A Soldier in Love (26 page)

“Can I help you with
anything?” Michelle offered to
Rina
. She wanted to be
as helpful as possible to her host.

“Would you mind peeling
these for tonight?”
Rina
gestured to a lot of
potatoes on the counter.

“Sure,” Michelle
replied as she began to run water over them to rid them of any dirt.

“There are families who
started farming here. That’s where I got them from. Some people have been
growing corn too. We’re having a lot of luck here getting back on track,”
Rina
explained.

Michelle nodded and
then stared down at the task beneath her hands. It was simple enough, peeling
potatoes, but she hadn’t done this sort of thing in years. Sure, she had mopped
in the Earth Army. She had even taken her rounds to do laundry but this sort of
thing seemed foreign to her. There was something satisfying about preparing
your own food.
Food
, she thought.
Real food.
Before
she ended up with Serik, she had only sustenance, not food. The Earth Army had
stripped her of many things, yet, she had blindly followed.

She had been blindly
following many things all of her life. She sat there elbow deep in potato skins
as
Rina
sputtered around the house. It was always
when she was alone when she thought of these things. She wished
Rina
would come back to the kitchen to break the silence
that caused the unpleasant thoughts to swarm around in her head. It was one thing
to remember the painful past and another to be without Serik but the silence
was what really drove her mad.

Michelle wondered where
she would go from here. Surely, she couldn’t stay with
Rina
forever. Her heart sunk in her chest, would Serik come back for her? She wasn’t
sure.

What would she do? She
was a soldier and anything else she had done felt like unreal. She smiled to
herself remembering the time Aaron told The Commander she used to be a farmer.
Too bad that wasn’t true
, she mused to
herself,
it might come in handy now
on Sora.

She felt a familiar
feeling of being out of place. It was the same feeling she had when her parents
didn’t return from being called up. It was the same feeling she felt when her
evil foster mother had first collected her. It was even there when she was with
Amy and Eric in New Shanghai. She wondered if the feeling had ever gone away.
She realized it did go away when she was with Serik but without him it had
returned.

She was a soldier with
no army to belong to any longer. She had no skills beyond being an elementary
school teacher but that seemed like a lifetime ago. She suddenly wished that
she had been a farmer on Earth. At least she would have some sort of useful
skill. What would she do now?

“The party will be fun
tonight,”
Rina
said warmly breaking Michelle’s
thoughts.

“It’s very kind of
everyone,” Michelle replied with gratitude. She pushed her questions to the
back of her mind. She would just have to live for the now. She didn’t have any
other choice.

“You deserve it,”
Rina
smiled giving her arm a small squeeze.

Michelle wasn’t sure if
she did. She kept peeling potatoes as
Rina
told her
more about everyone who was expected to come. Michelle said a silent prayer
thanking God for
Rina
. She needed the distraction
from her own thoughts or she felt she would soon go mad.

***

Michelle smiled as the
people around her laughed and joked. There was a rather large crowd congregated
around her. There were mostly humans but a few Baat men. One by one they had
come by and thanked her for her service. It felt nice to be appreciated, even
if she hadn’t killed any Cabaka. The people were truly thankful for her. The
party made her forget for a minute that she was alone and destitute. The others
were incredibly warm and welcoming. She figured you would have to be after
starting a new civilization on another planet. Seeing another human was
reminiscent of seeing a friendly face in a crowd. It felt good and it felt
comforting.

Michelle heard laughter
and turned around to see the children were playing. They ran and yelled as they
played various games. She felt a strange sense of peace roll over her. She knew
it would be short lived but in the moment she felt comfortable.

“Here,” Ethan said
handing her a plate of food. He smiled warmly at her.

“It’s a hotdog,”
Michelle exclaimed immediately feeling a bit childish afterwards.

She brought the hotdog
to her mouth savoring the flavor as thick mustard clung to the roof her mouth. It
was a taste of home.

“Hey, I’ll be right
back I’m going to get a beer,” Ethan said giving her arm a gentle and
affectionate squeeze.

Michelle nodded and
took another bite of her food as she stood by herself. She looked around again
as the party began to thin out. She sighed and put down her plate of food. Being
alone was the most difficult time for her; it was when her emotions liked to
wage war upon her. There was that nagging little feeling that stayed with her
telling her that Serik should be with her.

There was
an emptiness
within, a need within her entire being for him.
She felt
a sadness
wash over her.

“So,
Dru
and Kyle have combat lessons tonight,”
Rina
said causing Michelle to jump a little.

“Oh, OK,” Michelle
replied.

