"I'm sorry, but there's nothing more we can do at this point."
Those being the first words Roxanne, Wayne, Minion and Bernard heard out of Lady's mouth sent waves of horror and shock rippling through their being. The woman obviously saw their emotions clearly as she carefully removed her surgeon's gloves.
"His recovery is going to take a long, long time," she went on to explain, seeing some ease on their faces but not as much as one would have hoped to see. "He sustained some serious injuries both internally and externally. The tissue damage needs to repair itself, and he'll need multiple surgeries on his stomach and shoulder alone to help the process along. Luckily he doesn't need skin grafts, but his skin still needs to be tended to. To be honest we don't know how much pain he will be in if he wakes up, so... so we've put him in a medically induced coma."
"A coma," Wayne echoed that ugly word, not liking the taste of it on his tongue.
"Yes. It's the best we can offer him, to allow his body and mind to rest and recuperate from his ordeal," Lady explained. "We're going to move him to his bedroom where he can remain, and we'll take most of the medical equipment with him, but we always feel that patients do better in familiar environments."
By now Roxanne was already out of her seat and walking around Lady, and pushing open the door to go in and check on the blue man. Lady knew better than to stop her, and knew she had done the right thing to wait until now to come out here to tell them, since her parents and she had already cleaned up inside so when anyone would walk in they wouldn't see any mess or signs of medical equipment.
"How long is he going to have to be in a coma?" Wayne asked as Bernard tried to peer over Lady's shoulder.
"A few weeks at best, and I really have no idea how he managed to remain standing at all, to be honest. His leg was pretty much shattered and most of his ribs are broken too," Lady went on to further explain. "But in the long run, being out of it for so long will be better for his health. When he wakes up, it will probably feel like just a few minutes he's been asleep."
Wayne nodded vaguely, since he had never experienced the 'joy' in having an operation before. He had never gotten sick in his life, or afflicted with anything that may need surgery. In a way he was glad, but another part of him was envious of people who got scars and the like. Then he realized what kind of scarring his brother would have, and he could already imagine him boasting over them once he was well enough to boast.
Roxanne let Lady's parents walk out of the room before walking in herself, and stared in numb shock at Megamind, who was laid out on a bed covered in a white sheet. Most of the color in his cheeks was gone, drained away, and for a moment it almost looked as if he was dead. She reminded herself he was just asleep, and walked closer to the bed before gingerly reached out and touched his only exposed hand that had a drip running into it. She heard herself sniff, though she refused to acknowledge it. He had made it through the operation alive, and in one piece, that's what mattered.
"I am so proud of you," she whispered despite him being asleep. "You did so... so well."
She wondered if she could sit with him, but she remembered he was going to be moved through to his bedroom. Roxanne would stay with him there, keeping away from the calamity of the world outside and sit by his side just as Wayne had done for Bernard.
"Oh jeeze."
Think of the Devil...
Bernard made his way into the room and stood beside her as he looked at the blue man with a grim expression. "Melodramatic isn't it?" he asked.
"Very," she replied with a shaken smile, wrapping her arms around herself loosely. "He certainly knows how to play a situation."
"Even when he's unconscious… That's magic, that is." Bernard smiled faintly and rubbed her shoulder encouragingly. "Don't look so worried. The worst is over and he'll be back to his normal self before we know it."
"I know," Roxanne replied softly before reaching out again, and smoothed his goatee since it didn't look as smooth as she knew he liked it. She felt another emotional shudder rush through her by simply touching him, and groaned. "I'm a mess aren't I?" she asked.
"Total mess," her friend agreed, "But a mess that makes sense. I'd be like this too if I was in your shoes."
"Really?" she asked.
"Well not your actual shoes; heels do nothing for me but you know what I mean don't you?" he asked as he looped his arm around her shoulders now, and pulled her into a one armed embrace. "And Wayne was just like this with me, wasn't he?"
"Mmhm." Roxanne nodded as she placed one of her hands over his. She needed contact to keep her grounded.
"You can't spend all your time with him though," Bernard went on, "You have a job. And family."
"I know," she mumbled. Megamind probably wouldn't want her sitting around and watching him, would he? She didn't know. He had asked so much of her in the past months, but now she wasn't sure what he would expect in this situation. Bernard was right, she had a job and no doubt they would want her on the front lines for the hard hitting news that was sweeping the nation. What of her parents? Her sisters? They had a right to know what was happening to her, and if Megamind's face was now out there could she come out as his girlfriend? Or would it be a media blitz, as if Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt walked into town arm in arm?
