Chapter 14

Megamind woke up suddenly in a cold sweat with a startled gasp. He jumped slightly when he felt arms tighten around him. His eyes quickly darted about the darkened room and he realized that he was in his bed and Roxanne was with him. His breathing slowed as the panic subsided and he relaxed. As much as he hated to admit it, he usually had nightmares for a few days any time he thought about the fateful day when his parents placed Minion and him in that pod.

He wasn't quite sure why he told Roxanne his early history the previous evening. He had never told anyone, but then no one had been really interested before. That and he was never comfortable just coming out and saying he was an alien. He was ostracized enough without that fact being bandied about. And he didn't feel alien. He was raised here for Watson and Crick's sake! At least she listened and didn't treat him any different after he told her an abbreviated version of his story.

When they arrived back at Evil Lair, he retired early and to his surprise Roxanne joined him. She was still in his bed with her arms wrapped around him. He was wide awake now and just knew if he fell asleep again another nightmare would be waiting to pounce. Yet he was reluctant to get out of bed and disturb Roxanne's slumber. He checked the time and saw he had only slept for two hours and thirty-three minutes. That was plenty of sleep for his own alien physiology, but not for the woman sleeping in his arms.

He sighed knowing that he would not be able to just lay still for a minimum of another three to four hours and started gently trying to extract himself from the bed. He had to freeze a couple times as Roxanne made a sound of protest, but he finally managed to get out of the bed without waking her. He quietly padded out of the room and gently closed the door behind him.

Megamind decided to find Minion and talk to him. Any time either of them started thinking of their origins, they typically shared with the other. Of course that made both of them a little melancholy for a while, but it helped them recover quicker in the long run. He didn't find Minion in any of the usual locations, so he headed to the basement where they had set up two incredibly large tanks for him to leave his suit and stretch his fins when the mood hit him.

Megamind entered the basement and immediately spotted Minion's empty suit standing next to the freshwater tank. They had modeled the tanks after the ones they observed in the aquarium and they each had a flourishing ecosystem inside. The fish they added to the tanks were all typically small breeds that would allow Minion to have a plentiful supply of snacks in addition to adding life to the tanks.

"Minion?" he called as he got closer to the tank. It was harder to communicate when Minion was in the tank since they opted not to install the same speaker system as on his suit. They didn't want to disturb all the other fish in the tank, even if they were just a mobile food source for his friend. He saw Minion swim toward him and even do a little flip. Megamind smiled at his friend's antics. Minion said something he couldn't hear, but it looked like he asked him to come inside the tank. That's where they usually talked when they were in this room, but Megamind always waited for permission since he considered this Minion's area.

He stripped out of his pajamas and entered the freshwater tank by a platform they had built expressly for this purpose. He opted to skip the scuba tank because he suspected he wouldn't be submerged for too long. He sat on the edge and took several deep breaths to fill all the chambers of his lungs with fresh air then sank into the tank. As soon as he entered the lukewarm water he heard Minion's voice.

"Sir! I wasn't expecting to see you again this evening," Minion said as he swam circles around Megamind.

"Sleep proved to be difficult tonight. I'm surprised to see you in the freshwater tank this close to your saltwater cycle," Megamind thought at him. They weren't sure why it was, but if they were both submerged in the same body of water, Minion could hear Megamind's thoughts. Not the random thoughts that typically run non-stop through his head, but thoughts that were focused towards Minion. It let them communicate when normally they would be hindered by Megamind's air-breathing lungs.

They swam lazily through the water with Megamind doing a few flips of his own just enjoying the floating sensation swimming always gave him. Minion replied, "It's not quite as brakish as I need it to be, but I'm not ready for the saltwater tank either. I just felt like a swim. I won't be in long enough to hurt myself," he promised.

"See that you don't. No having to recover from injuries during our vacation, remember?"

"Of course, Sir." They continued swimming in silence for a while before Minion asked, "Is something wrong, Boss?"

Megamind sighed, which was expressed by several air bubbles escaping his mouth, and replied, "I had the dream again."

"Oh, Sir," Minion said sympathetically.

"Roxanne asked why we chose not to celebrate my birthday or Christmas and I told her. Well… an abbreviated version anyway. It's… difficult… talking about it out loud. It makes the memories just that much more vivid. And while I'll always treasure that last image of my parents, I can do without the rest," he admitted and allowed himself to sink further in the water. He hovered over a broken-looking column that was resting at the bottom of the tank. Minion enjoyed the look of 'ancient ruins' inside his tanks and the freshwater one held the fake Roman ruins.