“We can get you some
more clothes and other things,”
Rina
offered kindly.

Michelle realized that
the things she thought held no use to Earth anymore, perhaps still held use on
Sora.

“I used to be a
cosmetologist on Earth. I could cut your hair and give you a new look,”
Rina
grinned.

Michelle tried not to
laugh.
“Really?”

Rina
nodded. “Yeah, that’s my plan for getting your guy
back.”

“Why not?
I don’t have anything left to lose,” Michelle mused
with a shrug of her shoulders.

“
Rina
?”
Michelle questioned. “If you don’t mind me asking… what’s it like to be with a Baat?”

Rina
grinned and gave Michelle a wink. “I’ll tell you
after the party. We can have some girl time and trust me I could use it with my
two boys.”

Michelle smiled to
Ethan who came back. After long conversations and a beer or two later the party
began to wind down.

“Let’s go home,”
Rina
announced.

“But shouldn’t I be
cleaning up?” Michelle asked.

Rina
shook her head. “Not your own party.”

The two made their way
back to
Rina’s
house. Michelle followed
Rina
up the stairs to her bedroom.

“So, where did the boys
go?” Michelle asked.

“They are out sparring
at combat training. We decided as a community to start them young. I would
protest and say they’re just children but with what happened to Earth… Well, I
figured it is probably best to be prepared,”
Rina
replied decisively. She motioned for Michelle to sit down.
  

Michelle nodded and sat
on the bed. She watched as
Rina
retrieved various
beauty products and makeup.

“It’s not like you
really need this but I figured it might be nice for you after being in the Earth
Army so long. You’re gorgeous I would kill for looks like yours,”
Rina
muttered as she applied a coat of eye shadow. “But
guess it’s a good thing the Baat men worship us. Well, I guess the whole
universe does,” she continued.

“What do you mean?”
Michelle questioned.

“I know weird, huh? I
guess we are just really enticing to most males from other planets. Most
planets don’t have a high female population for some reason. I don’t know.”

“How did you end up…
err… I mean meet your husband? Or mate? What do you call him?” Michelle asked
as she felt the various make up brushes tickle her face.

Rina
chuckled. “I call him husband but he calls me mate.
What about your guy?”

Michelle blushed. “He
just calls me baby.”

Rina
suddenly stopped her makeup application and
Michelle opened her eyes.

Rina
gave her a very serious look. “Look, Baat guys
don’t use terms of endearment lightly. He loves you. To call a woman you don’t
love a term of endearment is dishonoring to their culture.”

Michelle shook her
head. “It’s complicated between me and him and plus we were talking about you
and
Dru
. How’d you two meet?”

“Well, the Baat heard
of what was happening to Earth and they offered us asylum. I was lucky I got
out just in time. Not everyone was as lucky as me,”
Rina
said with an expression of remorse and pain. “I met
Dru
on Baat but we decided to come here. It was kind of strange being stared at all
day by every man around you.”

“What about your son?”
Michelle asked hesitantly.

“On Earth, I was a
single mom. That no good baby daddy of mine,”
Rina
sighed. “
Dru
,
really loves Kyle. For all I’m concerned
Dru
is Kyle’s dad. Let me just tell you that my Baat guy
loves me. He truly loves me and a human guy could never love you like one of
these guys.”

Michelle arched an
eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“He loves me with
everything he’s got.
 
I… I can’t explain
further than that really. They just offer a different kind of love.”

Michelle shook her
head. “No, I think I understand. I understand completely.”

Rina
smiled warmly and ran a brush through Michelle’s
hair. Her touch was gentle and careful.

“Let’s get you
fixed
up. Guys like it when you get a little dolled up for
them,”
Rina
suggested.

Michelle wasn’t sure if
that was true or not in her case. All she knew was Serik made her feel like a
woman, feminine, wanted, and loved. Those were things she thought she could
never feel again after joining the Earth Army. She wasn’t sure she wanted those
feelings, but she knew they would come along with Serik and she wanted him. Before
she could think to protest,
Rina
got out a curling
iron. She shrugged her shoulders and let
Rina
work
her magic. Besides, she had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. What
would it hurt to be a woman again?

I’ve fought hard battles, I’ve captured dangerous
terrorists and criminals, yet I’m terrified of this little female and being
rejected by her
, Serik thought
to himself.
No, I’m not even afraid of
the rejection. I’m afraid she’ll hate me. The one I love, hating me.

