Invited

Twenty-Five - Chevelle

My mother thought I was a tramp. I could see it in her eyes as she stared at me from across the room. There were tears pooling in them, but they were different than the tears she had initially shed the moment I had walked through the front door. Disappointment was evident on her slightly-wrinkled brow. I could just tell. After living with her for so long, I knew when she thought I'd messed up my life. Being pregnant probably fit into that list of things.

"I..." she said.

Shaking my head, I folded my arms in front of my stomach, feeling like a whale even though my baby bump was hardly noticeable. I knew it was there, Timber did too, so I had to conclude that anyone else who knew me well would notice it also.

Mom wiped her eyes dry. "I'm sorry, honey, there's just so much to take in. You've been gone for three months, tell me this wild story about aliens and outer space, and then tack on that you're pregnant. Be honest with me, are you in some kind of trouble? Drugs? What happened?"

"I'm not on drugs." I groaned. "I just told you what happened. They're going to announce it on the TV tomorrow and everything. I'm not making it up, okay? The reason I'm here is to let you know I'm okay and offer you the chance to come back with me so we can all be safe."

"Are you hungry?" she asked, changing the gears of the conversation. A tactic she used often to avoid confrontation. I'd seen her do it a lot with my dad while they were still married. It was annoying as all get out.

I nodded, not actually feeling all too hungry, but knowing it would make her happy to provide for me. She got a kick out of babying me. Once reality settled in and she got over thinking of me as a slut, she'd be all kinds of excited over being a grandmother. Which was good since I was going to need all the help I could get. I knew nothing about babies, except that they wore diapers and would be drinking from my boobs for a while. Which hurt, a lot. The idea of a little mouth sucking on them gave me the heebie-jeebies, and I don't care if that's too much information.

"Are you...in the mood for anything in particular?" She glanced over at me.

I shook my head. Truth was, I craved some eggs Benedict like no other, but she wouldn't be able to make that for me. Timber was really good at cooking that one. I swear, he missed his calling in life and should have opened a restaurant. For the time being, I would settle on eating whatever Mom wanted to make.

She stood up and smiled at me. It wasn't forced, it wasn't fake; it was real. My first real smile from her since I came home. Mom made her way into the kitchen. I followed, because even though we had one of those open concept homes where she could see me in the living room, I didn't want to have to yell at her the whole time we were talking.

"So," she said, opening up the refrigerator. "I have leftover pizza, some microwave dinners, I can whip up some spaghetti, you know there's always cereal, and I think I have some frozen stuffed mushrooms."

"Make those!" I said, perhaps a bit more excited than I should have been. When was the last time I ate a stuffed mushroom? We never made those at home. I needed to make a mental list of foods for Timber to slave away at when I got back.

Mom laughed. "I just gave you a bunch of options. What are 'those'?"

"The mushrooms," I clarified, blushing. "Those sound the best."

"I knew the baby would tell you something," she said, and it was back to the weak smiling.

I bit my lip, tears I was determined to not shed pushed their way forward. "Look, you can say it. You're not happy with me. Don't pretend to spare my feelings."

"It's just a shock. Last I checked, you didn't even have a boy you were interested in. Nor were you interested in sex. Then you leave for three months, to God only knows where, and come back to tell me you're pregnant." She closed her eyes for a moment. "It's the last thing I would expect."

"Even after all of the alien stuff I told you about?" I countered.

She laughed. "Oddly enough? Yes."

I sighed, defeated. Yup, I was a hussie. Might as well embroider a giant red "S" on my clothes for "skank" or maybe an "E" for "easy". Being with Wicken wasn't something I had planned on. I certainly didn't plan on falling into bed with him the first moment we were back together again. Given everything that had happened between us because of the Achlivans, it just felt right. My heart needed to pour itself out to him. Being around him was intoxicating. Something about just being in the same room as him made me crave him, and I don't mean in the physical sense.

When we were together, being one, it wasn't about the pure carnal pleasures. Heck if I knew if we were even doing it right, but I was happy and so was he, and that's all that mattered. It was about connecting to his soul so neither of us would have to be separated again. Even now, when he was so far away, I could still feel him. I wasn't alone, despite the lack of his physical body being with me. We would always be together. Hopefully, he could feel me with him too.

Mom preheated the oven. "I'm sorry, honey. Are you happy, at least?"

"I was," I said softly. My lip started to quiver, and thanks to good ol' hormones, I broke down into an ugly cry. It was bad enough that I was doing it in the first place, but the fact that I was doing it in front of my mother was even worse.

She rushed over and put her arms around me, holding me tight to her chest. "Oh, honey, what happened? Was he mad when he found out?"

"H-h-he doesn't even know!"

"He...doesn't?"

"No, they took him away and I don't know if I'll ever see him again!" I blubbered. I couldn't even see through all of the tears, so I kept my eyes closed and clung to my mom. Something I'd wanted to do from the first second I was taken away by those stupid aliens.

My mom let out a slow breath. "Who took him away?"

"The aliens who kidnapped me. I told you I wasn't making it up!" I snapped.

"Okay, okay. Start from the beginning, again, and tell me about him."

Sniffling and nodding, I moved away from her so I could clean up with a nearby napkin. "His name is Wicken..."