He hadn't suspected that he would have spent so much time meeting Roxanne's parents, so Megamind was genuinely surprised when he saw the sun was already setting beyond the far horizon as he walked along the side street. The area was the cusp of the city, that friendly, relaxed atmosphere of the suburbs meshing with the harsh, massive feeling that cities tended to give off if they were especially huge, like Metro City was.

The long shadows of the tall multi-storey buildings fell over Megamind as he continued to walk, following his gut instinct that was telling him where to go. Well, to be technical it was telling him where notto go, trying to alert him to the fact there was danger to the right so maybe we should go left. Normally it took a recorded sighting, or suspicious activity to call Megamind out to a job. Up until recently that had been the norm, but nowadays...

Megamind was just turning a corner when he fell backwards, slamming his back up against the wall at what he had just seen around the corner. A child had lain there on the ground on her back, eyes wide and dead, while something huge and hungry was feasting on her blood and flesh. He had years of experience dealing with vampires, with the monsters of the world, yet the alien had never grown accustomed to seeing children being involved in it. The man had seen his fair share of slain children and it always made him feel irrationally disgusted and angry… and that was before he had become a father-to-be.

His mind suddenly flashed with the image of a child, like him, with blue skin, being attacked by a vampire. It filled him with a sense of both dread, and utter rage. There was no time for banter or taking his time, the time for that was long gone. He unsheathed his sword and ran around the corner, silver blade glinting in the streetlight, and struck the beast against its back.

It screamed and jumped out of the way of the blade as its blood pooled from the open wound on its shoulder, and turning its head, red eyes glared at Megamind. Rich, thick blood still clotted its jaws and mouth, and pieces of fabric clung between its teeth. The alien felt sickened, and when the beast had gathered enough of its senses to attempt an attack on him his sword moved with swift, definite purpose. His Father's sword hadn't been too far out of reach ever since he had first acquired it over a month ago, the only material object left after the death of the man who raised him. It worked beautifully, so much so that sometimes Megamind would romanticize the notion that it could remember all the techniques it had been used with, and knew how to kill and could do it alone if it didn't need to be held.

All silly notions of course, since a sword was a sword and was a tool for a man or women to use, not the other way around.

"Monster. Monster. Monster..!" Megamind kept repeating every time his blade came in contact with the animal, which didn't seem capable of processing the fact it was bleeding from so many wounds. It suddenly got a good swing in, and Megamind felt the wind knocked out of him as its massive paw came in contact with his stomach. His footing hadn't been right, his anger had opened him up to attack, and now he paid for it. He went rolling like a rag doll tossed aside by a spoiled child. But he stopped himself and got to his feet, only suffering from a fresh, purple bruise growing beneath his clothes.

The changeling was crouching now, ready for another leaping attack. He could read its body language as if it was singing to him, yet how had he missed the giant paw coming at him? Why was his mind so cloudy? A glance reminded him, since he saw the dead little girl there on the floor, her blood staining her simple creamy-orange dress. Even her hair, rich and blonde, was stained with blood and from here he could see the expression that would be forever frozen on her face. Pure, never-ending terror.

Having enough, Megamind ducked down as the beast leapt at him, and plunged the sword into the chest of the vampire. A cracking noise filled the air, a shattered chest plate pierced flesh, and blood splashed onto Megamind as he pushed the beast off. He staggered back, breathing hard, as the creature began to turn to ash and, naturally, cling to his clothes. Normally he would complain and moan about it but tonight he couldn't.

He hated to do it, but he looked across at the dead little girl, and felt sick.

"Why?" he asked aloud. The poor girl. Her poor parents. Her poor family. Now they would have to cook up the idea of a killer on the loose, the police would get involved, and the parents would never truly know what happened to their daughter. She would remain an unsolved case for the rest of time, her only true reason for dying would be known secretly, locked away forever.

"I hate this," Megamind announced quietly. "I HATE THIS," he echoed, louder.

"So why do you do it?"

The voice startled him and he spun around, sword at the ready and eyes wide. It sounded like it belonged to a woman, but a woman whose voice was being heard from down a long, dark hallway. He half expected to see a speaker sitting somewhere but, instead, he saw a... shape of a woman sitting in the shadows a few feet from him. Had she always been there? Why wasn't she screaming? Wouldn't any old woman scream at seeing a man fighting a big black beast who was feasting on a dead child? Something was wrong.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"No one of importance. Yet," she answered, her beady, twinkling eyes staring out at him from the darkness in which she surrounded herself. "A monster, you called her," the old woman continued, gesturing to the ash which was once a vampire.

