Wed to the Alien Prince by C.V. Walter

Chapter 11

The announcement that they'd docked with the ship came as a surprise to Kaelin who was well and truly distracted by her activities in Roger's arms. She hadn't forgotten where she was. Not really. She just couldn't find it in her to care about anything beyond the feel of his arms around her and his lips on hers.

"I believe your friend is meeting us on the ship," he told her.

"Friend?" she asked, somewhat dazed. "Friend! Right! Molly! Will it be okay to meet her without having gotten the, you know, little bot-things?"

"Molly is the reason we have bio-nanos that work for humans," Roger said and smiled. "She'll be fine. It's the rest of the crew that I'm concerned about you interacting with. Not all of them have been given the update and I also don't want them giving you anything, even on accident."

The reminder that she was going to be confined to what amounted to a hospital room until the ship's doctor could get a better handle on how their technology would interact with her issues sent her heart crashing into her toes.

"Right, I forgot," she said.

"Hey," he said, his fingers on her chin turning her face down to look at him. "You won't be in quarantine for long, I promise. And you won't be there by yourself."

"Isn't the point of quarantine keeping me away from anything that can get me sick? How would isolating me help if you're interacting with the crew that hasn't been exposed to me yet and I haven't been exposed to them yet?"

"Well, part of the point would be to expose you in small doses to things that have already been attacked by my bio-nanos. And to keep you somewhere we can monitor you for any ill effects."

"Right," she said. "Another hospital room. Can I say I'm kinda sick of them without sounding like I'm whining?"

"Even if you were whining, you're allowed to do so," Roger told her. "If you've spent a lot of time in places where you're being monitored, I can understand being tired of them. I will do my best to make sure that the tests and monitors are not completely invasive. And we'll take you off of them as often as possible."

Kaelin's heart pounded and it wasn't a reaction to his touch. "Promise?"

"I give you my word, you won't be in there more than necessary," he said. "And I will be very clear about what is necessary when we talk to Mintonar."

"What if he says I have to be in isolation?" she asked.

"Doesn't matter," he said. "There is nowhere you can go on this ship that I cannot follow and I will stay quarantined with you if necessary."

"You have to work," she told him. "Even I know that being a prince doesn't mean just doing whatever you want. Especially since you're meeting a whole new planet. Unless you have some kind of designated ambassador?"

"I am required to represent my people," he told her. "But there is a lot of that I can do from a room in the Medical Bay as easily as I can anywhere else. Being with you is more important than anything else right now."

"You can't mean that," Kaelin protested.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not-"

"Kaelin," Roger said firmly. "You are the most important person on this ship as far as I'm concerned. There is nothing more important than making sure you are safe, settled and happy. If that means staying with you in the Medical Bay, that's what it means. If it means creating a moving Medical Pod so you can go all over the ship and not interact with anyone, then we'll do that, too. But whatever happens, I am not leaving you."

She could feel the tears welling in her eyes moments before they spilled down her cheeks. "That's very sweet," she told him. "And I won't hold you to it. I might not know everything there is to know about your people but I do know that someone as important as you can't make that promise to someone like me. Not in a situation like this."

He leaned his forehead against hers. "Why won't you let me comfort you?"

"Because I don't want you to lie to me, even if you don't think you are. I want you to be honest with yourself as much as you are with me."

"You don't believe that I could spend all my time with you?"

"I think," she said with a smile. "That your advisors would want you making any transmissions to the planet from a room that has been secured for private communications."

His mouth opened then snapped shut. "You are probably correct about that," he acknowledged. "But we'll just have to make sure that it's a room you can go into."

“Maybe we should talk to Mintonar first," Kaelin said. She wanted to believe him, wanted him to be able to spend as much time with her as possible, but she wasn't going to let him avoid his duties to stay with her.

"That will be one of the first things we do on the ship," he told her.

"Alright," she agreed.

"Are you ready to get off?" he asked.

"I've been ready," she said then blushed.

"Oh?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"Um, since I don't have your translators, I can't tell whether or not you know that 'get off' has more than one meaning."

"And that second meaning is more in regards to personal satisfaction than in disembarking from the ship, I take it?"

She blushed and he laughed.

"Kaelin, cherna, we will get you off as soon as you're ready. Truly ready, not just on edge from being touched for hours."

"Now you're teasing me," she told him.

"Just a little," he said, helping her to stand. "I find it hard to resist and hope that you will enjoy it as much as I do."

"What, the teasing or the getting off?"

"Yes," he said and she blushed again.

Roger helped her find her balance on her feet and she looked around. Her bag was still packed, her pajamas shoved in the partition she'd made for dirty clothes, and her shoes were directly next to the bed. She moved to start cleaning off the little table when she felt Roger's hand on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Picking up after our little dinner," she told him. "There's no sense in leaving a mess."

