A Soldier in Love (19 page)

Michelle stood up from
the table and poured him another glass of prasna.

“Sure I do,” she said
warmly as she gently grabbed his arm and pulled him to the more comfortable
couch.

“I would really rather
hear more about you,” he offered.

 
“Serik, I barely know anything about you.” Michelle
frowned. “Please,” she added softly.

“I grew up on Baat. Like
you, I had a loving family,” he began.

“Did you have brothers
or sisters?” Michelle inquired.

“Not growing up, but
now I have a younger brother. My mother had him when I had left the house. I
guess families on Baat are a little different than yours. It takes much longer
for the females there to conceive. Many years of trying and no sisters, there
was a genetic mutation,” he explained.

“Genetic
mutation?”
Michelle asked softly.
He had said something about it before but she couldn’t really remember.

“It was my generation
and a little before as well… the Baat military meant it to be for their best
warriors, to produce more sons, more warriors, but it was somehow unleashed on
our entire planet by an enemy terrorist.”

“Serik, that’s awful,”
Michelle said softly.

“It sounds like we have
both been through several different kinds of wars both on our own planets and
off,” he offered.

“Tell me about your
childhood,” Michelle said softly wanting to change the subject from the
military, she had enough of it to last a lifetime.

“I had a hard time with
my eyes. It is a sign of bad luck, a sign of evil. I was made fun of a lot in
school, well, that is until I became the tallest and the strongest in class,”
he said unsure of how to tell her about his childhood.

“Serik,” Michelle
reached for his hands taking them within hers. “I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head.

“Michelle, I’m sorry
about your planet and your wars and your parents. My planet’s customs… they
pale in comparison. This is why I didn’t want to tell you about me. This pain
was nothing compared to yours,” he said quietly.

“It’s unfair to compare
the two. It’s hard to compare bad things,” Michelle offered.

He nodded in
acceptance.

“I don’t understand why
you’re eyes would be bad luck?” Michelle asked.

“Both light and dark
are not good together is what my people believe,” Serik replied.

“Serik, I hope you
don’t mind me saying this but I think your eyes are beautiful,” Michelle said
very softly.

Serik grinned. “Nothing
about me is beautiful baby but everything about you is.”

“Would I be bad luck
there? You said I am both light and dark,” Michelle asked as she tried to brush
away his compliment.

He chuckled. “No and
hopefully I never have to take you there.”

Michelle frowned.
“Why not?”

“Because every
male there would want to ask you to be his mate.”

Michelle let out a
small laugh.

“Yeah, right,” she
grinned.

“You think I joke? I am
not,” he frowned. “You are extremely beautiful.”

“I’m not sure what you
see but thank you, Serik.”

“I see someone
beautiful, brave, and strong when I look at you,” he replied with an intense
look in his eyes.

“So, how tall is the
average male on Baat?” Michelle questioned thinking back to his statement that
he had been the largest in class. She needed to get on another subject. It
still felt strange when he said things like that to her.

“About six and a half
of your standard Earth feet,” he replied.

“You know the big guys
where I’m from are usually the dumb ones. I’m learning that’s not the case with
you,” Michelle grinned.

Serik let out a
chuckle. “I’m not sure how to take that.”

Michelle stretched out
a little. “Tell me more.”

“I grew up, it was hard
being an outsider but my family was there for me. On Baat only 10% of the
population is female and since I’m a
two-eyes
I
figured I would never take a mate. I signed up to do exploratory campaigning on
the new worlds in the name of Baat.”

“What was that like?” Michelle
questioned.

“Seems much like
your Earth Army.
They sent us to
planets that they had little information on and we paved the way. We had to
determine whether they were inhabitable or not. That’s why I know a lot about Earth.
Not that we would have gone there since your people inhabited it but it was our
job to know.”

Michelle studied his
face as he explained. She knew that
look,
he had also
seen his fellow men die. He had fought and he had fought hard. He had the scars
to prove it.

“How many different
worlds have you been to?” she questioned.

“Ah, maybe three
hundred or so between the explorations, bounty hunting, and trading,” he
replied after a moment of doing mental calculations.

“Three hundred?”
Michelle’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, with the
explorations I’d say some of them were worse than Redex,” he grinned.

“Serik, my God, I just
barely made it off Redex… you must be incredibly tough,” she said in
astonishment. “And brave,” she added.

