"Roxanne?"
The sound of her name cut through the fog like a knife, but the groggy feeling started to pull her back down again.
"Roxanne, are you alright?"
There was concern in the familiar voice, and fear too. Whose voice was that? She struggled to remember through the haze. It was someone important to her...
"Roxanne, please, wake up..."
Urgency in the voice now. Fingers upon her cheek. She moaned at the touch, reaching up and covering the hand with hers as she smiled slightly.
For some reason it seemed strange to her that her hands were free, but she couldn't remember why. Her brow furrowed at this and she struggled to open her eyes, her brain having difficulty making sense of what was going on. As her eyes slowly and haltingly opened, she saw a large, blue, bald head hovering over hers, its azure surface illuminated only by red emergency lighting. Emerald eyes stared down at her with worry. The sight warmed her inside and she smiled all the more at him, unthinkingly pressing his hand to her cheek.
The wide smile she saw in return melted her heart. "Are you alright?" he asked nervously.
"I think so," she managed to answer softly in a hoarse voice as the world slowly came back to her. She looked into those brilliant eyes as he stared at her, his face a portrait of relief at her answer. A feeling of contentment spread over her body, in spite of the pain she felt in her head.
The pain. It hit hard, suddenly, bringing everything back. She'd hit her head. Because of the explosion. Which had happened while Megamind had kidnapped of her. Again.
Suddenly everything came rushing back and she realized what she was doing. Her serial kidnapper, the city's supervillain, was touching...no, caressing, her face and she was holding his hand there while staring tenderly into his gaze. Her eyes flew wide open in shock and she stiffened, staring up at him apprehensively. Her hand upon his froze.
The blissful look on Megamind's face fled in the space of a heartbeat when he saw her sudden show of surprise and discomfort. His eyes opened just as wide, his face painted with mortification. He quickly withdrew his hand and sat up, blushing from embarrassment. He looked away from her, unable to meet her gaze now.
As his hand left her cheek, part of her cried out at the loss, and she almost grabbed his hand to stop him from taking it away. This shocked her and she bitterly stopped herself from following through on the impulse, chiding herself for being ridiculous. She must have hit her head pretty hard.
Full awareness of their surroundings then hit her like a ton of bricks as her senses took in the rest of the room. She heard several different electronic alarms buzzing over and over as various machines sparked and hissed from the damage they had sustained. Minion's voice was off in the distance, apparently giving orders to brainbots, whom she also heard, their incessant bowging adding to the noise and general calamity. The clamor only made her head throb all the more.
It was then that Roxanne suddenly realized that Megamind was still touching her. Well, sort of. She noticed his other arm stretching down to the other side of her head, but where his hand should have been was cold, not warm. She felt cold on her bruised head. Furrowing her brow, she reached up and touched the ice pack that he was holding to her head, touching his hand that held it there.
"The blast knocked your chair over, you hit your head pretty hard," he explained cautiously, apologetically, as his eyes were drawn back down to hers when she inadvertently touched him. He slowly withdrew his hand while she gingerly took control of the ice bag. Again, she ached at his withdraw, but said nothing. As their hands touched during the transition, her heart hitched. Out of fear of the explosion, she told herself, becoming increasingly confused and annoyed with her own self's repeated betrayal, its serial longing for this man's touch.
Maybe he wasn't as bad as he wanted people to believe, but that didn't mean she felt anything for him.
It absolutely did not, she assured herself.
"What happened?" she asked, her voice still hoarse. The dust and smoke that filled the room caused her to cough and blink a few times. She tried to sit up but failed miserably, the rest of her body not answering her commands just yet. Seeing her struggle, Megamind instinctively reached down to help her sit up, her earlier apparent revulsion to his touch either already forgotten or willingly ignored. Roxanne really didn't care which. She was glad he did. It was because she needed the help, of course.
Not because she liked of the feel of his hands on her back and on her arm.
As he helped her up, the world spun around her, and she gripped his one arm firmly to help keep herself upright. His grip on her tightened instinctively and she realized he was completely supporting her. She looked down at her green, knee-length dress, noting in the back of her mind the covering of dust and debris that resulted from the explosion. She wondered if the building was still structurally sound.
"Something big fell from the sky and crashed a few blocks away, a meteor or something," Megamind answered, his voice laced with serious concern as he watched her with even more worry upon seeing her falter. "Our camera system went down with everything else, so we can't see what's out there. Minion is sending out a brainbot patrol to check it out."
"You untied me," Roxanne suddenly observed, looking up at him with a furrowed brow. Megamind blinked at her words, surprised by her unexpected change of topic.
"You're hurt," he answered simply and incredulously, shrugging as if the answer were blindingly obvious.