"In case you haven't noticed, grandma, she was eating a child." Megamind frowned.

"She was eating to survive," said the woman.

"Survive? So that makes it all right for her to just... just... look at her!" Megamind turned, and gestured to the little girl. "She had a life ahead of her! She could have made a difference, now... now it's gone. All lost because some stupid monster got hungry! And what do you know of it? Huh? Are you one of them?" He suddenly had his sword ready, watching the shape of the old woman.

"Put that sword down," she hissed, but not out of fear but annoyance. "I'm no threat to you."

"Who are you? What are you?" Megamind asked, not making a move to lower the sword.

"Somebody who knows what you are. That skin you wear is not your own."

Megamind froze.

"The world should see your skin for what it is." She smiled in the darkness, and he could barely make out a single tooth in her gummy mouth.

"You aren't a part of the Family..." so how would she know him? Was she a spy? If so, for who? The vampires? Government? Surely not, the government was well aware of the Family's populace so there's no reason to spy. She had to be working for the vampires, and that idea made him lift his sword all over again. "Tell me who you are. Now!"

"So rude. I would have thought your Father would have raised you better. You're becoming quite the monster, yourself."

"I am nota monster," Megamind shot back.

"Denial."

"I'm warning you, old woman..."

"Anger."

Megamind said nothing. His eyes remained narrowed, but his sword slowly began to lower. "Monster?" he asked.

"You'll see,"smiled the woman.

He was about to ask what she was talking about, but there was a sudden whooshing noise in the air. It was so loud, it sounded as though a jet engine had suddenly roared to life right next to him. He covered his ears and shut his eyes tightly, and bent over somewhat to shield himself from the gust of wind that he could hear, yet not feel. When the noise abruptly ended, Megamind looked to where the woman had been sitting but she was gone. Rushing forward he reached out to where she been, but found no evidence she had been there at all. Not even the warmth of her body against the wall.

Roxanne watched as he reappeared from where he had vanished into the shadows, and she could plainly see from the look on his face things hadn't gone well. He looked like he was in one piece, which was a good thing, so she unlocked the door and got out of the car to greet him. "What happened?" she asked softly.

He said nothing, at first.

"Megamind?" Roxanne spoke softly, reaching out to him and touching his shoulders. "Honey, what happened?"

"Can you drive?" he asked quietly. "I just. I need to... not drive."

"Sure I can but what...?" She allowed him to get into the passenger seat and set his sword in the back while she moved around to the driver's side. Roxanne had seen all kinds of varying expressions on the blue man when he came back from a hunt. Sometimes he was victorious, or sad, shaken, proud, smug and all manner of feelings, but today he looked... absolutely shattered.

"It wasn't good," Megamind said as she began to drive, looking out of the window. "It was a changeling."

"Oh dear." Roxanne knew them. How could you forget them when one had come crashing through your window and tried to strangle you?

"She-it. It had killed a child."

Roxanne looked at him, eyes wide, before remembering where she was. She went back to driving, color draining from her face. "Oh God. No."

"It wasn't... wasn't pretty. I had to draw people's attention to her. Had to disguise myself as a woman to get people running to find her and then just.. change again to get away before someone suspected me. It's always hard, when it's a child but given recent developments..." Megamind trailed into silence. Roxanne didn't have to ask what he was getting at, she too had felt a powerful up rise of emotions at the fact the victim had been a child and she didn't have to wonder why.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, wanting to reach out and offer him proper condolences, but she couldn't. They were still very far from home.

Not as much as he was. If he had been quicker, if he hadn't been in such a daze and allowed his instincts take over, he could have been there to save the little girl. She wouldn't be just another statistic, another unsolved murder in a city like this, she could be alive. He had failed her, and Megamind never liked feeling a failure. On top of that he had the words of that woman still ringing in his mind. Becoming a monster? What did she mean by that? He wasn't a monster, he was an alien. There were differences, striking ones at that. He worked on the good side, but maybe she was a baddie all along and to her anyone who slew her brethren was a monster? There were too many questions and no answers to be found.

The rest of the drive was done in silence, because even if the meeting of Megamind and Roxanne's family had gone well, the death of a child could destroy any positive a person could feel with little effort whatsoever.

