He took nothing with him, no mementos of his past, nothing to remind him of what he was leaving behind.
Clad in a pair of black breeches, a long-sleeved black tunic, and black boots, Micah took a last look at the spacious rooms that had been his home for the last ten solar years. The walls throughout were a restful shade of blue reminiscent of earth's sky; the furniture was sparse and functional. A shelf that took up an entire wall held an assortment of souvenirs from distant planets, as well as the numerous awards and citations he had received for meritorious service in the Fleet.
Gazing at the main living space, he thought how sterile it was, how empty, when compared to Lainey's house, which was cluttered with unicorns made of glass and pewter and crystal, with colorful pots of dried flowers, paintings, books, framed photos of people she cared for.
With a last look around, Micah closed the door and made his way across the compound to his shuttlecraft.
A short time later, he landed on the far reaches of the space station and made his way to the landing bay. Standing in the shadows, he picked out the craft he wanted, a sleek two-man ship that was big enough, and carried fuel enough, for a flight to Earth. It was the fastest long-range fighter in the Fleet, equipped with all the latest technological marvels.
Stealing the fighter went against everything he believed in, everything he had been taught, yet it was the only way. With his flight rank and status canceled, the tower wouldn't give him clearance to leave Xanthia. And so he would steal a ship and sneak away, a crime far greater than any other of which he had been accused. But it couldn't be helped.
Taking a deep breath, Micah crossed the distance to the ship, climbed in, and did a quick pre-flight check of the controls. Everything was in order; the galley was stocked, the fuel tanks were full, all emergency equipment was in place.
He set the proper coordinates, then sat back and waited. He didn't have to wait long. An Orizzon transport was getting ready to take off.
Slowly, the big bay doors began to open. It was now or never.
Muttering a hurried prayer, Micah fired up the engine and roared out of the dock ahead of the transport, soaring into the darkness, his spacecraft, and his thoughts, racing toward earth.
If all went well, if the ship didn't malfunction, if the Minister of Flight didn't send anyone after him, he would be with Lainey in three Earth months.
Lainey sat in her car, staring at the old Grayson place. She didn't know what had possessed her to drive up to the mansion in the middle of the night, probably just another foolish whim brought on by being eight months pregnant, like her craving for dill pickles and watermelon.
Still, just being there made her feel closer to Micah... Micah, who was never out of her thoughts. Micah, who had probably gone back to his old life... joined withAdana ...
The thought of Micah with another woman was like a knife in her heart.
Micah... If only there was some way to tell him about the baby. If only... Her thoughts came to an abrupt end as a blinding white light streaked across the sky and disappeared behind the mansion.
In spite of her expanded girth, she was out of the car in minutes, running toward the back of the mansion. It was just a shooting star, she told herself, nothing more, but she ran until her sides ached, and then she walked, past the house, up the hill.
Breathless, she stared at the long, slender spaceship, felt her heart climb into her throat as the hatch opened and a man dressed in a gray spacesuit and helmet climbed out.
Her heart was beating so wildly, she was sure she'd faint, but she couldn't take her eyes from the man as he stripped off his helmet and flight suit and tossed them into the ship.
"Micah?" His name sounded in her mind. Unknowingly, she spoke it aloud as well.
Slowly, the man turned toward her.
Lainey?
She nodded, tears streaming down her face as he began to run toward her. Effortlessly, he ran up the hill, and then she was in his arms, sobbing incoherently.
"Lainey, Lainey." He held her close, one hand caressing her back, her shoulders, touching her hair, her face, assuring himself that she was there, really there.
"You came back," she murmured. "I don't believe it."
"Believe it."
She stared up at him, her hands framing his face. He was even more handsome than she remembered. The moonlight shimmered in his pale blond hair, tempting her touch. His eyes were the same silver-blue that had haunted her sleep. His skin radiated a familiar blue glow.
"You're here," she whispered. "Really here."
For endless moments, they held each other close, and then Micah stepped back, his gaze fixed on her distended abdomen.
"Lainey?"
She placed her hands protectively over her womb. "I'm pregnant."
"Pregnant?"
"With child."
Micah stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed. She was breeding. "You said you couldn't... I..."
He knew nothing of human reproduction. Looking at her, he had no idea how advanced her pregnancy might be.
He wanted to ask if the child was his, but couldn't form the words.
