It's Not What You Think

Chapter 6

While his wife was busy taking a group of kids on a field trip to space, Alexander was back in Alaska, trying to make sense of everything.

When they had gotten married, Alexander had thought that he trusted Catherine. Clearly he couldn't, but he had at the very least thought that he could trust that she was human. And he really wasn't sure what to do with the proposition that she wasn't.

Although, Alexander wasn't entirely sure that he could trust Cyrus on this. After all, it wasn't as though Cyrus had any proof. Surely that's it, Alexander tried to convince himself.

But then... There was this time, back right before he and Catherine had gotten married. Alexander had been heading off to CIA headquarters for the day when Catherine had stopped him on his way out the door.

"I- Listen, there's something I need to tell you-" she had started to say.

"I'm kind of in a hurry," Alexander had responded.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I want to tell you this before... Before we go any further."

Then Alexander's cell phone had rung, and he'd answered it, and when he came home that night and asked Catherine what she had meant to tell him, she had just told him that it wasn't really that important.

Alexander had soon forgotten about all that, but now he remembered it, wondering if that had been Catherine meaning to tell him that she was an alien.

And then... Catherine had seemed so concerned when Erica was born. Alexander hadn't thought much of it at the time, chalking it up to her just being nervous about being a mother, but now he had to wonder if she was so concerned because she had had a human baby. If, like Cyrus said, Catherine really was always having to be off in outer space, Alexander could see why her daughter being a human and not an alien like her might have freaked her out a little. Even though Erica has been perfectly fine, Alexander had no idea how she had stacked up against the average Plutonian baby. Because even though his other daughter was a Plutonian, Alexander hadn't been trying to find differences because he didn't know to look.

The whole thing was just a confusing mess to Alexander, but he loved Catherine. He didn't want to lose her again over something as stupid as this. Because this was, really, all so stupid. What difference did it make that Catherine was a space alien? She looked human, after all. She seemed human. Did it really matter what planet she was from?

Well, maybe? Alexander wasn't sure. Because of course it mattered a little, but it didn't mean Alexander was going to love her any less.

The only thing that bothered Alexander, really, was that all of this had been kept a secret from him. Especially since Cyrus had known, even if Cyrus had only known through kind of creepy measures. Like, Alexander understood his father's desire to know who Alexander was with, but getting all of her records going back to birth was a little obsessive. Well, obsessive for a normal person, at least. Cyrus could never be accused of not being thorough about anything. This was honestly kind of typical behavior for him.

But Alexander still didn't know why this had all been a secret. Sure, Catherine may have tried to tell him, but she hadn't ever actually done it. And at a certain point, whatever she had intended to do didn't matter so much as what she had actually done.

So, still lost in all of his confusion, Alexander decided to call Catherine.

She picked up on the first ring.

"Hello, Alexander," she said. "I am a bit busy at the moment, but I've got a few minutes to chat. I'm terribly sorry that you have had to find this all out from your father and not from me."

"So you know that I know."

"Yes."

"Were you somehow listening in on our conversation?"

"I was," Catherine admitted.

"Of course you were," Alexander muttered, trying not to get mad even though he kind of wanted to.

"Well, how much did you hear?"

"Enough that I know you know," Catherine said. "But I wasn't listening all that much really. I got a little busy with the kids."

"Uh, where even are you?" Alexander asked, realizing that he didn't even know that.

"Well, I did take the kids to the moon-"

"You took the kids to the moon!"

"Yes. But we're back now."

"I just- How did you take the kids to the moon?"

"With the spaceship, of course," Catherine said.

"Isn't that dangerous? I mean, I'm not sure that's covered in our insurance, and if the CIA found out..."

"Oh, no need to worry," Catherine said. "It's all perfectly safe. They all had spacesuits that MI6 designed, and we are all back now perfectly fine."

"Okay, but I still have a lot-"

"Now, I am currently going over to Pennsylvania. Apparently Chip and Jawa are bored on a school trip, and the kids thought it might be a good idea to go to where they are and join them. You know, make it a little more exciting for them."

"How did you get all the way over there?"

"The same way I got to the moon."

"Oh. Sure," Alexander said, still not knowing what to think.

"Listen," Catherine said. "I really am so, so sorry that I wasn't able to tell you back when I probably should have, but I knew that once we got married and then we had the kids, and I just couldn't tell you anymore. It would have felt like it was too late. I just didn't want to ruin what we had."

"What we had was already ruined," Alexander said. "Even if you hadn't been a space alien, we were already so screwed up. There wasn't much more to ruin. Remember that one night when we were all upset and just so mad at each other and then Erica came downstairs and all of our papers were lying out and we were trying to finalize the divorce?"

"Yes, I do believe I remember that night," Catherine said. "You had gotten back from your last mission that afternoon, and I greeted you with the divorce papers. A terrible way to start an evening, really."

"Uh, yes, that was a really unfortunate way to say welcome back, glad you didn't die in Syria," Alexander said. "So, that was one of the worst days of my life."

"That's understandable," Catherine said.

"And I just don't want to do anything like that ever again. After you had left, whenever I had Erica and Trixie, it just felt like they hated me. Because they thought you were way more fun. Probably because you took them to the moon. But also, it was just miserable being without you. You are so much better than me in so many ways. Every skill that I have failed at, you have succeeded in. You're great, I'm not. But you also just can't tell me the truth about anything. First it was the whole spy thing. Now I learn you're an alien. Next it'll probably be something like that you've died and are actually a ghost."

"I assure you, I am not a ghost," Catherine said. "And it was not originally my intention to deceive you."

"Then when did that become your intention?"

"Alexander, it was never my intention to deceive you. That was just something that I eventually became forced into doing given the circumstances of my career and upbringing."

"I know, but you still lied to me."

"Only because I had to," Catherine said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got something to attend to here, and I'll call you back when I get a chance."

"Sure," Alexander said. "That's fine." He tried to sound like he meant it, but really he knew that he just needed to be with Catherine in person to sort all this out. When that would be able to happen, he had no idea.