Wayne shortly joined them and the three offered help to move the blue alien. In the end it was Wayne to effortlessly moved his brother from the bed to a rolling bed and carried him up the stairs to the man's bedroom. Bernard carried the drip, and Roxanne held the metal frame that it would be suspended from, while Lady helped to ensure he was comfortable in the bed with proper head support and that the blankets weren't too tight or heavy. Minion came in to join them too, and looked like he was about to break down in tears when he saw Megamind like that, but managed to fight through the desire to do so.
He opened the curtains, letting sunlight into the dark room, and fussed around trying to keep himself busy.
They soon left him, though Roxanne chose to spend some time in there with him alone. She understood she couldn't indefinitely stay there, but some time was better than no time. Pulling a big chair over, she sat beside the bed and rubbed at her eyes tiredly. "You threw my world upside down, you know that right?" she asked the sleeping alien. "I used to think I had a hectic life before, but now... god. Aliens. Vampires. Werewolves. Insane. That's what my life is now, all because you had to go and save me and 'forget' to wipe my mind." Roxanne smiled faintly at him, hating how pale he looked. "I'll have to thank you properly for that when you're aware enough to know what's going on..."
And so the days began to pass.
Roxanne returned to work, and luckily for her sake no security cameras had caught footage of her during the attacks. She used the excuse of feeling under the weather, hence her small time away from work, and she was easily forgiven. Working where she did she was at the front lines whenever new information on the attacks that had happened were received. Police were still looking for leads but continued to be stumped by just how many people who were there had seemingly vanished, as if they hadn't been there at all. Not surprising since the Family had been doing this for generations, so when they wanted to vanish, they did.
Speculation ran rampant; people suspected it was just gang violence, whilst others said it might be for a new movie or TV series and had happened just to get people talking about it. Megamind became known as the Blue Man, and soon became something of an urban legend. People claimed to see him all over not only Metro City, but the planet. This, of course, was all false since Roxanne knew the 'Blue Man' was still recovering from his operations in his house.
By now all the Family had left, slowly, carefully so not to arouse suspicion, back to their own homes in other states. Roxanne had seen them all off with Wayne and Bernard, and was sad to see most of them go, but a few of them exchanged numbers and emails. Of course they knew not to mention the fighting in emails, or on the phone. That was to be kept top secret.
Hal Stewart was listed as a missing person with the police, but there were never any leads discovered. Roxanne felt sad about this, still, and wanted to send a letter to his family about choosing to remember Hal for who he was, but felt scared to even do that. You couldn't just come out and say that he had been turned into a vampire and had tried to have his way with her, you just couldn't. She had a new camera man already by the name of Jose, a lovely dark skinned man who carried his camera with pride and took great footage even when he was on the run after a story with her. They clicked, and worked well, which she was appreciative of.
Weeks had passed by now. Over a month since the fights and a lot of it had fallen into memory, though now and then a story would crop up of people claiming to have been a part of the riots. They were soon found out to be frauds, though, so no story was ever really run on them. There was no stopping the Internet though and the crazy schemes and ideas those people had were better off ignored.
"Roxi!"
In an attempt to get her mind off of her work, and her still sleeping boyfriend, Roxanne had decided to take up a dinner invitation from her parents. Her sisters were too busy to attend, naturally, so she knew they'd appreciate having dinner with their oldest daughter at least. Her mother, Caroline, greeted her at the door with a hug and a kiss on each cheek. "Oh honey it's so good to see you!" she gushed.
"You too, Mom. Growing your hair out I see?" she asked, spying her mother's hair tied back in a small plait.
"Well I figured, might as well try a change hm?" Caroline asked as she reached back to toy with the small plait. "Come in, come in..."
Roxanne's parents lived outside of town in the suburbs, the same house that they had lived in ever since moving here when Roxanne was six years old. It was a two storey house with a white picket fence at the front, a huge oak tree complete with tire swing, and a flower garden in the front. The backyard had a small vegetable garden her father tended to, but more importantly his car as well, which might as well be their fourth child judging by how many hours the ex-army man spent with the machine. It was a Gran Torino, and it had only had one owner: Roxanne's father.
