Rogue Warriors of Lorr
Captured By the Alien Chapter 12

Scarlett was almost content. They had been staying in the hut, feeling safe, for a week. She was grateful she'd been able to relax and stop stressing.

And while she enjoyed that, it wasn't complete contentment because it had also been a week of no progress. Seven days had passed, and they were nowhere closer to knowing what they were going to do than when they arrived. It was like they were at a standstill, and she was growing anxious. Grux was outside hunting as he often did for their main meat source. But as much as she liked being here and feeling like they were a happy couple living together, she knew they were only pretending. At some point, they needed to wake up to reality. She paced, going from the kitchen to the living room and back. She kept going over everything, every little detail of their situation. She knew the answer was going home to Earth.

But it seemed every time she brought it up, Grux shot it down, which angered her. She didn't understand why he just wouldn't take her back. They'd stolen a hovercraft before. They could find something to get her back. He wouldn't even consider it half the time. She bit her lip, wondering if there was a chance that he didn't want her to go. Was he possibly hoping to hold her here? She didn't enjoy that thought.

She heard the front door open, and Grux stepped in. He gave her a smile. "Hey. Did you enjoy your nap?"

She nodded, going back to pacing. Grux shut the door, stopping just a few feet from her.

"What's wrong?" He tossed his hunting gear onto the ground. It was just a simple shotgun he found in the shed out back.

"What's the plan?" she finally asked him. "What are the next steps for us? Are we getting a ship? Hiking farther out of the kingdom?"

"What do you mean?" He looked at her, confused.

"We can't stay here." She threw her arms up. "Not that I don't like it here because I do. I'm happy to settle and finally catch our breath, but this isn't a solution to our situation, Grux. We need to get moving."

She watched his shoulders drop, and she continued. She needed him to realize that they were sitting ducks if they stayed here. They needed a plan. That was the whole point of being here. Wasn't it? "What's our plan?" she asked again.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I'm still thinking of our next steps. It isn't so simple."

"Why aren't we finding a ship to get me home? Isn't getting me to Earth the end game here?"

"Yes," he said, "but again, it's not that simple."

"Then why aren't we doing that?!" she snapped, losing her cool. "Why aren't we looking for a ship?"

"Because it isn't that simple, Scarlett," he grumbled back at her. "We've talked about this."

"No!" she snapped back. "You've talked. I've listened. I want to talk now. It's my turn. I don't want to live my life on the run. I lived up to this point, scared and looking over my shoulder. I'm not continuing that."

Her greatest fear was living on the run, permanently unable to settle down and enjoy herself. She wanted it to end. She didn't want to bring a child into that world.

"Why can't we find a ship and head to Earth?"

"You're pregnant," he said as if it was a reason. "It's putting kinks in the plan."

"How?" she yelled, throwing her hands up. "Just how? Why is being pregnant making it harder for you to find a ship?"

"It's not finding a ship, Scarlett." He rubbed his eyes. "The travel is complicated."

She fell silent for a moment.

He continued, "Finding a ship isn't that hard. I would have ways. The traveling part is hard to figure out."

"I don't understand."

He sighed. "We can go after you have the baby. We can't travel with you pregnant. It's dangerous."

"Nothing is wrong with traveling when you're pregnant." She was hardly in her second trimester. It wasn't hard for them to travel. She knew several people who had traveled when pregnant.

"Scarlett, this isn't just a simple journey. Earth is a long distance away, and it's not like just hopping to the next planet over. We have to take a wormhole to get to Earth. That, on a normal, healthy person, is hard on the body. People pass out, and people die. Now imagine a pregnant person. I'm not taking that chance."

She knew what he was saying was true. She hadn't even considered they would have to go through a wormhole.

"But a baby couldn't do that, either."

"No, but it would give me more time to find a ship with a seal, to put our baby in and protect them. Besides, our child will be half-Lorrian. He has a better chance of surviving it than you, even when you're not pregnant."

"Then something else," she said. "Anything else. We could go somewhere else and hide out. Why are we still on Lorr? Is there a good reason?"

He frowned, growing irritated. "Did you forget about the Flemlars looking for you? Did you forget about the bounty hunter they have out for you? Do you want to travel with the possibility that someone might see you and want to bring you in for that reward? Is that what you want?"

"I don't know what I want!" she screamed, throwing her arms up. "All I know is I'm going f*****g crazy sitting around here like this is the answer! It isn't!"

She watched him take a deep breath in, and she crossed her arms. She knew she was being harsh, but she didn't know what else to do. She needed him to hear her, to understand that this wasn't working anymore. She wanted to go home.