Bernard easily picked up that something was wrong when Roxanne and Megamind came home. The alien looked on edge and worried, while Roxanne looked concerned. Her hand was in his and she was speaking softly to him, and Bernard really didtry to control himself and not listen to the conversation from his place across the dining room.

"-it's not your fault. It's not right to blame yourself. All right?" Roxanne was saying.

"I know."

"Knowing is one thing, accepting is another," she replied gently. "Go upstairs and try and unwind a bit, all right? I'll be up soon."

The blue man nodded and they shared a quick kiss before he vanished up the stairs. Bernard watched as Roxanne walked into the room and collapsed into a chair, groaning as she did.

"Family meeting not go according to plan?" Bernard asked, since he could only assume that's what had happened. "Didn't your folks like him?"

"Hn?" Roxanne lifted her head and spotted Bernard, having not even seen him since she had been so caught up in her thoughts. "Oh, no. No." She shook her head, and placed a hand against her temple. "They love him. Daddy likes him, Mum adores him and even my sisters have found something in him which they like..."

"So why the long face?" he asked.

"Something happened on the way home." Roxanne sat up slightly and told him what had happened. That Megamind had picked up on a vampire's location, somehow, and had sent off to investigate only to find a mangled body of a child and a changeling feasting on her. He of course had defeated the beast, but felt horrible that a little girl had died. Megamind knew the war wasn't really over; even if Dracula was well and truly done with there were still the leftovers. Vampires still roamed, still feasted frequently, and had to be dealt with accordingly.

Bernard sighed, and lowered his glasses to clean them on his blue turtleneck.

"Nothing much to be said about that," he said.

"Huh?" Roxanne asked.

"There's casualties all the time. I know I sound like a cold-hearted prick, but it happens. Kids have died at the hands of monsters like vampires and.. well, me, for centuries," Bernard said.

"You're not a monster like them-" she started.

"No, stop," he snapped, holding up his hand and snapping his fingers shut as if he were a puppeteer. "I am. I'm only safe to you, Wayne, and Megamind. Anyone else I might run into will be out of all sorts of luck, and that includes children. Especially children." He pulled back, and replaced his glasses. "They would scream and run, making me want to chase them. I know you guys have accepted me for what I am, but nobody else would. And you have no idea how grateful I am of not only that, but the fact I've never killed a person."

Roxanne looked at him sadly, before getting up from the couch, and went over to the man and lazily slung her arms around his shoulders. "Oh Bernard..."

"Hey hey hey. I don't do cuddles," Bernard whined, trying to squirm away from her.

"Don't fight it. Shhhhhh."Roxanne smiled faintly as she held him against her tightly, and felt the man sigh and finally give in.

"You're lucky you're my friend and pregnant or I'd be flailing like a wet cat," he grumbled.

"I know you would," she soothed, petting his head as if he were a pet dog.

"Hrrrrrr," Bernard growled playfully, even if his expression didn't change. He suddenly paused, and pressed his head closer to her stomach, narrowing an eye. "Huh."

"What?" Roxanne asked, looking down at him.

"How soon is it that you're supposed to be able to hear heart beats?" he asked.

"Uh. I don't... what?" she was confused and it showed.

"I think I can hear the baby's heartbeat already," Bernard told her, pulling back. "Course, that's thanks to my exquisite hearing and my ear being right up against you but... I swear I could hear it."

Roxanne stared at him blankly, before placing her hand over her stomach. She was just barely seven weeks into her pregnancy, but surely it would take longer for the heart beat to be heard on monitors and by doctors. Unless... unless the fact that Megamind was an alien had enhanced the growth rate of the baby growing inside her? Just how long did his species gestate for? Were they small babies, or regular sized? What if they gestated really fast and were both only after a few months instead of nine? These thoughts made her feel uneasy, and she felt a strong urge to go to the library right now in town and find herself a pregnancy book to check against despite knowing she could find the information on the internet instantly.

She couldn't help it; she preferred the familiarity of a book compared to a computer keyboard and screen.

"I've worried you now. Sorry," Bernard said, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. "It's just, I heard it. Pretty fast, too."

"Fetus heart beats are meant to be fast... at least at first..." Roxanne mumbled as her hands rubbed her still-flat stomach. "At least I think so..." Why hadn't she gone about getting a book sooner? She'd been so preoccupied with work and Megamind being sick she hadn't time to go get one.

