Fic: The Science Isn't QUITE Impossible- Ch. 8
Ollo, dear readers! Sorry for the long absence, but August is upon us... which makes it difficult for teachers like me to devote as much time to writing as I would like :-/ As it is, I'm breaking my own rule in bringing you this chapter today... you know, that one I have about not posting a chapter until the following one is complete? Well, 9 isn't finished, but I finally made a good enough sized dent in it today that I felt safe posting this. And as I said last time, 9 will be the end of this installment in my universe. My muse is just itching to start my post-Titan story though, so who knows? Depending on time availability, you may be treated to a preview of that story as a bonus when I post 9.
Also, here's my new facebook page for my writing, if you missed my post about it:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vast-Difference/240290239425420
And, the earlier chapters of my story if you're just joining us now:
http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=megamind_movie&keyword=Fic%3A%20The%20Science%20Isn%27t%20QUITE%20Impossible&filter=all
And big Mega-Gigantor shout-out to LasersAndSpikes, who beta'd this chapter! :-D
TITLE: The Science Isn't QUITE Impossible
RATING: R (for some sexual references)
SUMMARY: In the six months since Titan's defeat, Roxanne and Megamind have become a couple. Recently, though, Roxanne's been feeling under the weather. What's an incredibly handsome former master of all villainy to do? Solve the puzzle, of course!
IN THIS CHAPTER: Pillow talk- sexy, silly, and serious.
"Oh well, it turned out for the best, didn't it?" he asked as he once again opened the door that separated the living quarters from the War Room. "After all, now I have my very own… Bahama Mama!" Megamind yelled as he quickly broke into a run, making a B-line for the kitchen before Roxanne could grab him.
"Oh, very funny, E.T.! You are so dead for that one later!" Roxanne responded as she followed behind him as swiftly as she deemed safe to her newly remembered goal of obtaining some yummy pancake sustenance.
M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R * M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R * M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R
Much later on that night after a lazy day filled with lounging and relaxing and lightheartedly discussing baby names with Minion, two naked and very spent figures lay tangled in a glorious melee of sheets, sweat, and scattered underclothes in Megamind's bed. Neither slept, but nor did they speak. The lovers were content in the calm of their afterglow, with Roxanne absently stroking sleepy circles on her boyfriend's blue back, and he in turn, lovingly running his long fingers through her soft brown locks. Eventually, though, Roxanne just had to ask the question that was running continuously through her head, and she broke the silence.
"How did we manage to live six weeks without that?" she mused frankly.
"Six weeks and four days. And thirteen hours. If you want to get technical," Megamind answered automatically. "Not that I was keeping track or anything…" he trailed off as Roxanne laughed easily and gave his adorable little tush an audible smack.
"Hey! What was that for?" the alien demanded, feigning shock.
"You actually kept track of how many days… and hours… that we went without having sex," Roxanne stated, clearly amused. It wasn't a question.
"Well… I already told you. I missed it. I missed… being with you… like this. Close," Megamind stammered, just slightly embarrassed at both his running series of calculations and his typical inability to participate in multi-syllabic, intelligent conversation when Roxanne's heavenly, naked frame was curled so invitingly up against his own wiry body. "So you didn't keep track? Is it weird that I was keeping track?" he wondered aloud, turning a bit more on his side and propping his head up on his elbow so that he could see her face.
"Well, no, I wasn't keeping track. But it was mostly because I was too busy throwing up everything I'd eaten for the last year to notice," his girlfriend explained, pertly patting Megamind's cheek. "And to answer your second question, no, I don't think it's weird at all. You're a guy… all you think about is… sex, sex, sex, sex, sex!" she replied irreverently as she punctuated each utterance of the world's most timeless dance by tickling her lover's sensitive tummy and ribs.
"Aaaaahhhh! Roxa- ugh! STOP. RIGHT. NOW!" Megamind ordered through the assault. But it only fueled the sassy reporter to tickle him ever more mercilessly, and she even threw in a disturbingly maniacal laugh for good measure.
"Mwahahahaha! I told you I'd get you back for that 'Bahama Mama' remark. You had the mouth for the crime, but it looks like you can't withstand the time!" At that challenge, Megamind decided that he'd had enough, and used the element of surprise to his advantage in order to spontaneously flip Roxanne flat on her back beneath him.
"In some sense, Miss Ritchi, you harbor far more of a propensity for Eeevil than I ever could," Megamind said slowly, intensely smoldering his green eyes down on her blue ones. "And I don't think I agree with your assessment of men and sex at all."
"Oh, really?" Roxanne queried innocently, intentionally biting her bottom lip in just the right way to raise her lover's blood pressure. "And why is that?"
