Disclaimer: I still have no affiliation with Dreamworks and don't own Megamind or any other characters.

Chapter 7

"That's mine. And that. This was, but now it's broken," she muttered. Minion and Roxanne were going through everything they took from those three guys last night and identifying her stolen things. Minion set everything up last night and rehydrated it. Now she just had to go through it all. They were sorting all her stuff in neat piles to be dehydrated later. Megamind had excused himself because he had some plans he needed to put on paper. So it was just her and Minion for a while.

She looked at her growing 'my stuff' pile and sighed. Soon she would be all squared away in her apartment. Alone. With no job. She continued sorting through the stuff and felt her spirits sink lower as thoughts swirled in her head.

"Miss Ritchi?" Minion asked to get her attention.

"Hmm?" she discretely wiped her eyes and looked up at him.

"Are you feeling up to this right now? We can sort through this later if you like," he offered.

"No, it's fine. Needs to be done, right?" she said with a weak smile.

"Not necessarily, and not this instant," he told her. "You can talk to me, Miss Ritchi. I might be able to help."

She smiled at him, "I'm sure you could, Minion, but my thoughts are so jumbled I don't even know what's going through my head right now."

"That happens to Sir all the time. It helps if you give voice to them," Minion encouraged. He held up his mechanical right hand and said, "I won't judge. And if you don't want me to tell Sir, I…" he looked thoughtful for a moment and continued, "I can't promise that, but I'm still willing to listen."

She chuckled and gave him a warm smile. "Alright, alright," she conceded. He bobbed in his version of a nod to encourage her to continue. "Sorting through this just reminded me that soon I'll be back in my apartment. Alone. Which is weird because I've never minded living by myself before. But then I've always had a job to go to, and I don't have that now. I guess the thought of sitting alone in my apartment for days on end is getting to me. I mean, I think being here with you two has helped me cope a little and I don't think I'm ready to let that go." She blushed a little as she voiced the next thought, "And then there's the eventual fall-out of Megamind and me dating. Can you imagine? I think I have an idea that will help a little, but my reporting career will be over." She fell silent as she got the most important thoughts off her mind.

Minion stayed silent for a little while then said, "Well your first problem is easily fixed. Don't go back," he said simply. "Stay here with Sir and me. We have the room and enjoy your company. And you're right that there may be a backlash when everyone finds out that you're dating Sir. Then it will be safer to be here than in your apartment."

"It's a little quick to be at the 'moving in with your boyfriend' phase," she protested. "Technically, we just decided to start dating today."

"Well, ok. But stay here for a few more days. Things won't seem as impossible as they do right now," he put a metallic hand on her shoulder as they stayed silent for a moment. "Miss Ritchi, I do have a delicate question to ask you, and please don't take it the wrong way," he said nervously.

She nodded and replied, "Go ahead, Minion."

"Now, I know you've had a bad week. I understand, I really do!" He removed his hand from her shoulder and started clanking the tips of his fingers together nervously, "But what are your intentions with Sir? I don't want him to get hurt if you're just using him as an emotional crutch."

There was that big brother instinct that she knew Minion had. She smiled a little as she thought about Megamind over the past couple days. "I can't guarantee what will happen, but I'd like to give us a chance. I think I'm finally seeing past the mask, and… it's nice," she shrugged and felt her cheeks heat up a little in embarrassment. Minion gave her an appraising look and finally bobbed a nod.

"Minion!" she heard Megamind yell from wherever he was holed up.

"Oh, I have to go, Miss Ritchi!" Minion perked up and exclaimed. "Will you be all right here or would you like to retire to the viewing room?" he asked while already heading to the doorway.

"Minion! Where are you, you heaping hunk of metal?!" she heard Megamind yell again.

"Coming, Sir!" Minion yelled in response without any visible response to the insult. He then turned in his tank to look at her questioningly.

"Go on," she shooed. "I'll stay here and sort. I'll be ok." He gave her a toothy smile, turned back around in his tank and hurriedly clunked out of the room.

"I'll be ok," she repeated to herself in a whisper and turned back to the piles of unsorted stuff.

-/\/\- -/\/\- -/\/\- -/\/\- -/\/\- -/\/\- -/\/\-

Earlier that day Megamind asked to 'take her out on a date since they were… you know… dating now.' She had readily agreed and was a little surprised when he told her to be ready at such a late hour. And now Roxanne couldn't help but smile when she saw where they were going for their first official date. Trust Megamind to be unique.

"Will we be able to see?" she asked curiously.

"Oh absolutely! They have night-lighting and we have brainbots to help if any additional illuminat-shion is needed," Megamind assured her.

"Ok, Sir. I have the security camera recording from last night's footage. You're good to go," Minion informed them. He had driven them and then parked to apparently do some hacking on a computer.

"How'd you do that?" Roxanne asked curiously.