"I never thought I'd see you again," Lainey said slowly, and Micah felt a sharp pain in his heart. The child wasn't his. She had found someone else.
Lainey looked down at her hands, still clasped over her stomach. They had shared so much, why was it so hard to tell him the child was his?
"I never thought I'd be able to tell you about the baby," she said, still not meeting his gaze, "but I hoped you'd be happy."
"It's mine?"
Lainey nodded, wishing she had the nerve to look at him.
"Lainey!" With a triumphant cry, he lifted her off her feet and whirled her around.
Abruptly, he stopped twirling and drew her close, one hand resting on her belly. "Lainey, oh, Lainey."
"You're not angry?"
"Angry? Why would I be angry?"
"I don't know."
"When?" he asked eagerly. "When is the child to be born? Are you all right? Have you been examined by a physician?''
"Two weeks, more or less. I'm fine, and yes, I've seen a doctor." She looked into his eyes, drowning in the love, the happiness, reflected there. And then she glanced at the ship, shimmering in the moonlight. "How long can you stay?"
"As long as you want me."
"What... what do you mean?"
"I came to stay, if you still want me."
"You mean it?"
He nodded, his gaze intent upon her face. "I still want you to be my woman, my wife, unless you've changed your mind."
"I haven't. Oh, Micah!" She kissed him then, kissed him with all the love in her heart.
And he was kissing her back, banishing all the hurt, all the loneliness, of the long months of separation. He was there, to stay, and that was all that mattered.
Heart pounding with happiness, she watched as he walked back down the hill, withdrew a small remote from his pocket, and activated the molecular masking device that would render his spacecraft invisible.
He was beautiful in the moonlight, she thought. The pale light of the moon turned his hair to silver; the blue glow of his skin seemed to shimmer as he walked back up the hill toward her.
He stopped at the crest of the hill and buried the remote at the base of a tall tree.
"Will it be safe there?" Lainey asked.
"It should be. I don't want to take a chance on losing it, and if I need it in a hurry, it'll be here."
"I guess so," Lainey agreed dubiously.
"Why did you come here tonight?" Micah asked as they walked, hand in hand, to Lainey's car.
"I don't know. I was sitting at home, trying to plot my next book, when I seemed to hear your voice inside my head, and then I had the oddest feeling that I should drive to the mansion." She looked up at him and smiled. "Maybe, subconsciously, I knew you were coming."
Micah nodded. "I'm sure of it. You've been in my thoughts ever since I left Xanthia."
She squeezed his hand. "And now you're here." Happiness bubbled up inside her. "Blue glow and all."
Micah stared at his hand as he opened the car door. His skin was, indeed, glowing.
"You'll have to learn to drive," Lainey said as she slid her ample girth behind the wheel. And then she frowned. If Micah was going to be a permanent resident of Earth, he'd need a driver's license, a birth certificate, a Social Security number. How did one go about getting those things for someone from another planet?
She glanced at Micah, her heart swelling with such love and happiness, she thought she might die of it. She'd worry about all those other mundane matters later. Right now, she wanted only to get home, to be alone with him in the privacy of her house, to touch him and taste him, to listen to his voice. She wanted to know everything that had happened since she'd seen him last.
Micah stood in the middle of the living room, Lainey's hand tightly clasped in his as he looked around. It was just as he remembered, filled with plants and books and crystal unicorns that shimmered in the light, all of it reflecting the warmth, the love, the beauty, that was Lainey.
"I missed this place," he said, smiling down at her, "almost as much as I missed you."
"Are you sure you'll be happy here?"
"Ah, Lainey, I've never been happy anywhere else." Swinging her into his arms, he sat down on the sofa, cradling her in his lap.
"What happened when you got to Xanthia?"
Micah grunted softly. "They stripped me of my rank and my flight status and told me, in subtle but certain terms, that I was not to leave Xanthia for a year."
"But... but you're here." She calculated quickly on her fingers. It had been eight months, Earth time, since she'd seen him last. "Did they change their minds?"
"No. I took a ship and left without telling anyone."
"Oh, Micah." She didn't know what the penalty for such a thing was on Xanthia, but she was certain it was serious. "Won't they come after you?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, but even if they do, there's no way for them to find me. No one knows where you live, although Pergith will know where he picked us up." He cupped her chin in his hand. "Don't worry about it, Lainey. Not now. Tell me what you've been doing. How are your parents? Are they pleased about the child?"
