National Lampoon's Hyperspace Vacation

[Q. Samus Dage]

His hand had been just about to knock gently on the door, when her voice sounded out. Slightly muffled though it was, the words were unmistakable. Blinking, he couldn't help the instinctive inspection of his underarms, and lifting his left arm up, angled his head down and to the side to give a test sniff. Nope. No offending odor that he could detect, but never-the-less she'd known he was here. How in the nine hells was her smelling so on point?!

"Um, yeah?"

His voice ticked a little bit lower, as he let his forehead practically rest against the still-closed door.

"You doing ok in there?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"jYeah!" she replied, wincing. Too perky, he'd never buy it. "jYeah. jI'm fjine, jI jusst drrew the bath too hot, jI thjink."

She retreated down the back of the tub until the water was touching her chin and she peeked above her exposed knees.

"jYou want to come jin?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Well... yeah... ?"

He didn't want to impose however, and Samus made extra sure that he wasn't intruding.

"... but I know you're feeling under the weather, so if you don't want me to, that's ok... "

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"Ssamusss..." she sighed out his name in an ambivalent way, stuck somewhere between frustration and longing. "Come jin."

T'yeellaa felt emotionally fragile. She'd always made it a point to strike out on her own and do things her way, on her terms. That hadn't been easy, given where she'd come from. But she'd never felt quite so vulnerable, unsure, and scared as she did now. Even something as small as asking Samus to come in - was she really ready for that?

[Q. Samus Dage]

Slowly he pawed the door open, just enough to slip through. Which, all things told, was more than he would've liked. It was also more than he was sure he imagined it to be.

Closing it behind him, he reached up to stick his pinky finger in his ear to alleviate a sudden itch, and licking dry lips, moved to sit on the edge of the tub.

"You feeling any better?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"jYeah," she lied, hopefully convincingly. She wasn't ready to have this conversation. She wasn't even sure if she would have this conversation. So many contradicting thoughts ran roughshod through her mind, and all T'yeellaa wanted was a moment of quiet and serenity in her own head. For that, Samus helped.

T'yeellaa slid a hand out of the bath water, catching on to one of his hands and guiding it to rest on the rim of the tub. She closed her hand over his, feeling the roughness of his callouses and how it contrasted her own hand. She looked in his eyes, small and sharp and set on a face so unlike her own. How had she gotten here, with him? They couldn't be from more different families, different backgrounds, and different experiences. The closeness of him filled her senses, and she didn't back away from that now. She could feel him, smell him, and hear the beat of his heart almost in sync with her own.

She laid her head on the edge of the tub and just looked at Samus. T'yeellaa knew it wasn't making things any easier on her, but for now, this felt good.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He stared back, the obvious concern in his eyes as he watched her. She looked so comfortable in the water, almost as though she was a lounging watersprite, or the blue fairae creatures that his sister used to read about in her books so long ago. If any creature looked the picture of a magical being, it was T'yeellaa, now, in the water.

With his free hand, he reached out to gently brush away a strand of blonde hair from her face.

Both were silent, each watching the other.

Finally.

"Credit for your thoughts?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"jI ljike jyourr nosse."

T'yeellaa's mouth curled in a little smile. With her other hand, she reached out of the water to give his nose a wet boop with a pruny finger.

It wasn't much thought to spend a credit on. T'yeella continued to gaze.

[Q. Samus Dage]

It wasn't what he was expecting, and Samus gave her an odd look, which only seemed to deepen when she tapped his nose with a damp finger.

"You know, if you're really not feeling well, we can turn back around and go back to Jovan."

He knew that it was usually a good thing to put on the table, since most folks liked being in a familiar, comfortable place when they were under the weather.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

She shook her head.

"No, Ssamuss..."

And just as quickly, T'yeellaa paused. What could she say? She wasn't ready to say anything!

"jI want to be herre, wjith jyou. jI know jI'm bejing a downerr but jit'ss jusst a passsjing moment."

In the grimace of her expression lay self doubt at her own words. She took his hand in hers, turning it over palm up to run her fingers over his.

"Can jI assk jyou ssomethjing? Have jyou gjiven anjy thought about wherre jyou'll be jin fjive jyearrss?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

She was so earnest, sitting there in the tub, lounging, her arms out and draping over the edge like spider's legs.

"Well... "

Five years? That was a shade longer than he'd ever put much thought into. Usually it was maybe... about a day?

"...well Kitten, I don't know?"

It was the sort of answer that he knew she wouldn't be happy with, and Samus tried again.

"I suppose in five years I'll be on my own ship, if the Navy has any say in it."

He gave a long exhale, turning a look to her.

"What about you?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"The ssame thjing. Mjy own command agajin. Majybe even the Admjirraltjy."

But even as she said it, T'yeellaa didn't feel as assured or fulfilled by her five year 'plan' as she used to be. Worse, it started to make her afraid.

"jI thought that we'd jusst rrjide the wave wherreverr jit took uss, and now jI can't rrememberr what jI djid wjithout jyou, that funnjy grrjin, and jyourr cute nosse. Fjive jyearrss frrom now, wjill jI sstjill wake up next to jyou? How doess that worrk?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

She was getting deep, and it was worrying him.

"Well, I would certainly hope to be around you in the next five years," he started carefully.

"I don't really see myself cashing in my chips so soon like I did back in the day," he went on, "... so right now I suppose we're riding the wave you're talking about."

Apparently bath time made her introspective, but he wasn't one to judge.

"In five years," he reached out to gently brush an errant strand of blond hair out of her face, "... I'm fairly certain you and I will still be kicking about together."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

His words didn't fully assuage her onset of worries and fears, but T'yeellaa could hardly blame him for that. Samus was always of the mind that 'this will work, we'll just figure it out later'.

She envied that way of thinking.

"jI hope sso" was better than giving voice to the doubt in her heart, and so T'yeellaa said the easy thing. It didn't solve anything, it just pushed it away from the forefront.

Maybe she could sleep on this? Maybe tomorrow would have a better answer.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

The next morning


Samus's ship was big for a few passengers, but it wasn't that big. So when someone used the galley to cook breakfast, it wasn't a secret for long. The smells of ronto sausages, shaak bacon, tuber hash, and other less identifiable things saturated the main compartment of the ship, and began to make their way up to the master bedroom, along with a musical string of whistles, clacks, and warbles that only a Herglic could call singing.

Gradoona carefully stacked another round of bacon atop the previous batch, keeping a lattice that was at least four layers deep. A ding in the oven immediately shifted gears, and she pulled out two trays of tuber tots,which she promptly began piling into a casserole dish.

[Q. Samus Dage]

It was the smell that woke him. That wonderful smell of breakfast and a new day.

He was on his side, one arm over the top of T'yeellaa as she had apparently burrowed herself against him sometime during the night, and the other propped up along a pillow over the top of her head.

His hold tightened by only a fraction, and he pushed his nose almost into her ear.

"Kitten," his voice was still sleep-muddled, but it was also soft and gentle as he slightly shifted.

"... Kitten, you should wake up."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

T'yeellaa stiffened slightly, obviously now awake. Without looking at Samus, she talked against his chest.

"Djid jyou put jyourr nosse jin mjy earr?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

Eyes still closed, Samus couldn't help the light chuckle, which only seemed to send a few hot puffs of air into her ear canal.

"Well, it's either that or I find another hole to put something in."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

She pushed him away with a groan, then paused, suddenly aware the air was alive with smells.

"What'ss that?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

He pulled her close for one last little moment, his arm over her tightening as if he was about to ride a kaj bull out of a pen and into an arena.

"That's bacon, Kitten."