"Oh, we wrote a backdoor program a few years ago," Megamind waved his hand dismissively. "Come, Roxanne." He opened the door of the backseat and held it open for her. She exited the car and took his offered elbow. He was wearing his normal villain costume, but was still going without his gloves. She was wearing a pair of black pants and a drapey blue blouse. Not that she had much choice in her color palette until she made it back to her apartment…

He led her to a nearly-hidden maintenance door instead of the main gates and stopped, dropping her arm. He ducked a hand under his cape and pulled out two thin pieces of metal and gave her a wink.

"One moment and I'll open the VIP entrance, my dear Roxanne," he said grandly as he inserted the metal into the keyhole.

"The VIP entrance on my very first breaking and entering into a public place. Be still my beating heart," she said drily, but with a smile.

"Really, Miss Ritchi?" he teased back, "That's surprising coming from an investigative reporter of your caliber. And I was under the impression that teenagers do this sort of thing regularly." The lock clicked and Megamind opened the door with a smile. "Ladies first," he gestured.

"I'll admit that I've snuck into places I shouldn't have been, but it's never involved lockpicks," she said as she entered the maintenance corridor.

"Sounds like you're not sneaking into the right places. All the good stuff is kept under lock and key," he replied as he shut the door behind them. He tentatively reached for her hand and then guided her forward in the low light.

"So this is one of those 'right places?'"

"Let's find out, shall we?" he opened a door at the other end of the corridor and gestured outside. She looked outside and saw the dimly-lit entry plaza of the Metro City Zoo. There were brainbots idly floating here and there providing extra light. She always thought the zoo was beautiful in the daylight, but it was absolutely gorgeous at night the way everything was softly lit. She walked out into the plaza a little way and spun around, taking it all in.

"Megamind, it's amazing!" she told him with a smile. She walked back over to him, held both his hands then pulled him closer for a kiss. When she pulled back she caught a dreamy expression on his face before he opened his eyes and smiled at her. She really liked that particular smile she had only seen during the last couple of days.

"Come, Roxanne," he said softly and led her deeper into the zoo with their hands intertwined and brainbots trailing along.

They strolled along the pathways hand in hand with the sounds of exotic animals accompanying them. Occasionally they would stop and observe some of the exhibits, but they were mostly enjoying each other's company. When they walked through the aquarium, the lights in the building reflected through the tanks, casting a wavy blue light in their path. They entered a section that was surrounded on both sides and overhead with the aquarium and Roxanne was surprised to see a table with two chairs sitting in the middle of the open area.

Roxanne gasped and asked, "What's this?"

Megamind smiled slyly and answered, "What's a date without dinner?" He led her to the table and held the chair for her. She gave him an answering shy smile and sat in the offered chair. He gently pushed her chair in and sat across from her. To her surprise, he drew his dehydration gun, grabbed the candle from the center of the table and lit it with a flash of yellow light. He put the candle back and his gun disappeared back under the table, presumably into its holster. Immediately, several brainbots flew in and set a plate of chicken and vegetables in front of both of them along with a chilled bottle of champagne, some glasses, and silverware.

"Dinner is served, my dear," Megamind said smugly. One of the brainbots opened the bottle of champagne and the cork went flying. A second brainbot swooped in quickly and caught the cork in midair before it could hit the glass above them. Roxanne couldn't help but laugh. The one that still held the bottle filled their glasses, set the bottle down and flew off with the rest of the brainbots.

Roxanne picked up the glass, twirled the liquid inside and looked across the table coyly at Megamind, "If I didn't know any better, Mr. Supervillain, I would think you were trying to seduce me." She took a sip of her drink.

"So tell me, Roxanne," he started in that smooth voice he sometimes used when their banter turned flirty during kidnappings, "is it working?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I do seem to be in your evil clutches," she smiled and continued, "All alone. What's a girl to do?"

"All I ask is that you enjoy my company."

"I think I can handle that," she replied with a smirk. She held up her glass and said, "To changing perceptions."

"And new beginnings," he answered and they clinked their glasses together and took a simultaneous sip. They stayed silent a moment as they started on their dinner.

"Ok, I have to ask," she said after a moment. "How did you light the candle with your dehydration gun? Shouldn't it be a blue cube?"

"I didn't have the dehydration setting selected," he answered matter-of-factly with a wave of his fork.

"Oh? I didn't know it had different settings."

He gave her an excited smile since she asked about one of his gadgets. He moved his chair right next to hers and drew his dehydration gun, held it flat in his hand and showed it to her. It was mostly black with gold trim and decoration. There was a glass chamber at the business end with gold-colored strips that was probably to protect the glass. In the center of the gun was teal lettering. The word 'dehydrate' was spelled out in the middle with '-stroy' above it and '-compress' below it.

"See?" he asked. "I call it a de-gun. I twist the dial here and it changes the settings. I keep it on dehydrate because it's the most useful and generally the safest." He turned the dial to demonstrate and she saw other words flash by '-bilitate,' '-moralize,' '-coupage,' '-regulate,' and '-ath ray' before it came back to '-stroy.'