She wanted to know what he'd been doing, too, but she put her questions on hold and answered his, telling him how she'd found out she was pregnant only a few days after he left, how happy she'd been.
"But I was scared, too," she confessed. She took his hand, so big and brown and strong, and clasped it to her breast. "I'm still scared." What if the child was horribly deformed? What if it died? And even if it was strong and healthy, how would they explain that strange blue glow?
Of course she was scared, Micah thought sympathetically. She was carrying an alien child. To his knowledge, no Xanthian had ever joined with a human before. What sort of offspring would such a union produce?
"I saw a TV show once," Lainey said, "about an alien race that took over the earth. One of the girls had an alien baby..."
"And?"
"It was awful." She looked up at him, her eyes tormented. "And it died."
"When the doctor examined you, did he find anything abnormal?"
"No. At least, he didn't say so."
Lainey stared at Micah, seeing him again as if for the first time. Except for his ears and the webbing on his hands, he looked like any other man. Perhaps, genetically, they weren't so different, even though they came from different planets.
Micah covered her hand with his. "Did he find anything unusual in your blood?"
"I don't think so. Why?"
"On the ship, you needed blood, and I gave you some of mine."
"You did? Then why didn't it show up on the tests?"
Micah shrugged. "There must be an explanation, but I don't know what it could be." He paused a moment, his eyes searching hers. "Do you want this child? My child?"
"Yes." She took a deep breath and forced a smile. "Even if it's blue all over and has two heads."
No matter what the future held, Micah knew he would never love her more than he did at that moment. "Then let's hope for the best, and worry about the worst when it happens."
"All right." She could face anything, she thought, now that he was there with her. "Don't you think it's time you kissed me?"
She didn't have to ask him twice. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently, tenderly, wishing he could tell her how he had missed her, how deeply he loved her, but he lacked the words in her language to express what he truly felt, and to tell her in his native tongue would be pointless. And so he filled his mind with love and hoped that she would understand.
Micah's kiss deepened, and Lainey was suffused with warmth - not the blazing heat of passion, but the sweet, gentle warmth of love, of affection, of caring. She felt his thoughts, the emotion that was too deep, too strong, for mere words, and knew she was loved in ways few women would ever know.
Micah drew a deep breath and let it out in a long, slow sigh fraught with desire. "I wish..." He cut the thought off in mid-sentence.
"Wish what?"
He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Micah."
"I want to hold you, love you. To join with you."
"I know. I want it, too, but..."
"It isn't safe."
"No." She gazed into his eyes, a wistful expression on her face. "I wish you'd gotten here a few weeks sooner."
"I can wait." He brushed her cheek with his knuckles. "For a few weeks, if I have to. Forever, if I must, so long as you're near me. So long as I can hold you, touch you. Be a part of your life."
"Oh, Micah." She smiled up at him through her tears. "I love you so much."
"And I love you, Lainey St. John, with all my heart and soul."
How could she doubt it? He'd forsaken his home, his friends, traveled millions of miles, just to be with her.
"It's late," Micah said. "You should get some sleep."
"Will you hold me all night long?"
"All night," he replied in a voice thick with emotion. "And every night for as long as I live."
Rising, he carried her down the hall to her bedroom. Lowering her onto the bed, he undressed her, worshipping her with his eyes. He placed his hands over her swollen belly, trying to imagine his child sleeping within her womb. And then the child, his child, moved.
Speechless, Micah gazed into Lainey's eyes, his expression one of awe, of reverence.
Lainey placed her hands over his. "It is wonderful, isn't it? So many nights, I lay here, feeling the baby move, wishing you were here to share it with me." She caressed his cheek. "And now you are here, and it's even better than I imagined."
With hands that trembled, she undressed him, reacquainting herself with the broad swell of his chest, her fingertips lingering on the width of his shoulders, his strong, flat belly. Looking at him, at the sheer masculine beauty of his face and form, she felt all her fears fade away. Surely, with Micah for a father, her child would be beautiful.
Filled with contentment, she drew Micah down beside her, curling into his big body as she had dreamed of doing for so long.
"You'll be here when I wake up?"
"Every morning for the rest of my life."
With a sigh, Lainey closed her eyes, carrying Micah's image into her dreams.