Serik couldn’t bear the
thought of the one female in the universe who had accepted him, hating him
instead. He could almost feel the sting of rejection, pain, and hate before he
even spoke to her. Against better judgment and the advice of the priest he
mustered up all the courage he had and stood in front of the house. It was a
small community and when he came back in everyone seemed to know just what he
came back for.

He looked at the door
in front of him and remembered the Earth custom Michelle had told him about. He
knocked loudly and he waited.

It was going to be the
most difficult thing he ever had to do.
It
has to be done, so I’m here,
he reminded himself.

***

“He’s here,”
Rina
cheered.

Michelle slowly and
carefully made her way downstairs in the high heels
Rina
had insisted she wear. Michelle couldn’t remember the last time she worse such
ridiculous shoes.

“It’s someone else,”
Michelle began.
 

Rina
shook her head. “It’s him. Who else would knock
that loudly? Go answer it.”

Michelle’s heart
pounded as she tried to calm herself. She slowly opened the door. She took a
sigh of relief when she saw it was indeed Serik.

She smiled and stumbled
forward to him, still unsteady in her new shoes. She had been so nervous that
she forgot about how ridiculous she must look. She swallowed as his eyes met
hers. His golden and blue gaze was intense.

“Serik,” she murmured as
he wrapped his strong arms around her.

“Michelle,” he replied
as he inhaled her sweet scent.

“I thought you weren’t
going to come back,” she said in a small frightened voice.

Serik’s eyes widened as
he looked her over. He couldn’t explain it but she was somehow more beautiful
than before he left. He wasn’t sure how that could be because he already didn’t
understand how someone could be as beautiful as her.

“You look… Wow, just
you look beautiful… more beautiful than before. I don’t know how that is
possible,” he confessed.

Michelle blushed at his
words.

“You look taller too,”
he said as he arched an eyebrow.

Michelle felt kind of
silly all dolled up and standing before Serik.

“I,
uhm
,
Rina
was giving me a makeover,” Michelle tried to
explain.

“A what?”
Serik furrowed his brow. “What are these shoes?” he
said as he looked down at her feet.

“Uh, they are high
heels I haven’t worn them in many years…” Michelle explained as she tried to
control the fire that was ablaze on her cheeks.

“I think I like these
shoes,” he grinned.

He stroked her hair
gently and lifted her chin up with his hand. “Is there somewhere private we can
go to talk?”

Her eyes met his and
she nodded as she led the way outside to the porch, a nervous apprehensive
feeling swept over her.

“Is something wrong?” she
asked trying to control the fear in her voice.

He wants to leave your ass here is what’s wrong
, she thought to herself.

“If it would make you
happy to stay here,” he began diverting his gaze from her face.

She shook her head and
took his hand within hers as tears welled up in her eyes.

“You came all the way
back here to tell me that? You left me here, you abandoned me and you came back
here to tell me that,” she said unable to fight the tears back.

He pulled her small
body close to his. “I’m sorry, baby. I never meant to do that. I just thought
you would be happy here with your people. I didn’t know if you would want to
stay with me.”

“No,” she stammered.
“Please, no, Serik. I need you.”

Serik’s heart soared
and he gently squeezed her small body to his.

“I’m tired of fighting,
Serik, I’m just so tired of fighting,” she cried. Tears freely flowed down her
cheeks. It had just been too much for her.

“I’m tired of fighting
this,” he said as he reached down.

His lips gently grazed
against hers. Michelle met his lips back surprised at their softness. She could
smell his scent clouding her senses.

He pulled back. “I
won’t ever leave you, baby. If that’s what you want.”

“Really?” she asked
trying to hide the surprised look on her face. She had been so certain that he
didn’t feel the same about her as she did him.

He nodded. “I didn’t
want you to think you had to stay with me because I saved you. It didn’t matter
how much I wanted you to stay, and believe me, nothing in this universe would
give me greater pleasure than to have you by my side. I thought it would make
you happy to stay here with your people. I didn’t think that you’d want to go
back with me. Michelle, your happiness… your happiness means everything to me.
I want you to be happy and that’s all that matters to me. That’s all that will
ever matter to me.”

She shook her head.
 

“And I notice how that
human male looks at you,” he grumbled.

She
laughed. “I notice how you look at me.”
           

“You’re beautiful and
you’re special, Michelle. You’re the strongest and the bravest female I have
ever met,” he replied.

Michelle’s blush
deepened. She hated that she blushed so easily around him but he made her feel
feminine, he made her feel womanly, all things she hadn’t felt in a very long
time.

“But you’re even more
beautiful when you blush like that,” he grinned.

