by Ashley West
Darren had actually been right about the lounge. It was a nice place, comfortable with plenty of seating for those who weren't inclined to dance or hang around the bar. It had a long and varied drink menu, as well as plenty of offerings for people who weren't interested in drinking alcohol.
Haven decided to let herself have one drink, since she'd be driving home and she wanted to make a good impression on this Vanessa woman who had managed to hold her friend's attention for more than five minutes. And had managed to stand him for longer than a day, come to think of it.
Vanessa was actually lovely. A pretty, dark skinned woman with her hair in short, tight curls. She had an energy about her and a way of talking that used her hands and seemingly every muscle in her face. Haven could see why Darren liked her. She was a ball of energy, just like him most of the time, and she wondered if they tired each other out or just fed each other more energy.
"It's so nice to meet you finally, Haven," Vanessa said when she joined them, hand already out to shake hers. "Darren can't say enough nice things about you, and I was like, I have to meet this woman, Darren, or I'll start to think she doesn't exist!"
It was a lot to take in at once, and Darren looked at her warily, but Haven just smiled and shook her hand in return. "I know the feeling," she said warmly. "He does have a tendency to...embellish."
Vanessa laughed. "He does, he does. But only in the best way, and I'm sure you're just as lovely as he's said! Come, sit."
Haven sat. She felt a little underdressed in her dark jeans and blouse, but she'd done her makeup and her hair was curled for once, falling softly around her face and shoulders, even though she had to keep tucking it behind her ears to keep it out of her eyes.
Darren was in his perpetual suit, and Vanessa had on a red dress that looked lovely with her skin tone and was as bright as she was.
All in all, it was an easy night of socialization. Haven ordered one mojito and drank it slowly, laughing with Darren as they told stories about high school and knowing each other in college. He flattered her by telling Vanessa all about how she had helped him study for finals over video chat and kept him from failing out sophomore year and how he owed most of the good things in his life to her stabilizing presence.
Haven was touched. She'd wondered if there was anything she did for him to make his life better, and she'd take that. Darren was successful and smart, and being thought of as a part of his success made her smile.
In turn, she talked about how Darren had helped keep her from freaking out on several occasions when things weren't going the way she wanted them to and how he made her laugh when she needed it.
"It sounds like you two are good for each other," Vanessa said, looking back and forth between them. "I think I might be jealous."
Her tone was teasing, but Darren shook his head. "Don't be. We'd kill each other if we tried to date-"
"By which he means I'd kill him," Haven interjected.
He rolled his eyes. "Sure, fine. And anyway, she has a boyfriend, so. It'd never work between us."
"We mourn what could never be," Haven replied, deadpan, and it sent Vanessa into giggles again. Thinking about Kal (and how she still didn't even know if the word 'boyfriend' applied here, especially since he seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet), made Haven remember her phone. She excused herself to the bathroom and checked it after she'd washed her hands. Still nothing.
Now the worry was starting to edge out the indignation and irrational fears about him getting tired of her, and she bit her lip.
This wasn't like her, and she needed to snap out of it. She was a proactive person. A logical person. There was a way to figure out what was going on once and for all.
An hour later, she was in her car, driving towards the house Kal was staying in. If he wanted to stop talking to her because he was tired of her or whatever, he could say it to her face. If there was something wrong with him, then she'd see for herself when she got there.
The lights in the house were on, and there was a car she didn't recognize in the driveway when she pulled up. Haven frowned.
She walked up the driveway, wishing she had made a stop at home to change out of her impractical shoes before doing this, but it was too late for that now. She rapped on the door, holding her breath, and nearly choked on it when a woman came to the door.
She looked like she was a good ten years older than Haven, and she was standing there eyeing her up and down like Haven had done something wrong.
"Yes?" she asked. "Can I help you?"
Haven was tempted to run back to her car and let this answer her questions, but she stood firm. "Yes. I'm a friend of Kallel's and I want to see him."
"You can't. He's-" She broke off and peered at her. "Oh! Oh! You're her! You're his human friend. Oh, I'm sorry! Come on in."
The sudden switch in demeanor had Haven blinking in confusion, but she let herself be ushered into the house. "Um," she said. "I don't mean any offense here, but who are you?"
"I'm Liz," the woman said. "His neighbor. I live down the hill?"
"Oh. Of course."
She still had no idea.
"Kal came dragging himself to my place the other night, all bruised and beaten up, collapsed on my porch before I could even get him through the door. And let me tell you, that boy is even heavier than he looks. Managed to get him cleaned up and then into the car so I could drive him back up here to rest and recuperate. I was surprised when you didn't show up before."
It was a lot of information to take in at once, but there was one thing that was glaringly obvious out of all that. "He's hurt? What happened?"
"Apparently he went and got on the wrong side of one of those monsters. Not that there's a right side to them, you know, but they got him good. Poor thing. I think he's asleep now. Our painkillers don't do much for him with how big he is and all."
