Xeno Love

Chapter 9: Recovery

Jake groaned and stirred. He started to push himself off the bed, but two strong arms grabbed his shoulders and pinned him down.

“Argh! Advena, that hurts,” Jake whined, blinking against the dim light that illuminated the room faintly.

“You’re lucky you’re not dead!” she screeched. Her tail was swaying wildly, something Jake took as ‘annoyed’. “Why did you do that? I-I almost lost you!”

“I’m sorry,” Jake moaned.

“Please, just promise me you won’t do that again.” Jake blinked slowly at her. “Promise me!” She shook him a little.

“Okay,” Jake relented. “I won’t.” Advena hugged him.

“I... I couldn’t live without you Jake.” Wow. That was unexpected. Though now that Jake thought about it...

“I think I know what your super-important secret is now,” he whispered. She cocked her head at him. “And I love you too.” I’m that easy to figure out? Advena wondered. But he loved her too... She smiled and sank into his arms, enjoying the feeling of being close to him. Jake stroked her smooth head affectionately, and they remained like that, in silence, for a few more minutes. “I’m gonna have a shower. To wash all this blood off me.” Advena nodded and reluctantly moved away and allowed him to stand up and walk to the bathroom. She heard running water moments later. He might faint, Advena realised. Maybe I should be there for him... She strained to hear what Jake was thinking.
Bastard! That stings! Advena giggled at this, though she knew it might be more helpful if she was there to soothe the pain. She could practically feel the water impacting on his open wounds as she approached the shower cubicle. It was made completely from glass, which had gotten really foggy. Steam was filling the shower when Advena opened the door and stepped inside, so much that Jake didn’t even see her. He felt a hand on his shoulder, jumped, slipped on the wet floor, and fell onto his ass.

“God dammit Advena! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Advena cringed slightly.

“S-sorry Jake, I came to help with the pain?” It was more of a question than a statement.

“Advena! I’m naked in here!”

“So what?” she snorted. “I’m naked all the time!”

“You know that’s not the same.” Advena grinned and helped him up.

“How so?” This was a really good question actually. The only answer that came to Jake’s head was ‘because we do’ which wasn’t really a valid reason. Advena was still staring at him expectantly, water droplets running down her shiny elongated forehead. It looked quite comical.

“Because... because wearing clothes is, well, natural to us. For you, the opposite.”

“Why?” God, she was like an inquisitive five-year-old, asking questions every five seconds that Jake wasn’t sure he could answer.

“Well, it’s just decency to hide our private parts from others.”

“Really? Or are you just embarrassed about your size? You know, most Xenomorphs would be proud to have a mating tool the size of your –”

“Advena! Please stop with the mating tool discussion! It’s very inappropriate!”

“Because we’re both naked and within a metre of each other?”

“Y-yes!” She was enjoying this way too much. It was borderline cruel. She touched his shoulder gently.

“The water is beginning to get cold. Perhaps we have kept it running for too long?” Jake nodded and shut the water off. He grabbed a towel and quickly wrapped it around his waist before Advena exited the shower. Jake grabbed another towel and started rubbing her head dry. She purred and jolted as Jae rubbed a sensitive part of her body. Jake rubbed it again, this time eliciting a quick, sharp purr. Xenomorphs are ticklish? Oh this is priceless! Jake stored that memory away for later. Next time she teased him... He smiled wickedly with thoughts of payback in his mind, not even paying attention to what he was doing. Eventually, he finished up, after some struggling with her tail. “That was a nice massage, thank you. Now, it’s your turn.”

“Wh-what?” Jake paled slightly. Before he could react, Advena whipped the towel off his waist and started drying him, slowly, deliberately. There goes any chance of modesty, Jake thought nervously as Advena turned him around and started drying his front. He shakily put some new clothes on and stumbled into the lounge.

“Let’s watch a movie,” Advena suggested. Jake raised an eyebrow at her. “I can tap into your senses and watch it with your eyes – without taking control of your body, of course.” That seemed like an okay idea. They sat down on the couch together, Advena curling up with him so they were both comfortable. Jake flicked through what was there. None of them looked appealing to him. Advena snatched the remote off him. “Here, I’ll choose one.” She was obviously using his eyes to see as she cycled through the list of movies. She eventually chose one titled: Weyland Heroes, Volume 3: Ripley’s First Encounter.

“N-not that one,” Jake protested. He knew exactly what it was, but had never had the heart to watch it. Weyland Heroes was literally a series of re-enactments of people who had struck Weyland Industries as heroes. Ripley had been the one to first encounter the Xenomorphs, and watching it would only cause discomfort between them. Advena peered at him, trying to search his mind for answers. “Why don’t you choose another?” he asked, a hint of begging in his voice. Not taking her ‘eyes’ off him; she clicked the play button and forced him to watch it, because without him, she couldn’t watch it either. Advena seemed enraptured by the events unfolding on the screen, so much that she didn’t notice the increasing feeling of dread emanating from Jake. Only when it was over did she release him and look him in the eye again. “Why did they do it?” Jake suddenly demanded. It seemed as though he was trying not to burst into a sobbing fit.

“At first, because we thought you were newer versions of Predators. Later, in self-defence. We couldn’t communicate and tell you it had all been a misunderstanding. Had the humans left the first youngling, it would have sealed up the wound cleanly and nestled by its new friend that had given birth to them until they awoke. Then, they could have communicated and our species would have got along fine. Alas, it didn’t work that way...” Jake pondered this, wondering if he could accept it. Eventually, he sighed and nodded.

“So... if I gave birth to you, does that make me your mum or dad?”

“Neither,” Advena hissed sharply. “You are my host. That is all.”

“Oh.” Well, that had been rather blunt.

“Though, being a host has certain benefits...” Advena wrapped her tail around him and hugged him close. He slowly returned the embrace. She was still Advena, the same girl he had spent the last few days of his life with, no matter what the Xenos before her did. He allowed her to carry him back to their nest and lay him down on the soft bedding. Once again, he fell asleep in her comforting arms.

“I wish I could hear what she’s saying! This would be very interesting to hear!” Kaleb kicked a bin over. The very reason the Xenomorphs had attacked them in the first place was being explained, and he couldn’t hear it! Frustrating as it was, he would learn nothing from losing his temper and forcing the information out of him. Corey stood up off the chair.

“Sir, I’m leaving for my shift,” he announced. Kaleb nodded him the go ahead, leaving his second general to take his place in the chair. Glover plopped himself down on the chair.

“So Glover, how are you enjoying being a general now? You certainly are an improvement from the old one!”

“Yeah,” Glover grunted. “That bitch was so stupid she didn’t even tell me I was beating up a high priority target.”

“Yes, but the fact you can beat him up is comforting Glover.” Glover flashed him a toothy grin, which was quite disturbing due to his monstrous canines. He adjusted the itchy bandage stretching around his waist and immersed himself in the cameras. High priority or not, those two are going to pay for what they did to me.