Mind Over Matter, Chapter 3

By: Abby

Chapter Rating: G

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay in the update. I'm getting near the end of my university courses and grades ended up taking precedent over my fic. Sorry, Megamind! To all of my readers, thank you for being patient, and as always, please drop me some reviews so I know what you all think. Thanks and enjoy!

M m M

Consciousness came slowly. Aware that he was cold, he sleepily scooted closer to the center of the bed, seeking out the warmth of the body next to him. But the body was not there.

In the sleepy recesses of his mind, a scenario presented itself to him, teasing him with the possibility that Roxanne had abandoned him in the middle of the night. That thought and the subsequent panic that resulted caused Megamind to sit upright, seeing with open eyes that his wife was indeed not in the room. He shook his head, ridding himself of the self-effacing thoughts that filled him with needless fear. Now fully awake, he was able to convince himself there was probably nothing to worry about. He swung himself around and set his feet on the floor, setting out to find and check on his errant lady.

After padding around the "house" and not finding her in any of those rooms, he expanded his search to the rest of the warehouse. Megamind crossed his arms and regretted not having grabbed a robe on his way out of the bedroom. He made a mental note to tell Minion in the morning that it was no longer necessary to keep the lair "cold and damp." To be honest, it wasn't really the way he liked it, anyway. Actually, given his high metabolism and low body fat content, he struggled to maintain his own body heat at the best of times. But it reminded him of his days in prison as a child, and for a while the atmosphere of it was a comfort to him, in the same way a blankie or teddy bear would comfort those of a more normal upbringing.

A noise caught his attention, and he wasn't sure if was a cough or a sob, but it was definitely Roxanne. It led him in the direction of his workshop. As he came closer, his footsteps hardly making a sound, he cleared his throat to announce his presence. There was nothing quite as scary as being surprised in the dark. Roxanne's head popped up, her back to her husband, and Megamind saw her use the heel of her hands to rub her eyes before turning around to face him. He stopped short a couple of feet. "Are you all right?"

She waved off his concern. "I… just had a nightmare. That's all."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

The blue alien closed the gap and embraced the woman's small frame, both to comfort and warm her. She had also wandered off without a robe, shivering slightly in shorts and a tank top. "What brings you all the way out here to the workshop?" Megamind asked while rubbing slow circles on Roxanne's lower back.

"Oh." Her voice was muffled from her face being buried in her husband's neck and she pulled away to indicate the main workbench. "I took a walk to clear my head and decided to stop by and check in on your progress with the Memory Gun." The prototype was on the table half-assembled, with fresh notes scribbled on a notepad lying nearby.

Megamind picked up the unfinished gun, tempted to make some adjustments that had occurred to him while half-asleep. It was larger than the De-gun, with several mechanical "arms" attached that served as targeters when activated. At such a crude phase, it still looked a little monstrous, but he was planning to remedy that as soon as the device was complete and functional. "I had to go backwards a couple of steps today," he said, pulling out and fiddling with a micro-chip. "The targeting scanners aren't working properly."

Roxanne leaned over and eyed the targeting scanners. "Is there something wrong mechanically?" Perhaps she could be of help.

"No, no, I must have mistyped a coordinate when programming them." He set the micro-chip in a tray, intending to plug it into the computer mainframe the next morning to check his lines of code. "Earlier today when you were at work, I had a Mr. Tamland over so I could test out a certain network of neural pathways…"

Realizing what Megamind just said, his wife blinked. "Wait… you're meaning to tell me that you haven't even gotten this thing programmed properly and you're already using human test subjects?" Her tone was less than calm.

His response was to roll his unearthly green eyes. "He signed a waiver…" He said in exasperation, then gestured to his alien form. "It's not like I could have tested it on myself."

There was silence for a couple of seconds while they engaged in a half-hearted staring contest. Finally, Megamind shrugged his shoulders and broke the silence. "Anyways," he said, picking up where he left off, "since the targeting scanners were misaligned, it isolated the wrong neural pathway and strengthened a semantic pathway to the point of becoming extremely amplified. What was once a trivial object to Mr. Tamland was suddenly the most significant thing in his entire life. He sat there blubbering about how he loved his desk lamp for nearly an hour before I was able isolate the pathway and return it to normal."

Roxanne had an urge to laugh at the scenario that was running through her head, but she tried to keep a straight face to underline how serious testing on humans was. Only half succeeding, the corners of her mouth twitched. "Well, I'm sure you'll sort everything out."

Her husband appreciated the encouragement. "Tomorrow I'm going to go through all of my coordinates and double check them against my initial scans. If Mr. Tamland…"

"…who is going to take a little break from your testing until you've moved into the final stages…"

Megamind opened his mouth to contest, but realized he really didn't have a decent argument against anything Roxanne put her foot down about. Perhaps he had been a little hasty with the trial applications. It probably wouldn't look good for Metro City's hero to play mad scientist with random citizens. Besides, Roxanne was currently drumming her fingers across the top of her crossed arms, standing with her weight resting on one hip. She meant business. Man, she is so cute when she's bossy. "Yes, dear," Megamind surrendered, smiling at her fondly, setting aside his previous train of thought.

"Thank you."

Megamind opened his arms invitingly and Roxanne folded herself into him, glad for the warmth. A blue hand came up and ran its slender fingers through her hair. "Why don't we head back to bed?" came his baritone voice.

Taking a deep breath, inhaling the scent of him trapped in his t-shirt, she slowly nodded. She reached up and cupped his face, leaning over to plant a kiss on his cheek. "I love you," she said quietly, her eyes barely inches from his. She seemed very solemn and sincere.

"I love you, too," her husband assured her, a little confused by the change in tone. He remembered the sounds that led him back to the workshop in the first place, so he asked her a second time. "Are you sure you are okay?" He didn't want to sound too worried or pressure her if it was something she wasn't ready to talk about.

Roxanne was lost in thought for a few seconds, her gaze faraway. Megamind waited patiently, focusing on the way the shafts of moonlight from the skylight high above them fell across her form. Finally, she blinked and was back in the present, smiling softly. "I'm fine. Really."

Taking his lover at her word, he reached down and took her hand, leading the couple out of the workshop and back to the repose and security of their bed. They both had a long day ahead of them tomorrow, and Megamind wanted to make sure that he had enough time to spend with his wife before the busyness of their schedules intruded. He wasn't sure what was on her mind, but was determined to be her rock and solace until Roxanne was ready to confide in him.