"Because barring illness, your drive easily meets, if not exceeds my own," he answered seductively as he expertly lowered his head to once again begin a slow tease at her nipple with his mouth. "Does it not?" True enough, Roxanne thought to herself, but answered with only a strangled moan because of Megamind's current attentions. Throughout the course of their relationship thus far, the reporter had dragged her alien boyfriend off to one of their bedrooms to ravish him at least an equal number of times as he had her, and she probably even had one up on him when it came to initiating encounters in less than ideal locales and situations. More than once due to her eager influence, although Megamind hadn't needed much convincing, Roxanne had pleasured him orally in the front seat of the invisible car when they were stuck in gridlock, and they had even partaken in some very memorable quickies in the executive washroom on her floor at KMCP. They had both thoroughly enjoyed the irony; the entire reason that Roxanne, a lowly reporter, had been given a key to the executive washroom in the first place was because of her "exclusive connection" to her blue boyfriend. Little did her bosses know just what kind of exclusive connecting had gone on under their very noses in that glorious washroom!
Roxanne let out a satisfied sigh as her skillful lover continued his welcomed assault on her neck and breasts, adding the little hums and moans here and there always drove him so completely wild. When he began venturing lower, however, drawing out slow and tender kisses down Roxanne's middle, his brilliant green eyes came to rest on the very palpable and colorful hint of a baby bump that greeted him when he reached her belly button. While neither had entirely forgotten about the emotionally charged morning that had led them to their little one's discovery, the gravity of the situation had been somewhat diminished amidst the pursuit of their passions. So far that evening, the couple's romantic re-acquaintance had not led Megamind in this direction, and he found himself reverently running the long, slender fingers of one blue hand across her tummy. Although he knew it was futile at this early stage, Megamind silently wished that he would be able to feel just a trace of movement there.
It didn't take his girlfriend long to notice that the intent behind his touches had shifted, and she looked down curiously to find that his eyes were waiting to meet hers with possibly the most contented smile she had ever seen on his face. Echoing his expression with one that shone of a similar tranquil happiness, Roxanne reached down to delicately run a hand across her lover's bald blue head. He placed a kiss where he knew the baby laid in her belly and turned to rest his cheek there, wrapping his arms affectionately around her middle.
"This is really happening, isn't it?" Roxanne said quietly after a few minutes of companionable silence, as nagging worries about the future began to creep into her consciousness.
"Yes," Megamind breathed out against her, his voice laced with a degree of apprehension upon observing his girlfriend's uncertain tone.
"Megamind?"
"Yes, my love?" he answered, turning only his eyes up toward her, as he was not yet willing to give up the intimate contact allowed by his current position.
"I'm… scared," his girlfriend hesitated, wanting more than anything to be honest about her feelings, but fearful that the blue alien's occasional insecurities would cause him to react poorly. At her words, he lifted himself up so that he sat facing her. He needed to see what was in her eyes.
"Scared… how? Of childbirth? People's reactions? Your job?"
"Oh Lord, my job," Roxanne groaned as she closed her eyes and began rubbing her temples. "That hadn't even crossed my mind yet."
"I'm sorry… I wasn't trying to…" Megamind began, clearly distressed that he had upset her.
"Oh, I know you weren't, baby. It would have come up sooner or later," she said, patting his hand reassuringly and then lacing her fingers with his. "But we might want to call ahead to Intensive Care at Metro City General to reserve a bed for the heart attack that Jack's going to have when I tell him…" Megamind briefly interrupted her with an amused snort, "And then of course I'll have to deal with looking like a total whale on camera… that is, if they even let me stay on camera. Ugh, I hate getting benched. There isn't anything more boring than getting stuck at a desk and doing nothing but research and chasing leads and checking sources all day, every day," Roxanne ranted, crossing her arms in frustration at the prospect. She was a field reporter through and through, after all, and she lived for the action and adrenaline that her assignments brought. Megamind couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at her fiery outburst; after all, to him, that spitfire was one of Roxanne's most attractive qualities.
"I'm sure you'll be able to work those things out… you're still their star reporter. And, after all… if they want any interviews with Metrocity's hero…" Megamind began, smugly pointing a finger at himself for effect, "…they know very well that I will only allow myself to be interviewed by you. We'll just remind them that it would be a true ratings dry spell to go six long months without any exclusives on me…maybe throw in something about taking it to another network…"
"Over my dead body!" the reporter irately interjected.
"My dear, we would only be threatening. That's all we would ever have to do… you know as well as I do that Jack would never risk getting scooped like that."
"You know, Megs, I'd almost call that blackmail," Roxanne observed, smirking proudly.