She could remember the Sunday drives with her parents and sisters in that car, driving to see family, movies, museums, libraries and parks.
Nothing much had changed out here, and that much she was grateful for compared to her own life in which so much had changed.
Inside the house it was decorated with family pictures, book cases, and of course awards. Charles, her father, had made a habit of showing off every single award his girls got in their lives, so Roxanne wasn't at all surprised to see her grade eight Spelling Bee Champion award still sitting proudly in between her sister's tennis award and a baking contest her mother won a few years back.
It all paled in comparison to the medals that her Father had acquired after his lifetime in the army. He had retired only a few years ago, so the medals were on full display. There was a portrait, painted of him in his full army gear, and below it hung a small compartment where the medals were all shown off. Regularly they were removed for a good polish, but quickly returned. On Veterans Day he proudly marched in his uniform with all of those medals pinned to his chest, and there was no guessing how proud he was to have served his country for as long as he had managed.
"Daddy!" Roxanne greeted the still-towering man as she spotted him walking in from the backyard. Judging by the rag in his hand he had been cleaning his car.
"Roxanne," he smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. "How's my news reporter today?"
"Exhausted," she sighed, taking in the familiar smell of his aftershave which hadn't changed in years. He was probably to blame for the reason she hadn't changed her lavender perfume at all. If you found perfection, why change it? "And how are you?"
"Same old, same old," replied the grey haired man as his wife went through to the dining room to make sure the table was set properly. "Your mother and I are playing with the idea of getting a dog."
"A dog?" Roxanne asked. "What kind?"
"Well, nothing too demanding. I don't want a small yapping rat, for one. Or a poofy show off dog either," Charles said as he opened a cupboard and put the cleaning rag away. "But your mother doesn't want a hard as nails dog either, so we're at a loss as to what breed to look at."
"Sounds like quite a problem," she said as she pulled her jacket off and hung it on a peg in the hall. "You guys should look into the pet adoption place though, take in a dog that really needs a home instead of a puppy."
"That's the idea," Caroline said as she walked past Roxanne to go into the kitchen. "We're hardly puppy people, so one that's already past the 'gnaw on everything' stage would do us fine."
"Well, good." Roxanne smiled.
She wondered if she should let them know about the man in her life or not. Roxanne had never really brought boys home, mostly on account of the fact no man in her life had stayed around long enough for her to warrant a visit to the parents. How would they react to him? A blue skinned, large headed alien who fought vampires... her father would probably grab a shot gun and her mother a shovel. But was it serious enough to want to bring him here? It certainly felt it, which surprised her since she had never fallen for a guy this fast before. She'd only known him a few months, after all.
"I must say, Roxi," Caroline brought out a roast chicken with some roasted vegetables to place on the dining table, "You're positively glowing today."
"I am?" Roxanne asked, casting a look at her reflection in a mirror.
"I think you are. Are you trying some new foundation?"
"No..." she answered as she went to grab some drinks from the fridge while her father began carving up the bird.
"Maybe she's pregnant," Charles said straight up.
"Don't say that!" Caroline laughed as she turned the glasses the right way. "Roxi's not seeing anyone, are you?" she asked, looking at her daughter in an 'are you keeping something from your mother?' look that most mothers perfected after being a mom for only an hour.
The tidal waves of thoughts and feelings that crashed down on Roxanne almost floored her. Glowing? Pregnant? Boyfriend? She suddenly needed to sit down, and that's what she did. She had never been one to lie to her parents before, maybe once or twice when sneaking out to see a boyfriend when she was a wayward teenager, but never since then. It was tough lying to your general father and teacher mother, plus it just wasn't her. Yet her heart rate quickened when she suddenly asked herself, when was her last period? Was she late? But she and Megamind had only done it once...! Yet that was all it would take, sometimes. Oh God. Why hadn't she even considered he might be genetically compatible with her?
"Roxi?"
Her mother's voice brought her back to Earth with a thump and Roxanne gasped.
"Roxanne?" Charles was now looking a little concerned.
"I... y-yes. I am... seeing someone," she slowly admitted.
"You are?" Caroline asked, smiling. "Oh that's wonderful! What's his name? What does he do? Does he have family here?"
Roxanne tried to avoid spotting her father's expression which was that of a man who was considering if he should fetch his shot gun or not. "His name's Ethelwine. Ethelwine Abbatista," she answered the first question easily enough.
