Chapter Thirteen: Meant to Be

Ozaki and Miyuki had returned from the hospital with Emma and Sam. Miyuki looked well. She'd already lost a great deal of baby fat in the hospital, and the twins were looking healthy as could be. Sam had taken a habit of grabbing people's fingers, while Emma was already making sounds, but nothing reminiscent of human speech. Kendra, however, decided she wasn't ready to tell them about her pregnancy just yet, given the current climate. Consequently, Sam was growing slightly concerned for them. X and Kendra hadn't spoken for days since Kendra was impregnated. In fact, Kendra refrained from speaking to anyone at all, spending most of her time locked in her bedroom. Zan tried talking to her on several occasions, all of which ended with her shrieking at him to leave her alone. Not even Sam, who she saw as a father, could get through to her.

Then there was X, who felt completely at fault. He thought all along that he was the one suffering after that experience, having been forced into it. Only now, he realized that he'd taken from Kendra just as much as she'd taken from him. She'd gotten what she wanted, but in a very perverse way. He was beginning to feel as empty as she did. He'd given her something that they were meant to share together, but he'd left it all to her.

"…What have I done to Kendra?" X asked himself one day while he was sitting in front of the TV watching another Visitor press conference. "I've abandoned somebody I love to something that I'm obligated to help her with… I never wanted to go through with this. I should've said no! Then we'd both be better off. Oh Eywa, help me! What do I do?"

Suddenly, everything in the room started disintegrating. X watched in shock as the entire apartment disappeared and, in its place, grass began growing out of the floor and trees began rising out of the ground around him. X closed his eyes for several seconds, not wanting to see any more. When he opened them, he found himself standing in the middle of a huge forest, under a massive glowing willow tree.

X looked around nervously. He felt like he knew this place, but had no idea how. As he approached the tree's branches, his neural queue began emerging from his wrist, almost as if it wanted him to connect with the branch. He grasped the branch of the tree and the tendrils of his queue wrapped around it. Almost instantly, voices began echoing in X's head. Somehow, the voices sounded familiar, so X did not panic. But one voice loomed over them all. It sounded like a female's voice, and it spoke in a strange language. However, somehow, X could understand every word.

"Are you…Eywa?" X asked.

The voice responded and X knew the answer was yes.

"Eywa, please. I need your help," X said, unaware that he was no longer speaking English. "My closest friend is with child because of me. I didn't want to but… I went through with it for her sake. But I feel now like I've betrayed her. I love her and I can't stand bearing the guilt of what I've done. What can I do to fix this?"

The voice responded in the strange tongue.

"Yes…" X replied. "Of course I truly love her. I always have. It's just… I don't know if I'm ready for something like this."

The voice responded again.

"Hey… you're right," X said. "If I truly love her, I should be willing to undergo anything for her. And if she wants this child, I should want it too."

The voice spoke again.

"Do I truly want it? Well… if Kendra truly wants it… then yes. I do. I understand everything now! When we did it… it didn't feel awkward to me. You were trying to get through to me, weren't you Eywa? You were trying to tell me that this is how it is meant to be… Kendra and I… we're meant for each other, aren't we? That's why I couldn't run away when she expressed the desire for a child. Or why I couldn't just leave her that day when we were kids."

The voice responded one final time.

"I knew it…" X said. "I think I always knew it… and this means I've got to go back. I NEED to go back!"

In a flash, X sat up on the couch he'd fallen asleep on.

His eyes widened. "KENDRA!"

X sprang off of the couch and bolted to Kendra's bedroom door. He stopped in front of it. He could hear Kendra sobbing inside. Gently, he knocked on the door.

Kendra's shaky voice answered. "W…who is it?"

"It's me," X replied. "It's X. Can I come in?"

There was no response. X assumed no shrieks in the negative meant yes. He slowly opened the door and saw Kendra, sitting up in bed, trying to wipe away her tears.

"I… I have something I need to tell you." X said.

"No wait X. Before you say anything, I have something to tell you." Kendra said. "I… I should've never forced you to do this. It's just… I wanted a child so badly… I didn't think once about your feelings. We don't have to have this baby if you don't want to. It's just… all I'm really trying to say is… I'm sor-."

Before Kendra could finish, X silenced her by pressing his lips against hers in a passionate kiss.

"You don't have to say anything else," X said, wiping a tear off of her cheek. "I love you. And that means we're going to do this together. This is our baby we're talking about, and he's going to have the best mom and dad he can get."

Kendra was awestruck. "But… I thought…"

"So did I once," X replied. "But I can't let you do this on your own. We're going to have a family, Kendra. And I want to be by your side the entire way."

Kendra couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Does that mean you're… you're…"

Answering her question, X climbed off the bed and got on one knee on the floor.

"Kendra Amelia Kelar, will you marry me?"

Kendra's hands cupped around her mouth, her eyes wide in shock.

"I'll be the best husband and father I can possibly be. I promise that I'll always be by your side when you need me. I-"

Kendra put a finger to X's lips.

"You don't have to say anything else," she replied, smiling through her tears.

Kendra threw her arms around X's neck and X's around her waist. The two of them were joined in a passionate kiss as they collapsed onto Kendra's bed together, locked in a loving embrace.

Grover entered the apartment with small package in hand.

"Hey Sam! Where's X?"

"In Kendra's room," Sam replied. "He wanted to patch things up with her."

"Ok. I got him a new xPod. Y'know, cuz I broke his old one."

"Oh yes, I remember that disaster," Sam replied.

Grover walked to Kendra's door and opened it without knocking. Before he could say anything, he got a glimpse of what was going on in Kendra's bed. Slowly, and with his mouth still wide open, he closed the door and turned around slowly.

"Well…" Grover said to himself. "I guess they settled things."