Haven wasn’t even really listening to the other woman anymore. Now she was consumed with worry and kicking herself for waiting two days to come here. If she hadn’t been so wrapped up in her own stuff, then she would have known something was wrong with Kal and she could have been here sooner to help or...or something.
She knew her way to the bedroom by now, and she started walking there, Liz still talking behind her.
“I’ll just let you handle things from here, hm?” she asked, and Haven just nodded, not breaking her stride until she stepped into the bedroom. The lights were off, but the lamp at the bedside was on, letting her get a good look at Kal’s supine form. He was shirtless, flat on his back, and one arm was just a mass of bandages, wrapped around from shoulder to wrist.
More bandages were wrapped around his waist, and though she couldn’t see under the covers if his legs were similarly bandaged up, she was willing to bet they were. There was a bruise on his face, and a square of gauze taped over one of his eyebrows, and Haven let out a low breath when she took it all in.
For some reason, she just...took it for granted that Kal was always going to win his fights. He was a warrior, he was larger than life, he was one of the most determined people she had ever met. And looking at him like this made her heart hurt. How had this happened? Why hadn’t she been there? Not that she could have protected him, but still.
“It looks worse than it is,” Kal said suddenly, and Haven jumped. His eyes were still closed, and he hadn’t moved, but she watched as he licked his lips.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked.
“Heard you. Liz is...loud, most of the time, and I know your voice.” He opened his eyes, silver catching the lamplight as he turned his head to look at her. “I missed you.”
“Oh, did you?” Haven snapped. “I didn’t notice with how silent you’ve been these last two days. Why didn’t you tell me?”
He had the grace to look abashed. “I didn’t want you to worry.”
“You didn’t want me to worry, so you went silent for two days.” It wasn’t a question. “Brilliant plan, Kallel. Just brilliant. Worked like a charm
, too. I wasn’t worried at all.”
Kal winced and sighed at that, and then turned his hand over on the bed so that he could curl his fingers inward, beckoning her closer. “I am sorry.”
Haven sighed, agitation and irritation leaving her in a rush. More than anything, she was just relieved that he was alright. Hearing that he'd missed her definitely didn't hurt, either. She took a step closer to the bed and then another one, sliding her hand into his when she was close enough.
He smiled and lifted her fingers to his mouth, pressing a warm kiss there that made her blush. She was not used to being looked at the way he looked at her. She wasn't used to any of this, and her heart started beating faster.
Internally, she rolled her eyes at herself and got back on track. "What happened?"
"You were right," he murmured, not looking away from her. "You were right about the Alva."
"The Alva did this?" she asked, even though Liz had more or less told her that already. But she needed to hear it from Kal. She needed to know what had happened.
He nodded. "I went looking for them. I needed to know."
"And you found them, obviously. From the looks of it, I wasn't right. There had to have been more than one of them for you to look this bad."
Kal smiled slowly, and Haven fought the urge to punch him for grinning at her at a time like this.
"Focus," she snapped, though it was mostly a gentle rebuke.
"Sorry," he said again, even though he definitely didn't look sorry. "There were four of them. And they were...not like the rest. They were desperate. Angry. I could tell that this was the end for them. The end of them."
It made sense when he put it like that. Lashing out with their last because they weren't going down without a fight. Predators were often like that when they were cornered.
"So what happens now?" Haven wanted to know.
"I'm going to give it some time to make sure it's really over and then I'll tell Queen Kamina. And your government, I suppose. They should know that they're safe."
Haven nodded. It seemed like the best course of action. If the Alva were gone, or there were few enough of them left that it would be easy to dispatch them, then they would be fine.
"Will you come closer?" Kal asked, cutting into her thoughts.
Haven arched an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I can come much closer," she said. "Without ending up in bed with you."
And there was that smile again, the one she sometimes thought might be reserved just for her. "Perhaps that's what I want," Kal pointed out, and Haven huffed. He was injured and in bed, and of course he was flirting with her, trying to get her into bed with him, even though there was nothing they could do but just lay there.
And...actually, that didn't sound so bad.
She sighed softly and moved to lie down beside him, tucking herself in on the side of his body that wasn't so heavily bandaged. Haven could only imagine what they had done to him to have him looking this beat up.
"Better?" she asked, trying and probably failing to sound put out and annoyed.
"Much," he replied. He turned his head to look at her, eyes trailing over her face. "You look different," he said.
Haven was confused at first, and then she remembered that she had on makeup and her hair was curled. Going out with Vanessa and Darren already seemed like it had happened a very long time ago, even though it had been just an hour or so earlier.
"I'm wearing makeup," she said.
"Face paints, yes," Kal murmured back. "You look...lovely."
She blushed slightly. "Thank you. I went out with Darren and Darren's girlfriend earlier."
"Really? I didn't think you went out often."
Of course he had picked up on that. "Sometimes I do. And I needed to do something to take my mind off of you and why you hadn't been messaging me lately."
"Oh," he said, softly. He lifted a hand and brushed it lightly over her cheek and then into her hair. "What did you think had happened?"
Haven scowled. "I don't want to say."