"I have an idea. Why don't we make up a portrait of your parents? That way you can see them but not have to remember everything from that day," Minion suggested.

"I'm terrible at painting, you know that. And besides, all the memories are tied up together. I don't think I'd be able to separate them."

"But you're good at sketching, Sir. I could paint it afterwards if you tell me the general colors. And don't forget, you had seven other days with them. Maybe you can recall one of those days instead! If you don't think it'll work, you could at least try it with a small drawing for a little while," Minion continued.

"Maybe I will, Minion." They floated in silence a little longer before Megamind thought again, "It just doesn't make sense to me, Minion! Black holes don't just appear out of nowhere! There must have been some kind of warning. Granted, no one tells a baby everything, but I don't recall much panic before that last day. But there had to be some sort of suspicion, or why would they have that pod ready for us?"

"Sir, you know Earth doesn't have the same knowledge our peoples did. We obviously had some knowledge of intergalactic travel or we would never have made it to Earth. And we know the humans don't have that knowledge. Do you really think they would know everything about how a black hole forms?" Minion asked.

"And since I gained my knowledge here and through my own observations, of course it wouldn't make sense. But why have the pod ready and on standby? Why weren't there others? The only other pod we saw leaving the sector belonged to Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes."

"This is all speculation of course, but maybe one of your relatives shared your tendency to plan for the unexpected and crafted the pod in their own Evil Lair 'just in case.'"

"That… actually makes a great deal of sense… I could see myself doing something similar if I had the knowledge to do so," he admitted as he thought about it. "But I would like to think that I would include some kind of message to the infant inside," he grumbled.

"I know what you mean, Sir," Minion fluttered his fins in a sigh, "At least you remember your parents," he continued sadly.

"I know, Tu'Var…" he invoked Minion's true name with sympathy. He brushed his fingers gently across the top of Minion's body in a comforting gesture. "We still have each other," he continued.

Minion's dorsal ridges lit up momentarily in response and he replied quietly, "Thank you, Mulzakai," saying Megamind's real name in return. They swam quietly for a few minutes, both lost in thought. Eventually Minion cleared his throat and changed the subject, "How's it going with Miss Ritchi, Sir?"

"Surprising well, Minion," Megamind thought to him and his eyes lit up in excitement. "I am increasingly delighted and shocked that she has yet to return to her apartment and her boringly normal life. Perhaps tonight I'll invite her to move into the Lair permanently. What do you think?"

"I think it's a fantastic idea, Sir. I suggested it a few days ago and she said no, but it's a good idea to keep the offer open."

"She said no?" Megamind asked, suddenly worried.

"It sounded like a half-hearted protest at best, Sir, and I didn't want to press. And she may be more willing to accept the offer from you than from me," Minion explained.

"I see…" he accepted the explanation and continued with another thought, "Did Uncle Vinny mind that we postponed the use of his restaurant until tonight?" 'Uncle' Vinny was one of the many inmates that helped raise both Megamind and Minion that they still kept tabs on. He currently ran a family-owned Italian restaurant and kept his nose mostly clean these days.

"Not much, Sir. The time between my phone calls to tell him to set it up and to postpone it were pretty close together, so he hadn't had time to prepare anything. He said that he would have everything ready for us at ten or so tonight. He's going to close early so we'll have to place to ourselves."

"Excellent work, Min-yon!" Megamind congratulated.

"It's nothing, Sir," Minion brushed off. "I think I'm ready to get out now, if you don't mind," he continued.

"Of course," Megamind thought towards Minion and proceeded to swim to the access ladder so he could also get out of the tank. He exhaled the stale air remaining in his lungs as he dried himself off with a towel he kept nearby for just such an occasion. While he was busy, Minion had gone through the air-lock type system they had installed so he could move himself from the suit to the tank and back again without assistance.

Megamind gathered his discarded pajamas and told Minion, "I'm going to grab a shower. Try to get some rest; it's still the middle of the night."

"You read my mind, Sir. Call if you need anything," he replied as his little castle rose up from the inside of his suit. Megamind watched as Minion backed up into it and then both he and the castle sunk down again.

Megamind left the basement and made his way to his bedroom. He stopped before opening the door as he realized that Roxanne was still asleep inside and he was clad only in a pair of wet underwear and a towel. He looked at the mostly dry pajamas in his hand and then back at the door in indecision. He felt unclean after swimming in the fish tank and didn't particularly want to put clothes on until he showered. Surely she wouldn't wake up in the time it would take to grab some fresh clothes and walk to the bathroom. And it was dark inside, so that would hinder her vision if she did happen to wake up. He didn't think he was comfortable potentially showing that much blue skin to her.

