Roxanne took a deep breath before stepping out of the elevator. Syx had informed her that their bosses, Bergen and Molloy, had wanted to see her immediately. She groaned and had told him to get her in ten minutes. They had a lot of work to do. Now she was walking past the secretary, ignoring her cheerful hello, and entering the office of the bosses.
"Jack, Edwin." She greeted walking into the room and shutting the door behind her.
"Roxanne, congratulations on the "Oprah" thing; that's terrific." Jack complemented her as she walked over to the chair, choosing to stand instead of sit.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She said chuckling as she continued "This isn't about my second raise, is it?" after they chuckled she added "Just kidding."
Jack looked at her and said "Roxanne, do you remember when we agreed that you wouldn't go to Frankfurt to cover that flooding story, because you weren't allowed out of the country while your visa application was being processed?"
She nodded "Yes, yes I do."
"And you went to Frankfurt." Jack asked.
"Yes I did." She answered him. "We we're going to lose the first news coverage of the scene so I really didn't have much of a choice did I?" she asked, adding a nervous chuckle at the end. Where was this going?
"Well," Jack continued "it seems the United States Government doesn't care much who gets first coverage of Frankfurt."
"We, uh, just spoke to your immigration attorney." Edwin added joining the conversation.
"Great. So we're all good?" she asked hoping for that answer.
"Roxanne," Jack said looking at a piece of paper "your visa application has been denied." She started to stutter "And you're being deported." Jack finished.
She stared at him "De-deported!"
"And apparently, there were also some paperwork that you didn't fill out in time." Jack added still looking at the paper in his hand.
"Come on." She said in an effort to try and sway them, even though in the back of her head she knew that they had nothing to do with it "Come on, it's not like I'm even an immigrant!" she laughed "I'm from Canada, for Pete's sake! There's got to be something we can do."
"We can reapply, but unfortunately, you have to leave the country for at least a year." Erwin answered.
She stared at him. 'Are you kidding me!' she thought, but calmly nodded her head "Okay… okay well that's not… ideal, but I can… I can manage everything from Toronto with videoconferencing and Internet." She tried.
"Unfortunately, Roxanne," Erwin said sadly "if you're deported, you can't work for an American news station."
She swallowed as Jack added "Until this is resolved, I'm going to turn operations over to Bob Spaulding."
She blinked "Bob Spaulding? The guy I just fired?"
"We need an editor in chief; he's the only person in the building who had enough experience." Jack offered.
"You cannot be serious. I beg you-"
"Roxanne," Jack interrupted "we are desperate to have you stay. If there was any way any way at all that we could make this thing work, we'd be doing it."
"There is no way-" Roxanne said as a loud knocking was heard on the door "I am... I am begging you-"
"Hi." Syx said poking his large head inside.
Jack held his hand out to him and said "Excuse me, we're in a meeting."
"Sorry to interrupt." Syx said as Roxanne glared at him.
"What? What!" She snapped turning to face him.
"Marry from Miss Winfrey's office called; she on the line." Syx told her.
"I know." She snapped.
Syx continued "She's on hold. She needs to speak with you right away." Roxanne nodded and snapped her fingers in a gesture to hurry him along. "But I told her you were otherwise engaged. She insisted, so… sorry." He finished.
Roxanne turned and looked at him, a light bulb going off in her head. She looked at him for a few seconds with him looking back at her completely confused by her actions. "Uh…" she said mouthing for him to join her in the room. At his unsure face she made it clearer. He stood up and walked further into the room, closing the door behind him. "Uh… gentlemen. I understand the predicament… that we are in and um…" she glanced back at Syx as he wandered closer to her, but still keeping his distance. "Well," she said walking backwards until she was right next to the blue man. "I think there's something that you should know." Syx looked at her nervously then back at the other two humans in the room. "We're, uh, we're getting married." She said at last tapping his chest. "Yes we are getting married."
Syx gave her the 'deer in the headlights' look as he asked "Who- who is getting married?"
"We are." She answered smiling at him "You and I. You and I are getting married. Yes."
He looked at the bosses still with the dead face and said slowly "We are…"
"Getting married. Yes." Roxanne nodded.
Erwin looked at them "Isn't he… your secretary?"
"Assistant." Syx said a bit defensively.
"Executive assistant." Roxanne said correcting them both. "Secretary. Titles. But it wouldn't be the first time one of us fell for our secretaries would it, Edwin?" she asked laughing nervously. He looked at her "With Laquisha. Remember?" Jack looked over to Erwin as she continued "So yeah, the uh, truth is, you know, Mega- Syx and I were… we are just two people who weren't meant to fall in love, but we did."
"No." Syx said. He meant it to be strong and manly, but it came out more like a begging cry to 'make the bad man go away' kind of thing.
"We did." Roxanne countered "Yeah, all those late nights at the office and… weekend news coverage, you know…"
"No." he choked out.