They both paused, suddenly finding themselves staring into each others eyes again. Neither seemed to be able to speak.
"Thank you," she replied quietly, her gaze still trapped in his.
He stared at her dumbly, overwhelmed by her showing gratitude to him, of all people.
"Y...you're welcome," he finally stammered in answer, just as softly, neither of them noticing that the distance between them was shrinking, as before.
Suddenly the lights flickered on and computers whirred to life as power was restored, the change immediately followed by a series of brainbot bowgs. Minion's voice rang out. "Sir, the brainbots are closing in, we're about to get video feed of the blast site!"
"Just a minute," Megamind answered with an irate voice as he and Roxanne continued to stare into each other's eyes, but stopped moving closer. She swallowed while staring back at him. Neither of them noticed their faster pulses, nor the way their breathing had quickened.
"You...you should..." Roxanne began in a faltering, cracked voice that trailed off. She cleared her throat awkwardly, but kept her eyes on his.
"Yeah..." he answered with an equally regretful tone, sighing.
He stood to go, unconsciously sliding his hand that was behind her over her back. Roxanne sucked in her breath at the feel of his touch, half closing her eyes. In her current state she couldn't stop herself from grabbing his blue palm as it moved past her line of sight. When had he taken off his gloves, she wondered?
The blue alien stopped abruptly as she grabbed his hand, instantly turning to look back at her as she still sat on the floor.
"T-thank you for untying me," she said hesitantly after a moment of silence. She then flushed in embarrassment as she suddenly realized she'd already thanked him for untying her."...and...f-for the ice pack, I mean," she quickly clarified.
Blue fingers closed around her hand, and a smile lit up his face at her second, more awkward show of appreciation. His smile was brightly reflected in his emerald eyes. Roxanne found herself unable to resist the urge to smile back at him just as warmly, in spite of the pain and her self-consciousness. She silently marvelled at the feel of his bare hand in hers, the sight of their entwined blue and pink skin prominent in her peripheral vision as she stared up into those amazingly green eyes.
"You're very, very welcome," he answered as before, with a serious tone. His hand lingered in hers, squeezing ever so slightly as his thumb rubbed the back of her hand. Her heart raced as they stared at each other and she found herself squeezing back.
"Sirrr," Minion's voice called out with trepidation. "You should really come and look at this..."
A heavy sigh and Megamind daringly squeezed her hand more pronouncedly, winking at her to their mutual surprise. She lifted her eyebrows slightly in shock. Suddenly realizing what he'd done, his eyes flew wide as he abruptly withdrew his hand and turned away, walking briskly over to where Minion stood at a bank of monitors. His gait confessed loudly his own turn of awkward embarrassment.
In spite of herself and their situation, Roxanne giggled at both his spontaneous show of confident affection and the immediate reversion back to his awkward self. She was unable to keep a silly grin off of her face as she watched him from her vantage point halfway across the room.
Shifting her position slightly and moving the ice bag to a better spot on her head, she observed the two aliens. When Megamind had just about reached where Minion stood, he chanced to glance back over his shoulder, his expression a portrait of uncertainty. Roxanne smiled sweetly at him as his gaze found hers, confident blue eyes reflecting the smile she wore upon her lips. Hesitant emerald eyes looked back at her, a cautious smile starting to bloom at the sight they beheld.
They both lingered there for a moment before Minion's voice again broke the moment. "Sir...?" he asked worriedly, more insistently, the fish staring unblinkingly at the monitor before the two aliens. Roxanne couldn't see what was on the display. Minion's large robotic guerilla body completely blocked her view.
Roxanne thought she saw Megamind's chest heave with a frustrated sigh as he tore his gaze away from hers, turning instead to look at the monitor that so captivated his piscean servant.
"What in the...?" the blue man intoned with a loud, shocked voice, his whole demeanor changing to one of apprehension and...fear?
The sudden change filled Roxanne with a certain dread and she stood, or at least tried to stand, the room spinning again at her sudden motion. Grabbing the toppled chair next to her for support, she floundered into a kneeling position, not having managed to rise higher than that. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath to steady herself.
After a moment the world righted itself and with a determined expression she stood fully and walked over to where the two aliens stood gaping at the monitor. Her steps were faltering at first, but she managed to brush past the dizziness she'd first felt and walked quickly over.
Coming to stand beside Megamind, Roxanne glanced at his face, worried at the gaping expression she saw there. Her brows knitted together in concern before turning her gaze to the monitor that inspired such a stunned reaction from her kidnapper. She gasped at the sight, her jaw falling slack.
"What is that?" Roxanne asked breathlessly.
"I...I don't know," Megamind answered humbly.