"Hold up. Does that say 'death ray?'" she asked. She had always thought he was mostly harmless. Why does he have a death ray setting on his gun?

"Oh, that setting merely renders a person temporarily unconscious. 'Deconsciousness' sounds too ridiculous for one of my terrifying inventions. So it says 'death ray' instead," he explained. She gave a mental sigh of relief that she hadn't misjudged him after all.

"Too ridiculous? Unlike decoupage?" she asked.

"That's mostly for Minion. But it's also useful if I want to make sure a dehydration cube doesn't rehydrate. It's a sealant of sorts," he explained. Her curiosity was getting the better of her and she brought a hand up and ran it along the gun while it was still balanced in his hand.

"It really is beautiful," she told him while tracing some of the inlaid gold designs.

"I can make you one," he said softly and a little shyly with a blush. "With just the dehydration function if you want. For protection."

"I'd like that," she said just as softly. She was surprised that she actually meant it too. Most guys offer jewelry and he offers a ray gun. She brought a hand up to his cheek and turned his face towards her. She was a little caught off-guard by the intensity of emotions she could see in his eyes. She reached over and kissed him softly. He set the gun down on the table and rested his hand on top of hers.

"Oh, Roxanne," he whispered reverently when she pulled away. She smiled softly at him and ran her hand from his cheek down to his sharp chin and back up. "I'm still having difficulty believing that we're here," he confessed.

"It's different," she agreed and then continued, "but I think it feels right." She kissed him again. When she pulled away she said, "We should probably finish this lovely dinner before it gets cold."

"You're not wrong, of course," he said. He moved his plate closer to him instead of moving his chair back to the other side of the table. They continued with their meal teasing each other and exchanging lingering little touches. Once they finished, the brainbots came back and cleared away the dishes, table, and the chairs.

When they exited the aquarium, Roxanne slid her arm beneath his cape and let her hand rest on Megamind's lower back and leaned into him as they walked the path. Being careful of his spikes of course. He tensed initially, but soon relaxed and moved one of his hands around to her waist and pulled her closer.

"So… touch is a bit of an issue, huh?" Roxanne asked gently. It hadn't escaped her notice, but she hadn't wanted to bring it up before.

"A…a little. Yeah," he admitted quietly.

"Do…Is that a choice? Have I been making you uncomfortable?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"NO! No, oh evil gods below, no, Roxanne!" Megamind raised his voice in a slight panic. Then continued a bit more subdued, "I just… I'm not used to it is all. It…It's been a long time…"

"How long has it been? If you don't mind me asking, anyway."

He gave her a slight squeeze in answer and replied in a rather matter-of-fact voice, "It's been approximately thirty-four years, four months, and fifteen days."

"Oh my god! Megamind!" she stopped in shock pulling him to a stop too.

"Yes, Roxanne?" he asked, and she could swear she saw slight confusion in his eyes.

"That's terrible!" she told him.

"No, it was quite nice," he replied with a fond smile. "It is a shame that so much time has passed between then and now though."

"That was the part I meant when I called it terrible, you goofy genius," she said with exasperation.

"Oh, I see. Well honestly, Roxanne, it's really not a good idea to be touchy-feely in prison," he explained while twiddling his fingers in the air at her.

"What about before prison?" she asked.

"I told you already," he tilted of his head with a small look of confusion.

"What?" she felt like she was missing something.

"There was the last time I was touched, there was prison, and now you," he explained slowly and holding up a finger for each point.

"You've been in prison for thirty-four years," she said sarcastically.

"Of course not, Roxanne," he explained patiently, "We escaped when I was about fifteen. Since then I've stayed out more often than not."

"You escaped when you were fifteen? When did you get put in? Shouldn't you have been in Juvie?" she asked.

"We arrived at the prison thirty-four years, four months and fourteen days ago. That's where we grew up," he shrugged.

"You can't grow up in a prison!" she exclaimed in a shocked voice. How could anyone do that to a little boy?

"In point of fact, yes you can, my dear Roxanne."

"Didn't any social workers try to get you into foster care?" she asked.

"It never came up. And from what I understand, I probably did better staying in the prison than I would have if I went into 'the system.' I was fed, clothed, sheltered, had my own bed, and most of the time was protected from others. And I was able to protect Minion, until I could build him a decent suit," he told her.

"My poor supervillain. I'm even more amazed by how sweet you turned out," she said and gave him a squeeze.

"Ee-vil is not sweet, Roxanne," he reminded her.

"As long as you stay sweet to me, the rest will sort itself out."

"How's this?" he asked, then turned her towards him and kissed her.

"Perfect," she murmured when they pulled away. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him again. When they pulled back she asked, "Can I give you a massage tonight when we get back?"

"I'd like that," he murmured and pulled her back in for another kiss. They spent a few minutes deepening their kisses until they were both panting. "Want to come back to my place?" he asked slightly teasingly.

"I thought you'd never ask," she replied with a smile. They both headed to the exit to meet Minion for their ride back to the lair.