V

Unfamiliar Territory

Consciousness was fleeting. It came in fits and starts. Sometimes it was light, sometimes it was dark. Sometimes there were noises and other times there was silence. What lingered was the aching soreness of her neck, sometimes throbbing if she moved too quickly. Finally, after what seemed an eternity of lucid consciousness, she decided it was time to wake up and see what the hell was going on.

Carefully, she moved her hand underneath herself and began to push with all her might. It was no use. She quickly sank back down on the bed, too weak to even lift herself for a few seconds. Winded, she took short breaths, ones that didn't make too many demands on the pounding ache in her neck. She felt someone's hands tenderly turning her over on her back and then gently applying a cool washcloth to her forehead. Too exhausted to care who it was, she slowly began to fall back into her dreams.

No, no, no, no, no, no. She hadn't made the extraordinary effort to regain consciousness just to lose it again. She clenched her fists as tightly as one in her condition could and gritted her teeth. Ok. Think of things that require conscious thinking. Think of the care it takes to plant a new seed, one that you've never planted before, one that you really want to grow, just so you can look at it once it blooms. Right. First prime the soil.  Make sure the soil is new soil, not leftovers from harvest. It has to be crumbly, and slightly damp. A compact dirt makes for a dead plant, as Mom always used to say… Now, put the seed about one inch deep in the soil. Are you imagining it? Good. Now water it. Feel that water hose in your fingers, the one that always leaks and gets all over your pants. Good. That's good. I think we're ready to open our eyes now.

Elizabeth slowly opened her eyes. A fuzzy world came into view. Blinking, she found her vision improved as the seconds passed. She turned her head to the right and was as surprised to see Kay as he was to see her awake.

"Kevin – "

"Shhh, don't talk," he said softly, again dabbing her forehead with a cool washcloth. She caught sight of the bandage on his forehead and instinctively reached out to touch it. He pulled away, smiling apologetically.

"What happened?" she croaked, just barely above a whisper. Her brow was furled in that look of concern which was so familiar to Kay. He looked at her for a moment, studying her features. He sighed.

"Just a bump on the head. We ran into…some car trouble on the way here."

"Where am I?" she whispered weakly. "What am I doing here?"

Kay continued to gaze at her for a moment before saying, "You're tired. Rest now. We'll talk later. I promise."

Not having the energy to argue, Elizabeth swiftly returned to unconsciousness. It was not until she awoke abruptly from a dream several hours later did she truly realize something was awry. At first she thought the whole ordeal had just been a dream, but as her reasoning skills returned to her, she found herself in very unfamiliar territory indeed. It was a fairly large room with a bathroom connected to it. Furniture was sparse and functional, and she was amazed to see that the walls seemed to be made of seamless steel.

Jay had walked Kay down to the holding room, talking with him eagerly about the current Dlrow invasion. "We don't know where they are, when they're going to strike…"

"Just be patient. We'll figure it out."

"'Be patient'? What do you mean, be patient? The Dlrow are like the Rambos of the universe, Kay. We gotta have a plan…"

"Kevin!" Elizabeth shouted from the inside of the room, though she wasn't sure anyone could hear her. "Kevin, where are you?!"

"Hey, whoa, you mean she remembers  you?" Jay asked, arching an eyebrow as he and Kay stood outside her door, poised to enter.

Elizabeth hit the wall inside her cell. "Bastard!" she roared.

"Yup," Kay said without a trace of emotion. "She remembers me."

"But I thought MiB neurilizes all friend and family members…even former family members…"

"They do," Kay said simply. "But you see there's still a few papers I need to sign…"

"For security reasons?"

"No, for marital reasons."

"Marital?"

"Look, kid, it isn't pertinent at this time, therefore I don't want to talk about it."

"But – "

"I don't want to talk about it," Kay repeated sharply.

"Hey, that's fine man, I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do – "

"Well there isn't." He straightened his tie. "Now look, I have some explaining to do, and I need to do it alone."

Jay held up his hands in defeat. "Point taken, big guy. You want a coffee or something?"

"No, but I'd like it if you could see about getting me a new desk. And don't let them give me one of those lime green ones left over from the late 60's. I don't know what  we were thinking…" Kay sighed as he watched his partner head down the hall. He turned his attention back to the door. It was now or never.

Seeing Kay standing in the doorway, Elizabeth tried to sit up to quickly and was punished with the Throbbing Neck from Hell. She sank back down, breathing heavily.

"Dammit Kevin, what did you give me?" she demanded in a hoarse tone.