"Oh, it most certainly is blackmail, Miss Ritchi. Make no mistake… it will be a very long time indeed before I manage to work all of the remnants of Eeevil out of my system. In fact, it may never happen," he replied nonchalantly, moving to lie back down face to face next to the very beautiful center of his universe. "But getting back to the issue at hand… what's really bothering you, my darling? And what can I do to ease your worries?" Megamind asked concernedly as he hugged his girlfriend to him. She immediately began relaxing a bit in the security of his embrace, never ceasing to be amazed at the incredible tenderness that she had been so privileged to experience for all those months at the hand of the man who had been the city's most notorious criminal, once upon a time, and not so very long ago.
"Well, to be perfectly honest, I am worried about the public reaction to a degree… you know, the whole bringing the crazies out the woodwork…thing. We're both used to dealing with publicity, though… negative and positive. We'll handle those idiots easily," Roxanne reasoned with a fair amount of confidence, and Megamind nodded his head in agreement. "But what I'm really, really worried about is my dad," she finally confessed. Roxanne felt Megamind tense immediately, and she wasn't a bit surprised.
Roger Richardson had been against his eldest daughter's relationship with her former kidnapper from the start, and it was only just recently that Roxanne had been able to bring up Megamind in phone conversations without her father using several colorful words of the four letter variety. Upon hearing that particular development, Megamind had actually begun to relax a bit about spending the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday with Roxanne's family in Indiana. The current situation, however, easily brought back the blue alien's nerves about the impending family gathering at least tenfold.
"He's going to kill me, isn't he?" Megamind asked, looking strangely sober and panic-stricken simultaneously.
Roxanne laughed nervously. "I don't know about killing you… but it might not be a bad idea to have my stepmom 'misplace' his service revolver before we visit." While part of her was joking about the gun, Roxanne knew full well that her retired police officer and ex-army sergeant father was not going to react well to the news of his unmarried daughter being knocked up by her blue alien boyfriend that had kidnapped her repeatedly for five years, been raised in prison and only recently reformed from twenty steady years of criminal activity. "You know what? I'll just tell Stephanie first… get her perspective, see how she thinks Dad will take the news. Maybe she can even help me figure out how to break it to him without the whole thing ending with you in a body cast."
"Or a body bag," her somber boyfriend quipped morbidly.
"Megs, come on… you know Stephanie likes you. All those years that you kidnapped me, she always insisted… when Dad wasn't around, of course… that the only possible reason you could have for doing it over and over again was because you had a crush on me. She thought the whole thing was incredibly romantic," Roxanne mused fondly.
"Hmm… it couldn't hurt, I suppose… testing the waters with Stephanie," Megamind finally responded. It was quite true; Roxanne's stepmother had been the one welcoming face among the more skeptical ones of her siblings and the murderous one of her father that had greeted them in Indiana that previous Fourth of July. Since then, although the opinions of Roger and Roxanne's bratty sixteen year old sister Bekah had changed little, the reporter's brother Brad, his girlfriend Jenny, their son, Dylan, and Roxanne's youngest sister, Shelly, had actually grown quite fond of Megamind in the time they had spent around him.
"I know what else will help you score points with Dad… he's seen how good you are with Dylan. And keeping that little three-year-old stinker entertained is a pretty tough feat," the reporter reflected.
"You really think I'm good with Dylan?" Megamind asked almost shyly, truly touched at the compliment. He hadn't even met his baby daughter yet, but his old internal battles with inadequacy were already threatening to rear their ugly heads once again at the prospect of becoming a father.
"Are you kidding?! That child practically worships the ground you walk on… especially since you built him a full-size fort out of Legos and Mega Blocks in the back yard."
"Yes, and your father was furious with me for that, if you remember correctly."
"Ha! I certainly do, but mark my words; he was pissed off at you because he was jealous. Dylan is his little prince, and I guarantee you that he was just irked because he wasn't on the receiving end of the adulation," Roxanne explained.
Megamind smiled at the memory; as a thank you for the ostentatious fort, the little tow-headed boy had fearlessly given him a fierce hug then pressed the remnants of a moist, half-eaten cookie in his hand and said, "For you, Meh-mind!" Through his wistful smile, though, Roxanne could almost read the self-doubt running through her blue boyfriend's mind as if it was displayed on a ticker tape across his forehead.
"Megamind?" she said tenderly, taking his face in both of her hands. "You are going to be a wonderful father. So tell whatever voice in that giant head of yours that's saying otherwise to shove it, ok?" she finished, gently stroking his cheek with her thumb. He returned her smile gratefully, feeling the love she was showing him seep into the depths of his soul and begin to soothe some of his fears as she hugged him tightly to herself. Although she was trying very hard not to show it, Roxanne harbored her own set of well-founded insecurities about becoming a mother. And being equally sensitive to his girlfriend's shifts in mood as she was to his, especially since they were currently experiencing an emotional connection on a whole new level, Megamind quickly turned his girlfriend's directive around on her.
"I'll tell my little voice to shove it if you tell yours to do the same," he said dryly, quirking an eyebrow at the reporter.