He took a steadying breath. This was his room after all. There shouldn't be any reason he couldn't walk through half-naked if he wanted. Even if Roxanne is currently occupying the same space…

Megamind cautiously opened the door. He kept his body hidden with the door frame and stuck his head inside. He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed Roxanne was still asleep in the bed. He quietly crept into the room and silently shut the door behind him. In the darkened room, he walked unerringly to his dresser. It took him years to figure out that he could see better in the dark better than other people on this planet. It definitely helped when he was just starting out his criminal career.

He quietly located clean clothes and made sure not to shut the drawers all the way to keep all noise to a minimum. He just knew that she was awake and watching him, but he put it down to his normal paranoia. Which had been frustratingly inactive around Roxanne lately. He knew he shouldn't be quite as open with Roxanne quite this quickly, but it seemed right at the time. It was only Minion's reactions or just looking back on it later that he realized what he'd revealed. Maybe talking it over with Minion would help shed some light on the situation.

He turned and jumped a good four inches when he unexpectedly saw that Roxanne was propped up on one elbow and had indeed been awake and watching him. He reflexively brought the bundle of clothes up against his chest to help hide himself. Then winced as he realized he unintentionally gotten the clean clothes dirty.

"I…I thought you were asleep," he stammered and attempted to keep himself covered and unobtrusively stay in the deepest shadows in that area of the darkened room.

Roxanne let out a sleepy hum but he could just tell that her eyes were on him. She replied, "I was, but I was having a weird dream. I guess I woke up when I realized you weren't here. Why are you up?" she asked with a yawn.

He firmly kept the fact that he had a nightmare to himself. What self-respecting supervillain admitted to having nightmares, after all? So he forced himself to omit that and said, "I woke up and decided to go for a swim." He scrunched his face and continued, "And now I really need a shower."

"A swim? You have a swimming pool? I really need the official tour," she grumbled. That was true; he hadn't actually given her a tour of the place. It's a wonder she hadn't gotten lost while trying to snoop around.

"Not precisely. Minion has a couple tanks," he admitted. "What was your dream about?" he asked to try to distract her as he edged towards the bathroom door on the other side of the room.

She gave a small snort and admitted, "I guess what you told me last night sank into my subconscious and it sort of inserted me into your role."

One of his eyebrows rose and he stopped his slow progression and asked, "Really? Like what?"

"It's silly," she waved off. "There's no reason to bring it up and get upset over a dream."

"I can assure you that I will not get upset over a dream, Roxanne. I'm curious. What happened?" he pressed.

Roxanne sighed and let her head drop back into her pillow and was now looking at the ceiling. "Fine," she said tiredly. That's right. This conversation was interrupting her natural sleep cycle. "I was just a few days old. Seven or eight days at the most, which is weird, because I think my first actual memory is from when I was four or five years old. My mother picked me up and started running. There was lots of noise and everyone around us was running and screaming too. Everyone but me was wearing some weird silvery-white jumpsuit. Mom handed me to Dad and he put me in a hollow ball-like thing. Mom handed me my kitten, Sassy, saying that she would watch out for me. Then my dad gave me a glowing pacifier and said I was destined for something. The next thing I know, I'm in space. I see the Earth and I guess Mars drop into this hole, but something shot up off of Mars before it disappeared. It catches up to me and I see a baby version of Metro Man in a small spaceship flying beside me. He made a face at me, and then I woke up."

Megamind could only stare at her in shocked silence. Those were some pretty specific details of the last day on his planet that he hadn't told her. Granted, her dream interwove her own life and perceptions into it, but that was his history. Eventually he opened and closed his mouth a couple times to say something but it refused to come out.

"Megamind?" she asked after the silence stretched out for longer than was comfortable. She rose up on her elbow again and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Wha… How did you do that!?" he spluttered.

"Do what?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"Excusing a few minor details that was drawn from your own brain to fill in the gaps, that was exactly what happened the day our planet was destroyed. Right down to my father giving me my binky," he told her disbelievingly. "You didn't hear what your father said you were destined for because the door on the pod shut while he was talking, am I correct?"