Grux rubbed his eyes, feeling a headache forming. Scarlett certainly had been emotional these past few days, and every day it grew worse. It wasn't like the reasons were a mystery to him.

Her pregnancy wasn't even at the top of the list. As much as he dreaded the next leg of their journey and all the uncertain dangers it entailed, he was going a little stir crazy, as well.

He knew she wanted to go home, and he wanted to take her home.

But he also knew it wasn't that simple. It wasn't like he could just make it happen at the snap of his fingers. Too many parts of the plan that could go wrong, and he wasn't risking it-wasn't risking her. "Scarlett." He said her name in hopes of calming the situation before it grew. "I'm trying. I know you want to go home. I hear that. I do. But we have to wait."

"I'm sick of waiting," she yelled back. She paced, growing louder the more she talked. "I'm sick of waiting for you to pull your head out of your ass."

His eyebrows went up. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me!" she yelled, throwing her hands up again. "You just want me to suffer. You want me to feel miserable. Well, I'm there."

"That's the last thing I want." He took a step toward her. "I want you to go home as well, Scarlett, but that isn't possible right now. We need to think about what is best for you and the baby." "It is that simple! You just refuse to think of anything."

He was trying to keep his calm, but it grew harder by the second. He ran his hands through his hair and frowned. She wasn't listening to him.

"Scarlett, I know it seems like we haven't gotten far, but we have. You're not where you were several months ago. We are going to get you home, just not right now."

She started to cry. He frowned, seeing the situation only growing worse.

"You're just refusing to take me back!"

"I'm not!" he yelled back at her. "I'm trying to get you to understand it isn't that simple." He was going in circles with her. Everything was going in one ear and out the other.

She stopped pacing and looked at him, squaring her shoulders. She narrowed her eyes. "I would have been home by now if I wasn't pregnant."

He stilled.

"This isn't even my life. Because of this pregnancy, nothing I do is even my choice, and I hate you for it. If you had just brought me home like you said you would, we wouldn't even be here." "That's not fair," he said. "We both made a decision to sleep together, Scarlett. It isn't only my fault you're pregnant."

She laughed. "Well, we wouldn't have slept together if you'd just taken me home like you promised. It's your fault I'm miserable."

She turned, marching down the hallway, and he heard the bedroom door slam behind her. He ground his teeth. He wanted to go after her and tell her she was wrong, but it wouldn't matter. Nothing he said was getting through to her. She wanted to go home, and that was all she could think about. Nothing he could say or do could change that fact. So, he opened the closet, pulled out some blankets, and tossed them onto the couch. He was no longer hungry. He just wanted to sleep.

He flicked all the lights off and crawled onto the makeshift bed, pulling the blankets over himself.

Everything was silent, nothing but the sound of the wind. He sighed, resting his hand over his face. Everything felt like a disaster, and he didn't know how to fix it. He woke up to pitch blackness and the sound of Scarlett crying. He sat up just as she came down the hallway. He rubbed his eyes, trying to pull himself awake. "What's wrong?" She walked toward him, and he took in her red eyes. She'd been crying for a while. "Scarlett, what's wrong?" he repeated himself. "Are you hurt?"

She crawled onto the couch and into his lap. She grabbed his shirt, tears trailing down her face. "I'm sorry," she said. "For being terrible. I can't help it."

He felt his shoulders relax, and he pulled her closer to him. He cradled her in his arms, kissing her forehead. "I know you're scared." He rocked them. "And I know this is terrifying for you."

"I just want to go home." She tightened her grip around him. "I'm tired of feeling like this isn't my life anymore. I just want my freedom back."

He rested his chin on her head, looking over the hut. He understood that, and he wanted to give her that.

"I know." He held her closer. "I should have tried harder. You're right. I let my father take the lead, and I didn't see what he was doing until it was too late. I should have gotten you back by now, but I thought he truly couldn't find your family." He lowered his voice into a soft whisper. "But we both know that I could find anyone."

He pulled back to look at her, trying to reassure her. "And I will get you that as soon as I can, Scarlett. I promise."

He looked around for the clock, seeing it was only five in the morning. He pulled them up. "Come on. Let's go get a few more hours of sleep."

She clutched onto him, and he carried her back to the bedroom. He pulled her under the sheets, and she curled close to him. Kissing the top of her head, he held her.

"I'm sorry I said I hate you. I don't. I said it in a moment of anger. And I want our baby, too. I didn't mean any of it."

"I know." He patted her head. "Get some sleep. We can put this all behind us."

"You don't hate me, right? Because I'm a mess."

He chuckled. "Scarlett, you're pregnant. You're going to be. It's part of the package." He held her against his chest. "I don't hate you. I never could."

Because I love you.