Author's Note: I own nothing!

19 Problematic

Jen would admit that Kevin was acting a little weird but she'd never have guessed that a war hungry Tetramand fiancé was the reason for that. Nor did she realize that beating Looma in a fight meant not just nullifying her engagement to Kevin but getting herself stuck in that same position. Apparently on Khoros they were accepting of any relationship as long as one was stronger than the other. Heirs could be made other ways as she was reassured by her apparently soon to be father in law. By the time Jen managed to gather her thoughts Kevin had fled, Gwen glaring daggers at him as they went. Looma waved from her father's side.

"Good battle Love!" She called out flirtatiously. Her father nodded.

"Good battle Jen!" Jen could think of nothing else to do so she waved and nodded.

"Yeah, good battle." The Tetramands left, taking their fleet with them. Jen let her hand drop to her side. "I'm going to murder Kevin." She stated matter of factly as she turned to Rook. He frowned.

"Is that just an Earth saying?" Jen sighed.

"Sort of. I haven't decided if I want it to be literal or not yet. Gwen might finish him off for me." She shook her head as they made their way back to the Proto-truck. It took them a while to get to it and Jen seemed to still be steaming with rage so Rook kept silent. When they reached the truck Jen strapped into her seat and sighed loudly.

"Sorry I'm very angry at Kevin. Not you, I just need to talk to Grandpa Max and figure out a way to fix this." Rook nodded.

"It is understandable, I cannot think of anyone who would want to be engaged to someone they do not love." Jen nodded.

Kevin's car was full of sullen silence. Gwen was glaring holes into the side of his head. He wasn't sure what to say. After about an hour of this he broke.

"Look I'm sorry I should have told you."

"Yeah."

"I was wrong not to."

"Yeah." Her tone was cold and she was still glaring at him. He sighed and pulled over. He turned to her. Green eyes were glaring daggers at him and he flinched slightly.

"Is yeah all you're gonna say?" Gwen let out an angry breath from her nose.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kevin flinched slightly then sighed.

"I was ashamed. It's something I'm not super proud of, I was young. I regretted it pretty immediately but there wasn't a way out of it without someone else beating Looma. I sort of hoped that had already happened when I didn't hear from her in three years." Gwen nodded still glaring.

"So you decided that tricking my cousin into beating Looma instead was a good plan?" Her tone was so cold he had to shiver.

"That was sort of spur of the moment. Wasn't really thinking about long term, just about not getting married in front of the girl I love when it wasn't to the girl I love." Gwen blinked. Silence reined.

"You'd want to get married to me?" Her question was quiet. He blinked, going bright red as he realized what he'd said.

"Well yeah. I love you." Gwen had gone pink and her glare had softened.

"You're still in the doghouse though." Kevin nodded.

"Fair, but your cousin is clever, she'll find a way out of it." Gwen nodded as Kevin pulled the car back onto the road.

"Well you're right about that. She is clever. I'm sure Rook would be willing to help her out." Kevin laughed.

"Oh he's smitten. He'll be more than happy to help." Gwen grinned.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw it!" The two of them laughed as they drove back towards Gwen's school.

Max shook his head. How was it that his granddaughter always managed to get into scrapes like this? He was currently researching the ins and outs of Tetramand marriage rituals, the engagement rituals specifically. There was a lot about fighting and maiming in it. Generally a female Tetramand was pledged to the male who beat her in a fight. Though a female could defeat another and gain their hand in marriage, or a male could defeat another male and win the same. Jen rolled her eyes from her spot across from them. Rook was quietly reading next to her.

"It's actually kind of interesting." Max raised an eyebrow at his granddaughter. She shrugged. "What I don't get to study the cultures of my aliens often. It's usually just punching, which admittedly seems to be a good chunk of the Tetramand culture." Max laughed.

"At least we've got a few years to figure it out." Jen nodded.

"Yeah." Rook finally piped up.

"There does not seem to be much precedent for inter species relationships in this traditional mating ceremony." Jen leaned over to look at what Rook was reading.

"Maybe that could be precedent for getting me out of it?" Max shook his head.

"Not really." Max said passing a few pieces of paper to them. They detailed a few examples of the same traditional mating ritual between both a Tetramand male and a female Florauna and one between a female Tetramand and a male Appoplexian. Jen frowned.

"I mean progressive yay but damn no easy out." Max laughed lightly as Rook shook his head. Jen rubbed her forehead. "I need food, you want to come with Rook?" He nodded and stood. Max collected the papers they'd already gone through.

"I'll run these past legal. See if they can't find a loophole we missed." Jen raised an eyebrow.

"We have a legal department?" Rook nodded.

"Yes we do. We have many departments, including Inhuman resources."

"Huh, neat." They left as Max gathered up the last of the papers. He shook his head. The two of them got into more scrapes together than he had ever gotten into in his days in the field. But at least they had each others backs.