There was a crowd forming at one end of the beach. We had learned what we needed to know. It was as good a time as any to make an exit.
We continued to talk and laugh, sipping the bitter liquid from our brown bottles, and let the others filter past us. When enough of the humans had joined the formation around the fire, we casually edged toward the dunes. The world spun slightly off-kilter. What was in those bottles?
Neither of us was comfortable turning our backs on the human-controllers that we knew must be present, but with only two eyes, there was no other way to walk away. Unfortunately, when I turned my human head back to look behind us, I discovered that we were not as inconspicuous as we had hoped. I stumbled. He pulled me up. The controllers took a more direct route towards us.
"We're being followed," I said.
"Don't look around again. Just keep going like nothing is wrong. How many?" he asked.
"Two for sure, young adult males, maybe 120-150lbs each."
"We should be able to dispatch them if necessary without demorphing," he said tersely.
My human heart was racing. We crested the top of the first sand dune and skid-slid down. As we were making our way up a second dune, I heard one of controllers say something to the other. We hadn't shaken them.
"They are getting closer," he said.
"I really don't want to have to fight them…could we outrun them?" I asked.
"On this terrain? I'm having trouble just keeping this body upright as it is," he snapped.
We struggled through the sand as fast as we could, but it wasn't fast enough. Then I had an idea. It was crazy and a total breech of conduct, but he would just have to forgive me later. I slipped in the sand, pulling him down with me and let out a loud human laugh. He looked at me as if I had lost my mind, but I had no time to explain. I pressed my human mouth to his. He jerked back as if stung. I had to admit that the effect was alarming, almost electric in its intensity. We had no time to argue or discuss. I grabbed his arms and pulled him on top of me.
"Kiss me," I whispered against his stunned lips, "this is what human teenagers are always doing on TV. It might fool them into thinking that we are human at least."
I felt him nod slightly as our mouths met. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my hands on the back of his head as I had seen women do. He was unnaturally stiff, but I hoped that the poor lighting would prevent the controllers from noticing.
"Relax," I hissed against his mouth.
He did slightly and his weight pressed me back against the dune. I could hear the controllers coming closer. To fight the rising panic, I let the human instinct take over. She would know what to do to make this look as natural as possible and hopefully we would escape without having to even speak to the suspicious controllers.
I shifted my body to fit us closer together. He didn't fight me this time and settled more comfortably against my hips. He cradled the back of my head in his hands. My Andalite sensibility uttered a warning that this was entirely too intimate, but I had brought the human forward and this rising tide of…something…was too hard to fight. I opened my mouth and the kiss deepened. I became senseless with sensation.
Just then, a beam of a light played over the sand. It was the controllers who had been pursuing us.
"Do you see them?" asked one of them.
"Um, yeah." After a pause, "Nothing to worry about, just a couple of horny teenagers," the other replied.
The first controller snorted. "Tell me about it. These hosts. I mean, the other day…"
Their conversation trailed off as they turned and went back, but I hardly noticed anymore. I was consumed with the need to be closer. There was something between us. Clothes, my dull mind supplied as I pulled at it. He broke the kiss briefly to remove the shirt. I removed mine as well, knowing that this was trouble, but the skin of his chest was so warm to my cool hands.
We reunited in an ecstasy of fumbling, kissing, touching; his hand on my thigh, sliding up the skirt. It still wasn't close enough. Something in me demanded more. But what more could there be?
I heard a familiar sound that I couldn't quite place and opened my eyes. He looked down at me. There was desire and need and a question, but my addled wits could only think: more. I reached for him.
Our cheeks brushed together. I felt his hot breath panting in my ear. We shifted slightly and I felt something new touch me. He pushed, I gave. There was a rhythm to this as old as time. The human instinct was satisfied and in an instant, I came gasping back to the forefront.
"Wait! No! STOP!" I cried.
He froze. I could see that he was still under the influence of his morph, struggling to reassert his own consciousness.
"We're mating…" I finally whispered, half to my amazed self. Getting lost in a morph was one thing, this was entirely different. Fear licked through me. If command ever found out, if they even suspected something like this could happen, my military career was over. Not to mention the impact it would have on the issue of females morphing in general. And my parents… Calm down, I told myself. This is just between us. Nobody has to know and as long as we keep it to ourselves, no one ever will.
He was up and kneeling beside me in an instant. "I…I am so sorry," he stammered, shaken. His face was bright red, both from effort and a human psychosomatic reaction to deep embarrassment. We looked away from each other for a long moment. To move, even to dress, we would have to acknowledge what had happened. In a show of bravery, he handed me my shirt. We got dressed in silence. It was going to be a long walk back to the safety of the forest and our own forms.