“We lost
a lot warriors
on those places,” he said with a saddened
look in his eyes. “But not all of the places were bad,” he added wanting to
lighten the conversation. “I’ve been to some amazing places as well. Maybe I
can take you to some of them,” he smiled.
 

Michelle listened intently
but felt a wave of sleepiness wash over her. She tried to hold it back but a
yawn escaped from her mouth.

“See I’m boring you to
sleep with my life story,” he jested.

Michelle shook her head.
“No, definitely not.
I think it’s the prasna.”

“It’s late, you ready
for bed?” he asked.

“Yeah, but Serik, I
think you left out some details… some important details about your life. I want
to hear more,” she grinned.

“What are you grading
me, teacher?” he poked.

She giggled. “Yeah, I
am but I’m tired so I’ll give you an extension on your assignment.”

He picked her up in one
swift motion.

“Serik!
Don’t drop me!” she exclaimed.

“Drop you? You weigh
nothing,” he grinned moving them into the bedroom. He gently sat her down on
the bed before crawling in himself.

She curled up beside
him as she had done every night since she had first asked him to stay with her.
He gently stroked her soft hair as she lay in his arms.
 

“
Mmm
…
that feels nice,” Michelle cooed.

“Good night, baby,” he
murmured softly.

“Good night, Serik,”
she replied sleepily.

She closed her eyes and
drifted off to sleep, feeling safe and warm.

Serik looked down as
the beautiful female next to him rested. The simple act of her curling up next
to him each night made his heart soar. He would do anything to protect her,
anything to make her feel comfortable and safe.

I’d do anything for you, baby. Your happiness means
everything to me.

Serik had been on the
viewscreen for hours. He was working out some sort of deal. He promised
Michelle after the deal he would try and get information as to what was going
on with the Earth Army.

Michelle hadn’t been
able to tell how long they had been together now but it seemed like a lifetime
ago that she was anywhere else. He had been good to her. She wasn’t sure how it
was that they had found each other but he had a gentle understanding about him.
He knew what it was like to have lost.

Michelle tapped her
upper ear. They had finally made it close enough to some sort of civilization,
a satellite. She turned and made her way down the hall to the bedroom. She
didn’t want him to see her.

“IS sync,” she
commanded.

She heard it chime
softly. She was surprised it came on at all with all. She couldn’t remember the
last time she had used it. Everything had been such a blur. It was a delicate
piece of equipment that had been through several atmospheres as well as extreme
heat and cold.

I guess it’s sheltered by cartilage.

The IS chimed in her ear
again, “IS sync to satellite initiated.”

Michelle frowned.

“Sync failed no
satellites available. Information available from last sync, continue?” its
robotic tone relayed to her.

“IS stream to me,
directly, topic planet Baat,” she said.

“IS has failed to find
topic,” it chanted into her ear.

“Damn,” Michelle
murmured to herself. She desperately wanted to know more about Serik and his
people.

She sighed,
It doesn’t have any new information only
information before I left for Redex.

“Michelle?” she heard Serik
call for her. She quickly tapped the IS into its off mode.

“Yeah?” she replied
making her way towards the control area.

“I’m sorry, baby but I
can’t get any information on Earth. We are really far out from almost every
major planet. We won’t know until we travel closer to the Earth realm,” he said
with a look of disappointment on his face.

Michelle frowned. “Thank
you for trying.”

“Of course, I only wish
I could get more information for you, good news. I will try to get a hold of a
friend who can maybe help.”

Michelle smiled weakly.
“Thank you, Serik. Thank you for being so good to me.”

Serik took her hands
within his. “I know you are worried about the Earth wars but don’t be. We will
get some news soon.”

He hated that he’d let
her down. He wished he could get the information she so desperately wanted.

***

Michelle found herself
in Serik’s embrace. It felt like he was always holding her, not that she
minded. Her nerves were still shaky and it soothed her. His embrace was like nothing
else she had ever experienced. There was something about your planet getting
overtaken and being sent off to the unknown that left a person shaky.

“What did you do for
fun on Baat?” Michelle asked as she inhaled his sweet masculine scent and relaxed,
feeling safe in his muscular arms.

“I read a lot, I still
do.”

“I used to like to read
before the war. When everything started happening, it happened so quickly… I
had to teach during the day and then do training on the evenings and weekends
so I never had time,” Michelle replied.

Serik grinned, “Well,
now you have time. I never showed you the library.”

“The library?”
Michelle was certain there wasn’t an additional
room on the ship she hadn’t seen.

“Yes, the library,” he
assured.