Her eyes opened wider, "That's what my dad called the pacifier in my dream… And yes! When the door shut it cut off what he was saying. But... that… that really happened? Even baby Metro Man? He's an alien too?" He gave her a slow nod and she continued, "But… why? That doesn't make sense."

He approached the bed, momentarily forgetting about his current state of undress. He sat on the edge and looked at her. "I don't know if this has any relevy-ance, but I also dreamed about that day earlier tonight."

Roxanne sat up and gripped his hand. "So we just happened to have the same dream? I mean, it's understandable for you to have it. It's part of your personal history and all, and you told me about it earlier. But why did I share it? I'm not psychic or anything." She gave him a little sideways look and asked suspiciously, "Are you?"

He laughed and squeezed her hand, "Miss Ritchi, if I had a superpower other than my amazing intellect do you really think I would keep it secret? Just imagine how I could terrify the masses if I had access to psychic powers!"

"Ok, ok. Point taken," she conceded. "So… what's going on, Mr. Amazing Intellect?" she asked.

He quickly ran through situations in his head and just as quickly rejected them, then sighed and rested his head in his hands. It was just like Minion and their discovery of his water cycles all over again. Maybe not as potentially deadly, but just as confusing as when that situation first arose. "I don't know, Roxanne," he finally admitted in defeat. "I can only assume it's somehow my fault and I apologize."

"Oh stop that," she said a little sharply. He jerked his head up in surprise and looked at her. "So, I had nearly the same dream you did. That's nothing to apologize for. Kidnapping me on a regular basis for years on end would be, and I haven't heard that one yet. Maybe tomorrow you'll dream about how I forgot all my lines in the middle of performing the fifth grade play. It was absolutely mortifying."

He smirked and replied, "I can't apologize for the kidnappings. You were vital to my ee-vil schemes, so how can I be sorry?" Not to mention at the time it was the only way to be in her presence, even if only for a short while.

She gently placed her hands on either side of his face and touched her forehead to his which instantly soothed his emotions. "Exactly," she agreed with a small smile. "We'll figure it out together, ok? Team Megamind?"

"Oh, Roxanne," he breathed out reverently. He still had problems believing she was really here sometimes. Megamind gently placed his hands on her bare shoulders, exposed by yet another spaghetti-strap tank top. He swallowed nervously and said, "I recognize this is neither the ideal time nor place, but would it be outside the realm of possible-lity to inquire if you would consider relocating to Evil Lair on a non-temporary basis?"

She gave him a gentle smile and answered, "Aww, that's cute. Your words get in the way when you're nervous. I think you just asked me to move in with you?"

He nodded his head as her hands slid from the sides of his face around to the back of his very bare neck. He shivered at the sensation. One of her fingers started tracing the line of his extremely sensitive neck and that's when his brain short circuited. The entire world narrowed to that finger on the back of his neck and the jolts of pleasure that traveled straight to his groin. He vaguely realized that she was speaking, but couldn't focus on the words. Shortly thereafter he discovered that at some point he had stopped breathing and was now in need of air. He let out a loud gasp to draw in a fresh breath and finally managed to eke out, "Hands….please…. move…. can't…."

Instantly both of Roxanne's hands and her forehead left his body and he was able to think clearly again. As he caught his breath he heard her say, "Oh my God! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?"

He laughed softly and stealthily grabbed a nearby pillow to hold over his lap. "No, no. Quite the opposite actually. I'm, ah, extremely sensitive there," he admitted. He cleared his throat and said, "Could you repeat what you said while I was…erm… distracted?"

She raised an eyebrow and not so subtly looked down at the pillow in his lap with a smirk. He felt his face flush instantly. That temptress! He could tell that several not-quite pure thoughts were racing through her mind. She finally looked back up at him with that self-satisfied smirk firmly in place and replied, "I said I was actually thinking of asking you about it, so yes. I'll move in." He smiled broadly in response as she leaned over and kissed him.

He happily returned the kiss and felt her hands trail up his bare chest. He had forgotten that he was currently topless, but he wasn't worried about it at the moment. He shifted around to face her better then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her a little closer. Roxanne moaned and moved one hand around to rub his back and the other slipped to the back of his head. She deepened the kiss and pulled him towards her as she leaned back on the bed. He followed and soon found himself laying on top of his Roxanne. When she pulled back for air, he smiled as he realized that they shouldn't be interrupted this time and didn't mind at all when her hands once again strayed to his neck.

AN: Sorry to disappoint anyone, but I'm sticking to that T rating. Once again, thanks for reading, and of course reviews are always appreciated!