race advances enough to go out into the stars, and they will," he said leaving it open ended.

  She blew out a breath. "Danger to all who venture here?" she mused.

  She did not realize she had sat up slightly until she allowed herself to fall back to the bed with a whoosh. "Well I'm still holding you to your word,” she finally said.

  "What was that?" He asked turning to catch her eyes. “Which one?”

  "You promised once we ended the threat you would give me as many babies as I could stand,” she reminded him. Even as she fought to keep her eyes open. She yawned her next words. “I'm not letting a little thing like future space travel trials get in the way of that.” She sighed and curled into his arms to a more comfortable position. The rest would just have to wait until she had rested some more.

  “The way I see it, we have children and at least the rest of our species have a fighting chance when they reach the stars,” she ended with a mumble.

  Mac cracked out a laugh despite himself. And let the future and the weight he had been holding for so long, drift away with his wife. He was not going to spend his life worrying about the future. He had learned that lesson. Besides she was right. He had promised.

  "Let the future take care of itself,” he said to her already asleep form. “We are armed with knowledge,” he mused out loud. “But that does not mean we need to let it dictate all our actions. We'll pass on the message and live our lives the best we can. The rest will have to take care of itself."

  He should get up and tell the others waiting outside that she had awakened and would be alright. But she was not the only one who needed more sleep. He let it go and relaxed into the pillow he shared with his wife. He had not gotten much sleep himself lately, and now that he knew she was alright, he let the exhaustion pull him down understanding something else of the future as he drifted off to sleep with his wife. She was right, their children, and grandchildren, could very well make all the difference in the war to come.

  But that would not be for a very, very long time.