"Something, something happened." Syx looked at her shaking his head, begging her not to do this. She smiled at him nodding.
"Something." He said following along, finally giving in.
"Yeah." She laughed "Tried to fight it, and … Can't fight a, a love like ours." She said giving him a side hug looking away from him. "I mean, how can I not… fall… in love… with this big… blue lug…? And his… head." She said tapping his head lightly. Syx stood there until she stopped then looked at her as she moved on. "So uh, are we good with this?" she asked making a hand gesture. Syx copied it. "Are you happy? Because, well we are happy. So happy."
"Roxanne?" Jack said drawing her back.
She smiled at him why Syx stared at him open mouthed. "Yes?" she asked.
"It's terrific. Just make it legal." He said pointing to his ring finger which had a ring on it.
"Oh!" Roxanne said pointing to her ring finger as well, smiling. Syx just looked sick. "Yeah, well, then, that means we need to get ourselves to the immigration office so we can work this whole mess out. Right?" she asked poking his stomach. He recoiled a bit. "Thank you very much gentlemen. We will do that right away. Thank you very much, gentlemen, thank you."
"Humans." Syx squeaked. The bosses looked at him while Roxanne had to hold back slapping her forehead. She opened the door and pulled him out.
As they were walking downstairs to their office, someone, somehow, heard about what had just happened and sent an instant message around the office; Roxanne and Syx are getting married?
When they got down into the room and Syx heard everyone whisper "Roxanne and Syx are getting married!"
"What? Here they come!"
Syx walked passed a couple of the men he worked with. They started chuckling and nodding suggestively at him. Normally he would have de-hydrated them, but he really couldn't think about it. Darrel looked at him "For real? Her?" he asked starting to laugh.
Syx glared at him, but didn't do anything as he followed Roxanne into her office. He shut the door looking out to the office as she sat down at her desk. He looked at her and slowly walked over to her. He watched her for a few minutes until she took the hint and looked up "What?" she snapped.
"I don't understand what's happening here." Syx said softly.
"With that he head of yours you can't comprehend it?" he just looked at her "Oh, relax, this is for you too." She said smirking.
"Do explain."
"They were going to make Bob chief." She explained.
"So naturally, I would have to marry you." He concluded sarcastically.
"Megamind, what's the problem?" she asked without looking up "Like you were saving yourself for someone special?"
Syx glared at her slightly, but seeing as how she wasn't entirely grasping what she had said he countered trying to contain his anger "I like to think so. Besides, it's illegal."
"They're looking for terrorists, not news reporters." She said with a little laugh, not looking at him.
"Roxanne." He said getting her attention. She looked up at him with a yes. "I'm not going to marry you." He said strongly.
"Sure you are." She said smiling smugly as she continued "Because if you don't marry me, your dreams of touching the lives of millions with your inventions are dead." He looked worriedly to the side contemplating this. She sighed and placed the paper on her desk and looked up at him. "Bob is gonna fire you the second I'm gone, guaranteed. That means you're out on the street alone, looking for a job; that means all the time we spent together, all the lattés, all the canceled dates, all the midnight Tampax runs," he shuddered "were all for nothing, and all your dreams of being an inventor are gone. But don't worry, after the required allotment of time we'll get a quickie divorce and you'll be done with me. But until then, like it or not, your wagon is hitched to mine. Okay?" she asked as the phone rang "Phone." She said pointing to the phone.
..::-::..
Syx followed Roxanne as they ran into the immigration office. Walking up to the line Roxanne waited at the back for literally 2 seconds before making her way around and to the front. "Roxanne. That's the line." Syx hissed trying to stop her, but seeing as how she wasn't listening he just followed.
"Next please." The man at the counter said, but Roxanne ran in front of the next person.
"I have to ask him something." She told the person she was cutting in front of. Turning to the man she said "I need for you to file this fiancée visa for me, please." She smiled at him her best 'do as I say' smile.
He looked at her giving her an 'are you kidding me' face and sighed. Looking down at the papers "Miss… Ritchi?" he asked.
"Yes." She said turning to him.
"Please come with me." The man said, taking the papers and leading them into a room. "Someone will be with you shortly." He said.
They nodded as they went onto the room. He left as Syx wondered over to one of the chairs and sat down. Roxanne stood in front of the door texting. He sighed and whispered "I have a bad feeling about this."
Just then knocking was heard and they both looked to the door to see a skinny man hunched over looking at them with a sort dead expression. Syx also noticed he had a large mop of dirty blonde hair a top his head. After some confusion over him getting in and Roxanne moving out of the way he finally came in and sat down at his desk with a large and exaggerated sigh. "I'm Bernard… call me that." He said in a dead tone. "You must be Syx and you must be Roxanne. It's customary that I say sorry for the wait, but I'm not really."
Syx and Roxanne looked at each other before she spoke "Okay, well we understand and I can't tell you how much we appreciate you seeing us on such short notice." Bernard smiled at her sarcastically before going back to his dull stare.
