Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from the Monsters vs. Aliens movie. DreamWorks Animation has the pleasure, I do own Maggie, her parents and her friends however.

I got up at 8:00 a.m. the next morning and said good morning to my husband's picture.

After I had a shower, I went to the closet to get out a t-shirt and jeans to wear since I was going to clean the house. Once I was dressed and had my hair brushed, I made my way down to the kitchen to make myself some waffles. I set the waffle iron on the stove and while it was heating up, I set the table for breakfast. Again, I grabbed a plate and set it on the table in Antony's spot. For some reason it didn't hurt as much this time to remember that he was gone. I think the reason it didn't hurt as much is because I had a small chance of hope that I will be able to be with my husband soon and that has given me strength to endure it until they come for me. After the table was set, I got out enough ingredients to make myself three waffles and mixed them in a bowl until the batter was nice and smooth. I filled the waffle iron with the batter and waited until it was time to take it out. It only took me six minutes to cook all three of the them and they came out as a nice golden brown color. I loaded them up with butter and syrup and set them on the table with a glass of pulp-free orange juice. After breakfast, I loaded the dishes into the dishwasher, and went to work cleaning the house. By noon, I had completely cleaned all the rooms upstairs and decided to break for lunch. I decided to have a small bowl of that noodle soup from last night because I was still a little full from the big breakfast I had that morning.

Finally, after another four hours later, the entire house was clean from top to bottom. Now for the hard part, telling my parents and friends what I had planned to do. I thought it would be best to have them all together so I would have them help me box up and store all our things. I don't think I will ever be coming back to this house again; however, if there is a chance, I do get out; I will still have my stuff waiting for me no matter how many years I am gone. I went to the phone and started dialing numbers.

RING, RING, RING click

"Hello" my mother answered.

"Hi mom. It's me." I said.

"Hi sweetheart," She said and then asked in a concerned and worried voice,"How are you feeling? Are you feeling any better? Do you want your father and me to come over?"

"I am feeling a bit better, but I have something to tell you both and I would feel it's not something to talk about on the phone," I told her, then asked,"Could you both come over so I can tell you to your face?"

"Ok sweetie we will be there in an hour. I love you." Mom said.

"I love you too" I said and while hanging up the phone I quietly added, "More than you know Mom."

Then I called all my friends, told them the same thing I said to my mother and waited for them to show up. The Johnsons next door were the first ones to arrive, followed several other people and after we waited an hour, my parents showed up at the door.

I said and hugged them both, "Hi mom, daddy I am so happy you came."

"Happy to see you too, baby girl," Dad said, then he asked me "Now what is so important you have to tell us, that you gathered a crowd, instead of telling us on the phone?"

I sheepishly smiled at him and walked over to the couch to sit down.

He asked in a panic, "You're not expecting a baby are you? Please tell me that is not why you called all of us here!"

I blushed and said "NO! I am not expecting a baby dad. That's not why I called everyone here. Now I'm begging you, all of you sit down and I will tell you why I wanted you all to be here."

Everyone took a seat wherever was available and the rest sat on floor and turned their gaze to me in anticipation. I took a deep breath before beginning my explanation.

"This is going to be the toughest news they have ever heard since they heard what happened to Antony. They took that news pretty hard and I can't imagine the pain they are going to feel when they hear what I have to tell them". I thought to myself.

I said to them, "As you all are aware, a month ago some men from the government came here and took Antony away. I have been feeling miserable, to say the least, and I was cleaning up his lab yesterday, boxing up his research and his notebooks when I found our wedding picture on his desk under a pile of papers. I stare at it for a long time and I remembered everything that had happened. Michel and Nellie know why he was taken away and now I think it's time you did too. For the past two years, Antony has been researching a way to fuse human DNA with the DNA of cockroaches."

They all cringed and gagged at that news. One of my girlfriends Sarah said, "Ew, that's gross Maggie. Why would he want to do something like that? That's insane to try to fuse those icky creatures with us. He's nuts."

I chuckled and said to her, "Funny thing Sarah, I said the same thing to him minus the calling him "nuts" part and do want to know what he said?"

He said, "Maggie my dear, think about it. Aside from the horrendous appearance and behavior patterns of the cockroach, they are very adaptable. They are survivors. They can survive nuclear bombs and extreme temperatures as well as hundreds of other things that try to killed them on a daily basis. If humans could have this ability, they could live longer. Families could survive accidents that occur on a daily basis and they could have longer happier life than if they had as a normal person. I feel that this is something that I have to do. Please Maggie; I need you to trust me on this. I know it sounds insane; but I think the world needs this experiment and you would be a great help to me. Please will you help me with this?"

"I told him I needed some time to think and I would let him know of my answer and asked him not to begin the experiment until I gave him my answer. He agreed and said he would wait and to take all the time I needed to consider his offer. I though it over for a week and finally I told him that I would help him in any way he needed me," I finished explaining to them.

My mother asked me, after recovering from the news I just told, "Sweetie. How was he going to uh you know fuse our DNA with those things? What were his plans to carry out this experiment?"

"He invented a machine in his lab in our basement that performs the transformation process," I explained to her, then I said to everyone," I can take you all down there now and show it to you if you would like."

They all nodded their head and got up to follow me to the lab. Steve, an old friend of mine, asked, "Uh, he doesn't have any of those bugs in there does he? Please tell me he doesn't."

I smiled, turned to him and said, "Don't worry about there being any roaches in there now. He did have some; but I let them go in the backyard when I was down here cleaning it out and boxing things up yesterday."

They all groaned after hearing that and asked how I could stand being there with him with those bugs everywhere.

I said, while walking down the stair to the basement, "It wasn't easy. For the first few weeks, I just brought the things he needed at the door and knocked when I wanted something or when it was time to eat. I did not want to be in here at all. Then, my curiosity got the better of me and one day I asked him if I could watch him work for a while. He allowed me into the lab, provided I not touch anything and that I just sit somewhere because he uses the whole area for work and he was constantly running from one place to another. He would sometimes lose himself in his work that I practically have to force-feed him to get him to eat. I can't count the number of times I found him at his desk or on the floor asleep."

My dad asked, "Is that why whenever you and he went out to dinner with us that he looked so tired all the time?"

I answered him in a sad voice, "Yes dad that is exactly the reason he looked to tired. The last time we went out with you and mom, he had stayed up really late that night before trying to work out the plans for his machine and he only got three hours of rest before coming back down to work some more."

"Oh that poor man. It's ok sweetie. I have to go through the same thing with your father," mom explained to me," When they get their minds on a project they can't think of anything else but getting that project done."

My dad looked confused and asked, "When did I do something like this honey? I don't remember that."

Mom said to him, "June 18, 1953, dear, you tried your hand at painting. You set up a complete art studio in our basement and wouldn't come out unless it was for going to the bathroom, work, food or you were out of paint. I remember Maggie coming home from a friends house asking, 'Did he come out of the basement yet Mama?' when I shook my head, she said, 'I hope he at least comes out for the family barbeque Steven's dad is throwing for all the guy's families this Sunday. He thought that the dads would want to watch a football game or something while the rest of us hang out by the pool.' I told her I would speak to you remember?"

Dad suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah I was getting into the arts and I just wanted to paint everything I saw. When you came down to tell me about the barbeque, it made me realize I had been neglected my family and friends."

I smiled at them and opened the door to his lab. There were all kinds of boxes and crates stacked neatly against the walls, his workspace on one side of the room and one the other side, covered by a tarp, was the machine that had changed his life and would soon change mine too.

TBC

Sneak peek: In the next chapter, she shows the machine and tells them her plans to go in there herself.