"Oh now that's a distinguished name isn't it?" Caroline asked Charles as he began to dish out the chicken to the girls.
"Sounds English," Charles commented.
"His family came from Europe, but that's going way back," Roxanne said. Technically, that was true.
"Right. So what does he do?" Charles asked as he forked the chicken onto her plate.
"Manages the family business," she answered. Technically, it was true. "He runs it with his brother Wayne."
"Sounds pretty important," said her mother as she spooned out some vegetables. "What do they do?"
Crap. What do they do? Lawyers? That could work. Wayne dressed sharply enough, and their house looked certainly old enough to be managed by a lot of money. It would explain why he'd be away a lot, dealing with 'clients' and how it was a 'cut throat' business. Yes. That would work beautifully.
"They're lawyers, actually. Very private group as well, they only work with clients they've known for years," Roxanne said. "They're that private they're not listed anywhere."
"Old lawyers then," her father commented. "The types that work for big companies and the like, yes?" he asked.
"Hmmhm. He's away a lot with work." Roxanne sighed, looking down at her plate. "He's been away for a few weeks now... but I hear he's coming back soon once the case he's working settles."
"He should come round for dinner," Caroline said firmly. "Get to meet the family, and that includes your sisters."
Oh boy. Her sisters.
"I think he'd like that," smiled Roxanne.
"So do you think you're pregnant?" her father asked bluntly, causing her mother to almost drop her glass.
"Charles!" she said.
"What? It's an honest and direct question. You say she's glowing. S'got nothing to do with makeup. And admit it; you looked like that with all the girls. That..." he gave his daughter a critical eye, but it was also done in jest going by the grin on his face. "...that sparkly twinkle in her eyes of a woman who's keeping a secret really close and not wanting to share it with anyone."
"I don't know," Roxanne admitted. "I haven't really felt any different..." while she had been experiencing some mild headaches now and then she had chalked that up to stress. But pregnancy? Really?
"Maybe it's nothing. But if it is something, that means he should come round for dinner even more," her father said.
"Of course," she agreed.
Thankfully her mother hadn't asked how long she'd been seeing him. That was a saving grace, and something she and Megamind could work out between them when, and if, he ever came to dinner. Another grateful thing was that neither of them had brought up the idea of marriage even if there could be a bun in the oven already. Mainly since Roxanne had been born before the two of them had been married, and in fact by the time the twins came along, her parents had only been married little under a year. Neither had been in a big rush, so she only assumed they would treat her the same way they had felt themselves.
While she ate and her parents talked about this, and that, Roxanne had to wonder why she wasn't filled with fear or apprehension at the idea of being pregnant. Once upon a time the fact she might get pregnant one day terrified her, what with all the horror stories she had heard about pregnancy problems, birthing pain, and everything that happened in-between. Was it because she was at that age? That can't be true, there was never an 'age' in which women decided they wanted children. She was twenty-nine, a fairly safe age to have a child... but was it because she was pregnant with Megamind's child that made it feel all right? She did love him... more than she thought she could love somebody, and every day she went to see him in his bedroom felt like another stab to her heart.
He had color now, and he really did look like he was just sleeping and not half dead. Lady, who had so far operated on him a total of four times now, said it was getting closer to when they could let him out of the coma. He would be groggy as anything for days and uncertain of what was going on but he would be awake. And after a week of that he would be able to get around the house with assistance... Roxanne was already planning on taking a time off to be there for him.
How would he react, learning she may be pregnant? She recalled him saying that the reason being he had taken her under his wing as an apprentice in vampire hunting was mainly since he knew he'd never have children. If that was true, maybe she wasn't pregnant at all? Roxanne decided, as she poured herself some water, to go see a doctor to find out for herself before she make any assumptions and scare not only herself and her parents, but her boyfriend too.
Falling into darkness in Minion's arm whilst sitting in the fountain, and waking up in his bed, Megamind wondered just how much time had passed. He blinked his eyes slowly, wearily, and was annoyed at how blurry the world looked. Groaning softly he shut his eyes tightly and his fuddled brain picked up the fact there was a radio playing somewhere and he could hear the song. Recognizing it, a fuzzy smile crossed his face.
"M'a rocket man..." he mumbled along with the song, voice wobbling and hoarse from misuse for so long.