She laughed humorlessly. "Easier said than done, isn't it? I guess when it comes down to it, I'm not really one to talk, am I?"
"I didn't mean it like that, Roxanne. We both have our reasons for being worried about our parenting skills. I feel like you definitely have an advantage over me… you at least grew up with a real family. I was raised by a talking fish, a prison warden, a few kind-hearted guards and an interesting assortment of well-meaning felons," Megamind recalled, not without the strain of bitterness in his voice.
"And my mother chose drugs over me and my brother and my dad," Roxanne added sadly. "I don't feel like that's left me with the best point of reference."
"You do have Stephanie, though… and I know that's not the same, but from where I'm sitting it seems like she's at least tried to be a mother to you. She's even trying to be a mother to me!" the alien added with surprise, gesturing wildly to himself for effect. When his girlfriend's honest to goodness musical laugh broke through the tension of the conversation, Megamind knew in the back of his mind somewhere that they were going to be alright. If they could hold on to each other and find reasons to laugh in these emotionally charged moments, he felt that their relationship would be able to survive anything the world threw at them.
"You're right… Stephanie is a really good role model. For a lot of reasons… and not just for being a good mom. She's a nice person, she's been really good for my dad… they just work really well together," Roxanne mused. "And I know we haven't exactly talked about it yet, but… I mean, we are going to… um…" Roxanne hesitated as she sat up, keeping the sheet pulled up around herself, not really sure how to bring up the sensitive subject that needed to be breeched.
"Going to what, Roxanne?" Megamind asked quizzically, joining her to sit up against the headboard.
"… raise the baby like, together, right?"
" 'Together'? Well, yes, obviously, that's how it's done isn't? Why wouldn't we?"
"Well, it's just…" she began, searching for the right words, but maintaining her awareness of not wanting to be pushy with her boyfriend after such an overwhelming day. "We've gone back and forth between my place and yours all this time, but that isn't really going to be practical anymore with a baby. Shouldn't we maybe… you know, decide where we're going to live?"
And at that moment, despite his unparalleled intellectual virtuosity, Megamind felt like a world-class idiot. Of course, Roxanne would be wondering how they were going to handle the living arrangements in their new situation. The new hero had, in fact, decided months ago that he wanted to make things official with his beloved reporter, but the appearance of her morning sickness had thrown a most aggravating monkey wrench into what he was sure was the most well-laid plan that he had ever conceived in all his years of creating and inventing. The blue alien could have kicked himself at this point for not proposing to her as soon as her one of a kind engagement ring had been crafted. But he had hedged back and forth for a few weeks, unsure if it was too soon in their relationship, and knowing full well that Roxanne still struggled with a myriad of trust issues as a result of her upbringing. And by the time Megamind had rallied the necessary confidence, Roxanne had practically taken up residence in the bathroom. That's all in the past; no sense in mulling it over now, he thought to himself, smiling. His mind was made up.
"Megamind, did you even hear me?" Roxanne asked after her boyfriend was silent for what had to be at least a couple of minutes, all while a curious array of expressions played across his face. Her question immediately snapped him back into the present.
"Yes! Of course I heard you, Roxanne," he replied a little too quickly and excitedly, a response that usually told Roxanne that the opposite was true.
"Then what did I s-"
"No time for questions right now, my dear, no time," Megamind said cryptically as he all but ran into his expansive walk-in closet. Pulling out a white silk robe and a few necessary underclothes from the bureau that contained some of Roxanne's things, he sped back out of the closet just as quickly as he had entered while pulling on a pair of his own newly located underwear. He haphazardly threw the clothes in Roxanne's general direction on the bed.
"Megs, what the HELL?!" Roxanne demanded crossly. Knowing the danger in that tone of voice from his girlfriend, Megamind wisely paused in his pursuit long enough to hop back on the bed and place a quick peck on her lips, which had set themselves in a tellingly thin line.
"Put those on and meet me in the War Room in ten minutes. No sooner!" Megamind instructed as he jumped back up and nearly skipped out of the door to his room.
"But…"
"No buts, my nosy reporter," he added, poking his head back into the room and wagging a thin, blue finger at her just to reinforce his remark. "Trust me!" she heard him yell as he ran down the hall, followed by the inevitable call of "Brainbots!" when she could tell he had reached the edge of the living quarters of the Lair.
"Huh," Roxanne murmured, almost too confused to be angry as she examined the clothing that her boyfriend had hurled at her. "Well, little one, you might as well get used to excitement now," she directed at the growing bump in her belly, giving it a few gentle pats. "Because you will learn very quickly that there is no such thing as a dull moment with your father around." The reporter sighed tiredly and stood up to put on the outfit that Megamind had chosen for her. While it was hard to imagine how this day could possibly get more exciting, Roxanne had a feeling that it was about to do just that.