"Looking back on it, I think I was being overly cautious, and I might have given you a smidge too much," Kay said, taking a chair from the corner and sitting backwards in it. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to sedating humans."

Elizabeth, determined to sit upright, rose slowly from the bed until she could lean against the wall. "Ok," she said. "Start talking."

Kay took a deep breath and looked at her deep in the eyes. "Elizabeth, there was no coma."

"No coma? So where were you for thirty five years?"

"I was here. I work for a covert operational facility that monitors and controls all extraterrestrial life forms on Earth. First let me explain that no, I'm not crazy, and no, you did not misunderstand me. There are aliens. On Earth. My job is to help keep them out of trouble, and to keep them from being discovered by your everyday, run of the mill human."

"What?" Elizabeth gasped, convinced she was still in a dream.

"Do you remember the night I disappeared all those years ago?"

"You mean the night of your car accident? Sure. We all thought you had died, drowned in the river, the body never recovered. It was the worst night of my life. But I told you all this when you came back."

"Right. There was no car accident. That's the night I decided I wanted to devote my life to this cause – my cause – and become a part of the Men in Black."

"The what?"

"Don't worry about it, you'll catch up as we go along. So, no car accident, no coma – it was all a cover up. I had to come up with something."

"So why did you come back eight years ago? Why did you come back home, only to leave again?"

"I was ready to retire. I was ready for a normal life." He sighed. "And, I was ready to settle down with a certain childhood sweetheart of mine."

"Well, things don't always turn out as planned, do they puddin'?"

"No, darlin', they sure don't."

"So let me get this straight. Throughout our whole marriage, you knew? You lied?"

"No, I'm not a liar. They erased all memory I had of ever working for this organization before I came home to you. So, during our short four year interlude, I had no idea of who I was or what I'd been. And, if I had, I wouldn't have been able to be with you. The MiB has strict rules about that sort of thing. Agents come and go…its better if there's no one out there in the world who cares about them. A rationalization for expenditure, you could say." He looked away. "Erasing my memory…forgetting who I was…it was the only way to be able to be with you. I was willing to sacrifice that."

Elizabeth bit her lip. "So you…left here, because you wanted to be with me? You gave up all knowledge that you had of yourself…for me?"

"Honey, a twenty year old kid doesn't shit about himself, and that's where I was starting the day I showed up on your doorstep. Thus, my little 'self-identity' problems that eventually tore us apart."

Tears began to well up in Elizabeth's eyes. "Kevin…"

"Look, let's not get all emotional right now. We're in serious trouble, and we don't have much time to get out of it. I know you probably don't believe everything I've said tonight, but hopefully I can prove it to you in the days to come. Until then, you're just going to have to trust me." He looked at her carefully. "Can you trust me?"

Elizabeth took his hand in hers. "Yes. I can do that."

"Good. Now look, we got some nasty little buggers after us called the Dlrow. They're a fiercesome, warring alien tribe who's population is on the wane, and for whatever reason, they've decided that Earth is the perfect little place to raise a family. Problem is, their families run into the millions, and the only honorable way to die is in the heat of battle."

"Sort of like the Celts of the universe?"

"You could say that. They know that if they bring MiB down, they can take the world by surprise and easily gain dominion over the Earth. However, they wanted to get more specific than just targeting the MiB; they're targeting me."

"You?"

"Yes. They sent me a riddle, in essence threatening to take away someone who was more important to me than anyone else in the world and using it to lure me, and ultimately kill me. That's why I came back, Elizabeth. That's why I had to come get you."

"But we got away! I mean, I'm safe, you're safe…"

"We had a close call today in the car, though," Kay said, gesturing to his head wound. "We got out of there just in the nick of time. Yes, you're safe, for the time being. And rest assured I'm going to do everything in my power to keep them away from you."

"Oh God; you're not an alien, are you Kevin?"

"No, but that would certainly be a good story line," Kay said, arching an eyebrow at all fan fiction writers.

Elizabeth shuddered; she felt like she was in a horror movie. "This is all so unbelievable…"

"You need some time to let this all sink in," Kay said, rising from the chair. He fingered the back of the chair nervously. "Look, um…why don't I come back tonight to see how you're doing? You can meet my partner. We can have some coffee or something. We have good coffee."

Despite the situation, Elizabeth found herself smiling. He sounded as nervous now as the first time he had asked her on a date. "Sure, why not? I guess I could use the company."

Kay smiled broadly. "Great. That's wonderful," he said in a voice much lighter than normal. "I'll – I mean, we'll – see you then."