He hadn't even noticed that somebody was in the room with him.
"Megamind!"
Hearing his name, he paused in the muddled act of singing and turned his head slowly and saw a familiar blur besides him. He smiled dopily, and lifted a hand. "Hey..." he greeted the blur.
"Oh my God, she said you'd come to soon but this fast... how are you?" the feminine voice asked as he felt soft, warm, hands close around his own.
"M'a rocket man," Megamind joked and chuckled once and then sighed, and shut his eyes in an attempt to try and fix his vision. "Roxanne...?" he asked.
"Yes?" she asked back.
"What day... is it?"
"It's... it's Saturday," Roxanne answered.
"Saturday..." Megamind mumbled as his eyes narrowed as he tried to think. "I been... out three days...?" he asked.
"...Saturday the 13th of August," she said carefully, watching his face.
His eyes opened almost immediately and he stared up at the ceiling, before turning his glassy eyes to look at her. "...but... I fought on... July 6th... how many... days is that...?"
"Too many," Roxanne said as she continued to rub his hand in her own, before reaching and smoothing out his eyebrows, and then pressed a quick kiss to his temple. "You really went through the wars. Lady felt it best for your body to recuperate, and you'd be in too much pain to be awake and... oh god you have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice." She had known he would be out of it for a long while, but over six weeks? That had been Hell. Total and utter Hell. "Everyone's going to be so happy to hear you're awake..." but she wouldn't go run to tell them just yet. She needed time with him, just the two of them.
His hand finally squeezed back against her own, and he smiled faintly.
"'m happy too, if I've been out so long... what's happened...?" he asked faintly. "What have I missed...?"
Roxanne chewed her bottom lip. "Well, not much to be totally honest... the fight became pretty much an urban myth. People think they know how it happened, or why, but we didn't say anything. You're now an urban legend yourself, and you're being spotted everywhere," she chuckled at that one.
"Yay..." Megamind smiled, shutting his eyes on a tired sigh. Waking up was exhausting, why was that?
"Last time they saw you, you were playing in a band in Mexico," Roxanne smirked.
"Always wanted to go to Mexico," he mumbled.
"I also moved my stuff in," she added, which made his eyes open and turn his attention to her. "I still own my apartment, I'm just renting it out now. It just felt... like home, here. Plus it meant I was close to you."
"Couldn't go without me, hm?" Megamind asked with a faint grin.
"Yes, yes." Roxanne rolled her eyes. "If you didn't have morning breath from a month I'd kiss you right now, but. Well. You know. Morning breath."
"Ugh. I need a toothbrush stat." He licked his tongue over his teeth and shuddered when he felt how fuzzy they felt. He moved his free hand and wiped at his eyes, shutting them as he did. "How's Wayne..? Bernard? Minion...?"
"They're all doing good. Wayne's back at work as a fireman, Bernard's back at his library position and Minion... he's keeping very busy." She cast a glance over her shoulder nervously.
"Busy? Well he likes that..." Megamind admitted as he opened his eyes. "Are they here? What... what time is it?" He turned his head to look at a clock and it read 11:45am. If it was Saturday, Bernard may be at work... and depending on Wayne's schedule he might be out too.
"Minion's downstairs working on dinner. Everyone else is out," Roxanne explained.
"Right..."
She sat there watching him, wanting to say so much. That she had been to the doctor four weeks ago to have blood tests taken to find out if she was what her mother thought she was. To tell him that Minion had been a flurry with activity because he had been designing baby clothes and wanting to build a nursery right now, and that her pregnancy was also another reason why she had moved in the manor. But how could she tell him that now? He had just woken up from a month of being under. He was in no fit state to learn this now, not like this, and she would have to make sure Minion wouldn't blurt it out either now! Ugh. It was a mess but... she was so, so glad to see him awake.
Instead of admitting all this to him, Roxanne carefully lay down on the bed beside him, and shut her eyes with a pleased sigh as he draped an arm over her in an attempt to pull her close. She complied, and buried her forehead against his shoulder gently.
"I love you," she whispered. "So much."
"I know," Megamind replied with a soft smile as his thumb rubbed against her arm. "I love you more."
She couldn't help but chuckle, and instead of kissing his lips she pressed a soft kiss to his neck before settling back down, and let her eyes slip shut with a content sigh.
To be continued