"Yes, but the galley is locked down and we won't be able to put the dishes anywhere else until the crews come through to scrub the shuttle," Roger told her.

"Oh," she said, looking around. "I guess there's nothing else to do, then."

"Not for us, not in here," he said.

"Alright." Kaelin took a deep breath. "What's next?"

She followed him to the Medical Bay on the shuttle where Aidan and one of the pilots were in the middle of an argument. The woman on the table was glaring at her.

"I know you said you'd take care of her but you can't be the one to escort her in," Aidan said. "You saw what just touching her did."

The alien pilot responded and Aidan growled.

"Chaegar," Roger said. "I told Alvola I would be escorting the ladies to quarantine. There is no need for this argument."

Chaegar turned to Roger and snarled until he realized who he was looking at. His tone changed, though the intense look on his face didn't. Kaelin stiffened and tried not to shrink back behind the man at her side.

Instead, he stepped forward and in front of her and pushed her slightly behind him. The argument that ensued was one that Kaelin wished she'd had a translator for. Whatever was being discussed, she could tell at least some of it involved her, and Roger was losing the argument.

With a sigh, Aidan stepped up next to Chaegar. "Come on, man, you're not going to win that part. I'll deal with her, we'll go a completely different way and I'll talk to Mintonar about her only having female nurses. Can you chill out now?"

Chaegar turned to Aidan and Kaelin couldn't help but notice he kept looking at the woman on the table. She might not know what was going on but she could tell there was something between the two of them. And it was going to eat at her what happened when they'd touched.

Her hand had come up to touch Roger's back and her fingers curled into his shirt. He turned to look at her and she could see the concern in his face. "Kaelin?"

"Can I ask you a couple questions?"

"Of course," he said and turned around to face her fully.

"Not here," she said. "Somewhere with less shouting."

Roger put a hand to her elbow and guided her over to the chairs they'd been sitting in earlier. "What's wrong?"

Kaelin crossed her arms in front of her chest. "This isn't that much better but I wanted to know what was going on. What were you fighting about when I couldn't understand what you were saying. Your pilot kept looking at me."

"Ah," Roger said. "He was accusing me of being unsatisfied with the match I'd made and of trying to steal his human."

"Oh," she said. "Are you?"

"Trying to steal his human? What would I do with two humans? One of whom I don't particularly like? And who I would expect to murder me in my sleep before she'd let me get as close to her as I'd have to in order to steal her from Chaegar."

"No, are you unsatisfied with your human?"

"Have I given you any indication that I might be dissatisfied with you?" Roger asked her.

"No," she said.

"Have I made any sign or indication that I have any interest in the woman Chaegar has a connection with?"

"You offered to escort her on to the ship."

"I offered to escort her to quarantine because I will be going there with you anyway."

"That's the only reason?"

"Kaelin," Roger said, cupping his hands around her face. "I have many reasons to distrust the woman on the table, many to be concerned about where she's going to be and what she's going to be doing. None of them are because I have any feelings for her beyond distrust. If she truly is Chaegar's match and he forms a bond with her, I will wish them well and hope she does not turn out to be as dangerous as I fear she is."

"Do you think I'm dangerous?"

"I know you're dangerous," he told her. "A single sentence from you could pierce my heart and destroy it forever. If there is a more dangerous person in the universe, I don't know who they could be."

"Nobody has that kind of power," Kaelin said.

"You do," he said. "And you are the only person I would trust with it. If my trust is unfounded, let me know."

Her hands clutched at her biceps, the tension in her arms the only thing giving away how uncertain she was. "I don't think it is."

"Good," he said. "I don't think so, either. And I expect that you'll prove that my faith in you is not only justified, I have underestimated how good you will be for me and, by extension, my people."

"I want to help you help your people," Kaelin told him. "You know that, don't you?"

He reached out and took one of her hands from her arm. The thrill that shot through her was only slightly related to recognition. His lips caressed the back of her knuckles. "I would not think less of you if all you wanted was to see my ship and go home but your desire to do good by the people who trusted me enough to take a chance on a new planet is a credit to you."

Kaelin shivered and he smiled at her.

They left the Medical Bay without anybody else noticing they had gone and left the shuttle as well. Roger explained that Mintonar had been told she was coming but it looked like they were going to have their hands full with the woman who had started fighting as soon as they let her up from the table.

As much as she wanted to see Molly, Kaelin could not regret his decision to bypass the group waiting to greet them and move straight to the Medical Bay. It felt completely selfish but she wanted a few more moments with Roger before he had to return to his duties and she became an experiment for the ship's doctor.