"Well, they're smaller so I can only assume they'd beat faster," Bernard admitted before getting to his feet suddenly, and nudged her. "Come on, let's go set your heart at ease."

"Huh?" she asked.

"We're going to go get you a book of course. My place?" he asked with a wry smile, of course meaning his precious library.

"I can't, Megamind..." Roxanne looked towards the stairs. "He really needs me right now."

"Megamind's a big boy and I'm sure he's handled this kind of thing before. This isn't a first," Bernard said before nodding, understanding either way. "But I get you. How about I go get them, and you go coddle over your alien boyfriend?"

"Sounds like a plan." She smiled. "Thank you, Bernard."

"No problem."

When Roxanne opened the door to her and Megamind's shared bedroom she saw he had allowed his sword to drop to the floor, a sure sign he wasn't his usual self since that sword was normally given the kind of respect one would expect to find given to a powerful individual. Roxanne knelt and picked up the sword before looking to her boyfriend, who was lying face down on the bed, arms covering the back of his head. His suit jacket had been taken off and tossed aside, as had his shoes.

"What did I tell you about putting your things away?" Roxanne asked softly, with a small smile, trying to diffuse the tension in the air.

"Sorry," Megamind mumbled, blankets muffling his voice.

"I'll forgive you today," she said as she placed the sword amongst its brethren before putting away his jacket and shoes, and promptly joined him on the bed. Roxanne eased herself down beside him, and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Come on, Megamind... I know it isn't easy but you can't blame yourself for every wrong that happens. It's too much responsibility, you know that..."

Megamind strained a noise out from between his mouth and the blankets before turning his head to look at her, eyes looking so very tired. "It's my job to protect this city, Roxanne... it's my job to make sure nobody dies because of these monsters and... and I didn't, I couldn't..."

"Don't talk that way," Roxanne scowled. "You've saved hundreds, if not thousands of people not only here but the world over by destroying their leader. He would have feasted on people forever, until the sun dies, but you stopped him. By rights you've saved so many people. I know it's sad, and horrible, that a little girl died but you made sure her attacker paid for it. Do you know how many murders go unsolved in this world, Megamind? Too many. Far, far too many. But you ensured the creature that killed her faced the only justice they deserved: death. Now, the Megamind I know wouldn't sit in a room feeling sorry for himself, he would be up and making sure the kill was recorded in our system, that his Father's sword is clean, and be fully aware that his girlfriend is so very, very proud of him."

She stroked the back of his head gently as she spoke, smiling down at him with a determined glint in her eye. Megamind needed a little pick me up, and she was not going to be one to deny him one. "I love you. I love you so, so much. Combine that with how proud I am of you..." she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his temple, shutting her eyes as she did. "Nothing will ever change that."

He smiled, despite himself, and finally rolled so he could wrap his arms around her, and pulled Roxanne in close. "I love you so much. I hate being like this. I hate being overly emotional. I never used to sulk and whine like this I don't know what's happening," Megamind mumbled as she held him just as tightly.

"Maybe you're having emotional rides like I am?" Roxanne asked playfully. "Most pregnant women get emotional outbursts... maybe you're picking it up?"

"Hah. Maybe..." Megamind said on a small laugh before kissing her neck. "Thank you."

Roxanne wanted to ask him about his kind's pregnancies, wanting to have her own heart set at ease but she didn't know if it was the right time. It didn't feel like it; he had a rough time fighting that vampire, and she didn't want to add onto his stress and make him worry over the baby growing inside of her. Bernard was getting her a book, and who knows, maybe Minion would have a better idea than Megamind did? He was older than Megamind after all, by a few years, so maybe he knew more about these kinds of things...? She hoped so.

His arms around her, though, and his breath against her neck did bring some semblance of calm to her worried mind and she sighed wistfully as she let her eyes slip shut.

Little was she aware of just how much was running through the alien's large, blue head. While the death of the girl had been heart breaking, his mind was racing at that old woman sitting in the shadows, and her dark, eerie words that caused him worry. What had she meant? Would he see her again? What was she? A witch? She hadn't been a vampire, just how he knew that he didn't know but in his heart of hearts the woman hadn't posed a threat as great of that belonging to a vampire and yet still... she had brought on a sense of fear he hadn't felt in ages.

He just hoped questions would present themselves sooner, rather than later.

To be continued