"Okay," Bernard sighed heavily looking at the papers "So I have one question for you. Are you both committing fraud to avoid her deportation so she can keep her position as editor in chief at KMCP News Channel 8?" he asked looking at them.
"Uh…" Roxanne began.
"That's ridiculous." Syx said slowly shaking his head.
"Where did you hear that?" Roxanne asked.
"We had a phone tip this afternoon from a man named-"
"Would it be Bob Spaulding?" Roxanne offered with a rude smirk.
Bernard looked at his papers "Bob Spaulding." He confirmed.
"Bob, poor Bob." Roxanne said shaking her head "I am sorry, but Bob is nothing, but a disgruntled former employee. And I apologize. But we know you're incredibly busy," Bernard just stared at her "with a room full of gardeners and delivery boys to tend to." Syx closed his eyes tightlipped inhaling to try and keep his mouth shut. "If you just give us our next step, we will be out of your hair and on our way."
He just looked at her until she quietly sat down in the seat next to Syx. "Let me explain to you the process that's about to unfold. Step one will be a scheduled interview. I'll put you each in a room, and I'll ask you every little question that a real couple would know about each other. Step two. I dig deeper. I look at your phone records. I talk to your neighbors." He told them. They looked at him each thinking a different thing. Roxanne kept thinking about how much she wanted to get over this whole ordeal. While Syx was thinking; 'Oh God oh god oh God! I'm committing fraud!' "I interview your coworkers. If your answers don't match up at every point, you will be deported indefinitely." Roxanne nodded good naturedly. "You will have committed a felony punishable by a fine of 250,000 and a stay of five years in federal prison." Syx swallowed and looked out at a woman being dragged in against her will. He looked back at Bernard, turning a light blue. "So Syx," Bernard went on in his dead tone "you want to talk to me?" Syx shook his head slightly "No?" he started nodding "Yes?" After a moment he said "Make up your mind, Mr. Mind."
Roxanne shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Uh, the truth is…" Syx began Roxanne becoming nervous beside him "the truth is, Bernard, the truth is, Roxanne and I… are just two people who weren't supposed to fall in love. But did." He fished looking at Roxanne who smiled at him then nodded towards Bernard who let out another one of his signature sighs and leaned back in his chair as Syx continued. "We couldn't tell anyone we worked with because of my, my large raise and interviews coming up."
"Raise?" Bernard asked.
Syx nodded "Yeah," he went on ignoring Roxanne's confused face. "We, we both felt that it would be uh deeply inappropriate if I were to have a huge raise and meetings with potential investors," Roxanne nodded her agreement fighting the urge to stop him "while we were, you know… dating…" he nearly threw up at having to say the last word.
"So…" Bernard said "have the two of you told your parents about your secret love?"
"Oh!" Roxanne laughed "I can't. My parents are dead. No brothers or sisters either."
"Mm. What, are your parents dead too?" Bernard snapped looking at Syx.
"No they're alive." Roxanne answered for him, chuckling.
Syx nodded "No very much."
"They're, well we were gonna tell them this weekend." Roxanne continued "Minion's 30th birthday is coming up and the whole family's coming together." Syx looked over at her surprised. He hadn't thought she had heard him. "And we thought it's be a nice surprise."
"And where is this surprise going to take place?" Bernard asked showing the first amount of emotion for the first time that talk.
Roxanne smiled and looked over at Syx "At Mega- Syx's parent's house."
"And where is that again?" Bernard asked returning to his dead tone.
"Um… why am I doing all the talking?" Roxanne chuckled, thinking quickly as she looked over to Syx. "It's your parent's house." He chuckled with her "Why don't you tell him, where it is." She offered.
He turned and looked at Bernard and said after a few seconds "Sitka." Roxanne nodded "Alaska." He finished.
Roxanne nodded once again, but realized what he had said. "Alaska…?" she asked looking at him.
Bernard wasn't fooled… although he didn't look any different from before "You're going to go to Alaska this weekend?"
Both of them nodded "Yes, we are going to Alaska." Roxanne then reached over and grabbed his shoulder. "That's where my little, that's where my Megamind's from." Syx looked at her and went to grab her hand, but she pulled away before he could, so instead he just tapped his shoulder like that what he had meant to do the entire time. Bernard looked at them. "Well I mean besides the obvious, born off the planet thing." She laughed nervously as Syx joined her.
Bernard gave another loud sigh "Okay. I see how this is going to go." Putting the papers down he got a pen and reached over and wrote something on a piece of paper "I really don't want to, but I will see you both at 11:00 Monday morning for your scheduled interviews and your interviews better match up on everything." They smiled at each other in a sort of smug way before he stood and handed them the sticky note. "I have to say, I'm not looking forward to this one." Bernard said as the two stood up. They looked at his dead face for a moment before nodding and heading out of the room.