He gave her a look that should have been ridiculous on a man that size, but was somehow more effective because he was laid up in bed and already looking pathetic. Haven just heaved a sigh. "I wondered if maybe...you were tired of me. It happens sometimes," she rushed to add, so he wouldn't think she was pathetic. "And I wasn't going to be clingy about it if that was the case. I just...wanted to know one way or the other."
To her irritation, Kal laughed softly. He leaned in and his mouth found hers, just a soft brush of lips, but it sent a spark of relief traveling through her.
"I don't think I could ever get tired of you," Kal said, smiling at her when he pulled back. "You're always interesting, and you're my partner, remember. We go together."
Haven snorted, but her face was hot with her blush. Apparently all she needed to be understood was an alien to come into her life. She wondered what that said about her, but then decided that she didn't much care.
Chapter Sixteen: The Compromise
In the end, nothing went the way Kal had expected it to. He'd been envisioning battles, the whole of the Hakkan warrior force at his back as they valiantly charged against the Alva, saving the humans and putting an end to the Alvan reign of terror on every planet in the galaxy. He'd thought about parades in their honor, both on Horu, on Dorn where the Randoran lived, and on Earth. People would speak the name of the Hakkan for decades, talking of their prowess in battle, their tenacity, their skill, and of the one who had led them, Kallel, who had made his family proud.
As time went on, he thought about Haven at his side, accepting her accolades for her part in it. Kal would be honest that she had given him the help he needed when he'd come to Earth and that the victory wouldn't have been complete without her. She'd smile up at him, they would kiss. People would be as interested in their story as they were in the story of how they've saved a planet and its people.
Sometimes he considered the option that he'd be able to convince her to travel with him, and together they'd see what the universe had to offer. Other times he considered staying on Earth. The city he'd seen was such as small part of the planet, and he'd seen from the television that there was so much more out there to experience.
He thought about how he'd convince Haven to go with him, how she'd smile and say of course she wanted to see the world with him, plans be damned.
But that wasn't how things worked out in the end.
There was no grand battle. There was no standoff between races. The might of the Hakkan didn't come to Earth on a warship, guns blazing, ready to come to his aid.
The might of the Hakkan stayed on Horu where it belonged, and there was nothing for them to fight on Earth.
There was no need for a battle because the attacks just...stopped. The gradual decline in number they had been noticing led to a lull, and while Kal had been convinced that the lull was just the calm before the storm, it never broke.
Once it became clear that the attack he’d suffered was the last one, he was in constant contact with the queen back on Horu, who had people watching the radars, seeing if the Alva were launching a ship from their planet or if one was in route. There was nothing. All was quiet, both in space and on Earth, and Kal was perplexed.
"Maybe we really got them all," Haven suggested, peering down at him.
He had his head pillowed on the softness of her stomach, a frown on his face.
"I think you might be right." It was still hard to wrap his mind around. In his mind, the Alva were legion, they were numerous, there was no way they could be...gone. Was there?
She shrugged a shoulder. "It makes sense if you think about it.” She’d clearly picked up on his tone. “The Randoran took care of most of them, right? The first go round? And all that was left was the stragglers. Maybe we got all the stragglers."
It was what they had considered before. Haven had been saying from the beginning that she didn't think this was a plot so much as just to inspire chaos, and now that he could look at it, it was clear that
this whole thing had just been their death throes. The Alva realizing that they were broken and beaten and needing to lash out one last time before they went under. Cornered predators, like Haven had suggested.
It was...a little disappointing, if he was honest.
He sighed against her skin, pressing his cheek to the warmth of it. "This is...not what I expected."
"Not what you wanted, you mean," Haven murmured.
"No," he admitted. "It's not. I wanted..."
"You wanted to be the hero."
It sounded cliché and childish when someone else said it, and he made a face.
Haven's hand came down to stroke through his hair lightly. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to be a hero," she said. "And I mean, you did save a lot of people. The city of Chesley is going to be in your debt for a while, you know. I know it's not as big and flashy as if you'd saved the whole planet, but don't discount what you did do. Remember that woman from the market? Whose daughter we helped save? There’s probably plenty more people just as grateful as she was."
She had a point. Kal sighed again and pressed a kiss to her stomach. They were both naked and in his bed, relaxing. She had a book propped up on her chest, and when Kal had seen the sheer amount of numbers and weird symbols inside it, he'd elected to lay his head on her stomach instead, leaving her to it.
Being here with her was more relaxing than he'd ever expected it to be. Coming to Earth had been about him trying to save the day, but in the end, that wasn't going to happen. He'd saved...something maybe, but mostly he'd found out things about himself.
Like the fact that he really did enjoy having his head petted by a lovely woman.
"I guess I should call Queen Kamina and let her know once and for all that everyone can stand down."
"Hmm."
It sounded like an absent hum, but Kal looked up anyway because he was coming to know Haven well enough that he knew it wasn't. She didn't really do those absent noises, and when she made one, it was because she was trying to avoid saying something else.
"What is it?" he asked her.
