What's in a Dream?
Part 4 Call Me Mom
Elle high tailed it down the hall first thing after Zoey left. 'Call me mom?!' These words haunted her, she couldn't have heard X's mother right. This had to be some horrible misunderstanding. 'Oh please let this be some horrible misunderstanding!'
Zoey smiled as she tapped on her son's door. She had been assigned to a temporary quarters closer to HQ. "What is it now HUMANS?"
"Young man you open this door this instant!" Zoey snapped, honestly, her son had NO manners, just like his father.
"MOM!" X jolted up out of bed and tumbled over to the door.
"Where are your manners you naughty boy? I can't even begin to imagine all the trouble that you've caused these poor humans!" she scolded him as he let her in.
X rolled his eyes and closed the door. "You don't understand Mom, these creatures are hideous, slow-witted, irritating life forms with tiny ears, pasty skin, beady eyes, and--"
"And don't you say another word!" Zoey snapped, "These 'creatures' are your colleagues and if not for your disgraceful behavior they might even be your friends!"
"But Mom," X objected.
"Don't you 'But Mom' me, I've had quite enough of your shenanigans for one day and I think that I might have actually found a female that can straighten you out."
X froze, a chill ran down his spine, "What do you mean that you've found a female for me? What female?!"
"A very sweet, intelligent, and LOVELY young woman who somehow has managed to see past your intolerable attitude and finds you charming to the point where she can compliment you and acknowledge the fact that you, surprisingly, have a good heart."
X's eyes widened, "Someone thought all that…about ME?!"
His mother nodded, she proceeded to tell X about all of her good qualities and why she'd make the perfect bride for him.
'*pant*. *pant*. I…have…to…get...to…that…room!'
"So you really think she's perfect for me?" X tried to think of what female he knew that might possibly know him so well, but for the life of him he couldn't place his clawed finger on who she might be?
Elle raced down the hall and swung around the corner, she had searched everywhere for her partner, everywhere but his rooms! 'X you'd better be in here!'
X was about to speak again when he heard someone banging loudly against his door, nearly knocking it down.
"What now?" he grumbled and then sighed at the glare his mother gave him.
"X! LET ME IN RIGHT NOW!!!!"
"I'M BUSY! COME BACK----NEVER!!!"
X's mom smiled at the door, "Let her in son."
With a loud sigh he opened the door and Elle sailed in the room, she came to a screeching halt when she spotted X's mother. 'Too late.'
"Hello dear," Zoey greeted her. "It's nice to see you again."
"Again?" X whispered, "Wait, you haven't talked to her since this morning right?" He got a sick, twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"As a matter of fact, I just finished talking with her a few minutes ago." Zoey stated proudly. Elle threw X a worried glance. He saw this and felt ready to hurl.
"Um X…" Elle muttered.
"Agent Elle is to be your bride!" Zoey cheerily announced.
"WHAT?!"
"You two are to be married within the next lunar alignment." Zoey explained.
"ME?! Marry HER?! NEVER!" X shouted, he'd rather die than spend the rest of his life with that annoying, hideous, pushy, stuck up human!
"Don't think for one second that I'm going to go along with this either." Elle huffed, crossing her arms.
"I'm afraid these arrangements are mandatory dear," Zoey insisted, "and there's no one else in the universe more suitable to marry my son than you."
"I won't marry her!" X exclaimed passionately, "You couldn't pay me enough to marry her!"
"It's the law son and you'll do as you're told." Zoey informed him in her serious 'motherly tone', "You had your chance to pick your own bride and you gave up, so now it's up to me to make the choice for you and I choose Elle!"
X gritted his teeth together and clinched his fists so tightly that he nearly drew blood, "I will NOT marry that human and there's nothing that you or that stupid law can do about it!"
Elle felt the need to speak up and defend herself here too, "I wouldn't marry X if he were the last male in the universe! He's a human hating hothead!"
"I know that you two have your differences," Zoey agreed, "but the minister will be here at the next lunar alignment to join you in holy matrimony."
"Tell him not to come!" Elle cried, she really didn't want to marry X. No force in the universe could compel her to do such a stupid thing.
"I'm afraid these things are irreversible my dear, once the minister arrives you two will be wed."
"I WILL NOT MARRY ELLE!"
"Yes you will!" Zoey snapped at her son, "You were perfectly interested in the discussion that we were having about her and all of the nice things that she had to say about you before she walked in. Now that you know who she is, you can't simply toss her aside and forget the impression that her words made on you. You said yourself that she sounded special and worth consideration only a few minutes before she came in, now that she's here I'm going to make you live by those words and marry this woman. She's your soul mate son and you'll never find another woman like her. So you are going to marry her at the next lunar alignment and that is that!"
X stood gaping in shock as his mother turned and waltzed out of the room, tossing Elle an assuring smile as she passed by her.
"I can't believe this is happening," X moaned and collapsed onto his couch.
"What do you mean?" Elle persisted, "There's got to be something you can do, get us out of this! Defy that stupid law!"
"That would mean that I'd be exiled and disowned, and if Lyndon hear's what we've said about each other…we'd both lose our jobs or be responsible for creating turbulence in human-alien relations."
Elle pushed X's feet off the couch and slumped down beside of him, "So what are we gonna do?"
"Get married, I guess." X shrugged.
"What?!" Elle perked up and stared down at him, "Absolutely not! There's no way that I'm going to marry you!"
"Elle," X argued, "if we don't go through with this we're both gonna wind up in hot water with both our planets! Besides, you were all for me getting betrothed this morning."
"That's before I found out that the unlucky female was going to be ME!"
Elle felt so trapped, how had things gone so terribly wrong? It looked like that dream was going to become a reality after all. What a nightmare!
She sighed and laid up against her "fiancé's" shoulder, "So what did she mean by the next 'lunar alignment'?"
"That's the worst part," X groaned, "My planet has four moons, when they're all in a row in the purple sky it creates this lavender glow, it's kinda the ideal time to get married on my planet. It's called the lunar alignment, and it happens in---three days."
"Three days," Elle repeated, three days until they were doomed, three lousy days until her life was officially over!
X put an arm around his partner and stroked the back of her slender neck in an effort to keep her calm, "When the priest arrives, the ceremony will begin and there'll be nothing we can do, except say our 'I do's' of course."
"I hope his transport gets delayed, by three days!" Elle murmured.
X laughed at this and then glanced over at her, she wasn't really all that hideous, when she wasn't biting his head off over something. "So," he sighed, "who's gonna tell Zed?"
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