The look he gave her.
She suddenly recognized it; it was the look Aaron gave Kate. It was the look
Eric gave Amy.
The look that
Dru
gave
Rina
.
It was the way that her father had
often looked at her mother. The look told her everything; he was in love with
her.

She smiled warmly at
him and moved in closer as her forest green eyes met his blue and golden eyes. He
softly moved a strand of her auburn hair from her face. He moved in closer to her.
His mouth met hers with a kiss that contained a passionate fury. His lips were
soft and inviting. His tongue made his way into her mouth and freely explored.

Michelle pulled back
and blushed. She had never in her life been kissed like that. It was as though
he was a starving man and she was a delicious morsel of food. He was hungry for
her.
 
The kiss brought forth a flood of
emotions; she could tell that he wanted her, desired her,
needed
her.

Soldiers do not kiss, soldiers do not kiss, soldiers
do not feel these sorts of things
,
she sharply reminded herself. She tried to shake to urges he had awoken within
her.

“Serik, I…” she
stammered. “I have feelings for you, strong feelings
but
 
I
need some time. I am still dealing
with everything. I am still remembering what it
is
like to be a woman and not just a soldier.” Her knees felt a little wobbly from
the kiss. She said a silent prayer, thankful that she did not fall over in her
ridiculous shoes and get up.

“Michelle, I have to
tell you something,” Serik said in a serious tone.

“What’s that?” she said
raising a delicate eyebrow.

“Michelle, well, first
there’s something you should know.” He sighed as he tried to find the right
words. “I’ve been in love with you this entire time. I just wanted you to know
that. I just want you to know that you’re the only female I’ve ever loved. You
make me feel complete.”

Michelle looked up at
him a bit surprised. Serik paused for a moment to take her small hands into his
large ones.

“I love you too, Serik,”
Michelle replied as she diverted her gaze from him to the setting sun.

“But there’s something
else though… something important you need to know. Something I’m not sure you
can accept. I won’t blame you if you can’t. I just want you to know that I love
you, Michelle. I would give up my life for you. I would do anything for you to
be happy,” Serik began in a serious tone.

Michelle looked to Serik
taking in his serious look. Before the words could escape his mouth the front
door opened. Kyle came running out along with
Rina
.

“Hey guys, sorry, Kyle
was just really excited about you two having dinner with us,”
Rina
said interrupting their conversation as she stepped
out on the porch with
Dru
trailing not far behind her.

“Dinner is almost
ready. Come in and eat with us,”
Dru
offered.

Before Serik could
reply, before he could tell Michelle his dark secret she was already dragging
him halfway through the doorway. He couldn’t help but follow her.

I’ll tell her later
, he decided.
If she can’t accept it then I’ll bring her back here.

“Brother,”
Dru
said giving Serik an embrace.

“Thank you for having
me,” Serik replied with uncertainty.

“Any brother from Baat
is welcomed here,”
Dru
said warmly. Serik wondered if
being on Sora for so long had changed his view on things. He didn’t know so he
just sat down at the table next to Michelle.

“So, are you her
boyfriend?” Kyle asked.

“Hi,” Serik grinned.

“Because she’s my
girlfriend,” Kyle said possessively.

Serik chuckled. “OK, well
I guess you beat me to her.”

“Serik, that’s Kyle,”
Michelle smiled.

“Kyle? You mean your
boyfriend?” Serik winked.

“Were you in the army
too?” Kyle asked as he scooted his chair closer.

Serik nodded.

“Can I show you my room
after we eat?” Kyle asked.

“Sure, kid,” Serik
replied warmly.

“Kyle,”
Rina
called loudly. “You better go wash your hands and face
before you eat.”

“Yes, mom.”
Kyle let out a heavy sigh and trotted up the
stairs.

“
Oi
,”
Serik said in exasperated tone as he looked down at the strange Earth eating
utensils.

“I taught you how to
use a fork remember,” Michelle said warmly sensing his unease.

“Are we having wine?” Serik
poked fun.

Michelle shook her head
and smiled. His presence made her life worth living. He gave her purpose. He
reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze as they waited for their hosts to
return. Things felt right once again.

Dinner passed by
quickly.
Rina
did most of the talking as usual. She
was quite excited about their next child on the way.
Dru
and Serik talked about Baat for awhile.
Rina
and
Michelle did their best to explain things on Earth to them. Michelle wasn’t
sure if they understood but she didn’t understand the things on Baat they
talked about. All she knew was it felt good to talk about home.

Things started to die
down when Serik felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see Kyle.

“You
wanna
see my room now?” he asked with child-like
excitement.