He handed her a small tablet.

“It has almost every
book in the universe. I’ll get them translated into English.”

Serik quickly
configured the tablet to English and handed it over to her.

Michelle stared down in
amazement. “Wow.”

She had seen something
similar in the Earth Army once but it seemed antiquated compared to the tool in
her hands.

“Yeah, the Baat really
like to read,” he grinned.

He placed the tablet in
her hands. “I want you to have this.”

“Serik, I’ve already
taken so much from you. You know I can’t accept this,” Michelle replied softly.

Serik shook his head,
“No, I will get another. This is for you. You haven’t taken either, you have
given me much.”

Michelle smiled. “Thank
you, Serik.”

A chime interrupted their
conversation.

“
Oi
,
I think it’s my friend calling me back. Let me see if he’s got some information
for us,” Serik said as he swiftly arose to his feet.

Michelle looked down at
the tablet and tried her best to figure out how to use it. It was different
from any Earth technology she had seen.

“Ah,” she exclaimed in
victory as she began to understand how the device worked. It was definitely an
advanced piece of technology but it seemed to be extremely user friendly. She
began to look through the library and at all of the different titles.

“Michelle,” Serik
called.

Michelle looked up to Serik
who had a serious look on his face.

“I couldn’t get very
much information. I did hear that a lot of your people made it to other colonies.
Many of your people are taking refuge on other planets.”

Michelle’s face
saddened. “You’re saying my planet is gone, aren’t you?”

Serik sat down and took
her hands into his. “We don’t know that.”

“I feel homeless,” she
sighed. Nervousness and fear welled in her stomach. She felt nauseated. Her
entire planet was gone. Her home, her people, everything demolished. She had
known it deep inside, the odds hadn’t been good but now the verbalization made
it real.

“You’re at home with
me,” he offered.

Michelle smiled weakly
at him.

He sat down next to her
and pulled her close.

“I know it’s not the
same, I’m not sure if it’s what you want but it’s what I can offer,”

“Serik,” Michelle
called out softly as she embraced him. His arms wrapped around her and she felt
a wave of relief wash over her.

The simple act of her
seeking his protection caused his heart to skip a beat. He would do anything to
protect her; to make her feel comfortable and safe.

***

Michelle relaxed
against the soft bed beneath her. She closed her eyes as a wave of sleepiness
came over her. Michelle thought back to her parents. She thought of her father
and her mother. Their faces were right there whenever she shut her eyes.

“Every time I close my
eyes… and I’m crying again pathetic,” Michelle murmured as she faced Serik.

“It’s OK, baby. You are
not weak. You are strong to not give up, you are a fighter.”

“I don’t feel like one.
Why do my emotions feel so strong? Why does it feel like these things just
happened? It is like having a wound reopened,” she cried.

“Some memories are
wounds… You feel the emotions strongly now because you have been numbed from
them for so long,” Serik replied softly.

“I’ve lost… I’ve lost
everything,” Michelle stammered as she tried to fight back the tears. She
silently cursed herself for crying again. She hated being weak. She was trained
to a soldier, to kill, to defend, to be strong but instead she was crying
uncontrollably.

“I know baby, I know,”
he replied as he held her gently in his arms.

“Why was I left to live
when everyone around me has died? Everyone I love is gone,” she sobbed.

“It will be OK,” he replied
softly.

Michelle relaxed in his
embrace. She hadn’t felt the type of soothing comfort he gave her ever before.
Despite his size and stature, he was gentle with her. He
was
loving
, he was caring, and he was kind. At first she thought he merely
pitied her but it wasn’t that. He cared for her, no, not just cared he deeply
cared for her. He had seen her at her worst, her weakest, a state she was
ashamed of yet he thought nothing of it. Instead, he held her close and told
her she was strong.

Does he love me? What is love? Is this what being
in-love feels like?

She had never
experienced love before.

It was slow at first,
that little feeling that came. But it got faster, it got larger, it became much
more intense. It became almost overpowering at times. Michelle couldn’t deny
that she was attracted to him, but she was also having a difficult time denying
that she was in love with him too.

Serik had saved her
life. He didn’t know her but he saved her life anyway. He did what was right
instead of what was easy, in the face of imminent danger. He nursed her back to
health and did not expect anything in return. He stayed with her every night
when she thought it was all too much. He held her and soothed her. Most of all
he made her laugh and he made her smile.

We understand what we are shown and what he is
showing me is love.