Today, he hands me The Wizard of Oz, and I curiously await his opinion.

“This was very strange. But I liked it. I liked the songs,” he says. “The voice of the young female… it made my heart hurt.”

“Hmm, what kind of music did you have on Kar’Kali. Anything like these songs?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “Nothing like it. We have drums with clapping, and a… how would you call it— A rod with holes in it?”

“A flute,” I suggest, miming it with my fingers.

“That is it,” he says. His eyes stare off towards the wall, seeing nothing. “I felt very sad after I watched this movie. I wished that you were there to explain why.”

“You don’t need me to explain why you’re sad, Kila,” I say. “But I wish I was there too. Just to be with you when you were sad.” I tuck my DVD into my bag and stow it in the locker beneath the central lab bench.

“I just think there is a high probability that I will never return to Kar’Kal,” he says. “I was thinking of this while I watched the movie.”

“Because Dorothy was trying to go home,” I suggest, putting on my psychological analysis hat.

“Perhaps,” he sighs. “But I think it was the red flowers. They remind me of the Kar’Kal ririna.”

Just when I think we’re going to have a lovely moment, Kiva pops into our conversation. “Ririna! Oh I miss the scent of ririna. Did you know that when crushed and squeezed for their oils, the ririna can cause hallucinations if inhaled via an infuser?”

We both turn to glare at him. He has the sense to look blue in the face with embarrassment, but not for the right reasons. “I haven’t... I haven’t… done it myself! I’m speaking theoretically.”

Pakka emerges from the equipment closet and lights up immediately. “Ella! There you are. I was wondering. It’s already 9:30 and its not like you to be late.”

“Oh,” I dart a nervous glance at Kila. “It’s just… well, I have to take a car right now and park in the back lot. Jen’s suggestion. My brother lent me his old car since he uses the free transport buses now too.”

“But why?” Pakka asks.

“The protesters in the front lot,” I say, busying myself with a pencil that sits out on the lab bench top. “They’re growing in numbers.”

Kila’s mouth tightens. “Are you leaving out some of the necessary details, Ella?”

It’s a unique moment that Kila and Pakka find themselves united in their glares, rather than saving them solely for one another. They are all rippling arm muscles, crossed threateningly over their chests and straining at the sleeves of their lab jumpsuits.

“I may have received some death threats,” I quietly admit.

“WHAT?” Kila thunders.

“But don’t worry about it, okay! They were more directed at the whole building. I was only mentioned in a few of them. I mean, you should see how many death threats Jen has received since the news was all in a tizzy over us. She gets them from both sides, since a bunch of conspiracy theorists think it’s all a hoax, and a bunch of them think we were all aware that a horrible bio weapon was being designed here and that we were all paid o—”

Kila has begun pacing, and his black irises start expanding, whites receding to slivers at the edges of his eyes.

“Shall we put him in for a data reading now?” Vala suggests.

“Come now, Vala,” Pakka tuts. “Ella-vi could be in serious danger. And Jen! She’s never mentioned this to me.”

“Pakka, you never even see her,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“We… share messages,” Pakka sniffs.

Kila cracks his knuckles and whirls toward his team leader. He looks primed for a fight. “I should be accompanying her home each night so long as she wishes it. She is in danger, and you worry about keeping her from me more than protecting her well-being. Pakka, I have had it. I have been loyal to your commands out of respect for our ways but that is done now.”

“I am inclined to agree,” Pakka says with a tired tone of concession.

“YOU WILL NOT KEEP HER FR—” Kila draws up short. “What? You agree?”

“My main reasons for keeping you on lockdown have been avoiding attachment and preventing you from causing violence as a result of your territorial instincts,” he explains. “Seeing as the former goal has been a loss from the very beginning…”

Kiva draws up to our sides as well, shaking his head. “Pakka, you should have known in the first place that Kila’s attachment would be immediate. That is the very biological goal of the mating bond. In the wilds of Pre-Archaic Kar’Kal, thousands and thousands of passings ago, only the male that protected his fated mate would have produced an heir, evolutionarily favoring the strongest bonds, again and again.”

“Yes,” Mori adds with a grin, “Until kilo-passings later, when a well-trained soldier devolves into Deviancy at the mere sight of a human female.”

“Alright, HAR HAR, very funny, Kila is a cave man,” I snap, baring my teeth at Mori. “Leave him alone. I’m hardly in mortal peril but I’ll take what I can get. Kila’s coming home with me, then.”

“Mmm,” muses Kiva, “And never underestimate the female’s territorial protectiveness over her male either.”

“Precisely,” Kila purrs, sending me a heated look. “I will protect my fierce viki from these threats, but I would never dream of protecting anyone from her wrath. Whoever incurs it, shall be assumed deserving of it.”

***

Knowing that by the end of the day I will have Kila all to myself, work flies by quickly. I rush through my emails and calls, re-organize the cabinets, and clean every bench surface running on the energy of my excitement. I won’t be alone in my bed thinking of Kila tonight. I’ll be beside him, finally, and we can leave behind the whole world.

I can tell he’s just as eager. His glances my way are longing; his eyes are fiery with want. At exactly five o’clock, I log off the computer system and start locking up. Kila stands by the exit, waiting. Pakka, Mori, Kiva, and Vala watch us apprehensively as I bolt for the door that Kila swings open for me.

All I hear before I’m in the hallway is Vala’s quiet question: “Will you still push for the suppressor then?”

I don’t stop to listen to the reply. It doesn’t matter.

Kila and I make our way down the hall. We are sharing a massive grin. I let out a giggle, like a goddamn schoolgirl. What is happening to me? At the sound of it, Kila laughs too.

“Look at us,” he says, as we draw to a stop in front of the elevator. “We are ridiculous.”

I swallow my laughter. “That’s love for you,” I say before thinking. Then I freeze up.

Kila just nods. With a hand on the small of my back, he leads me into the elevator. “Is it? I had not realized. This emotion is quite multi-faceted.”

“Kila,” I say slowly, my stomach beginning to tangle up. “It just slipped out. I’ll explain it to you this time.”

“Oh, I understand it,” he tells me lightly, as if we are discussing a basic word definition, just like when I informed what a ‘hoagie’ was. “We are in love. I have been studying it.”

I am speechless. When we step out of the elevator, the lobby is so crowded with staff making their way to the front gate that I hold my words inside. The last thing I need is to be having an L-word conversation in the presence of dozens of alien scientists. Is it really that simple to him? A word that my long list of ex-boyfriends seemed to be allergic to? It must be that he doesn’t really understand it. He just thinks he does. To him, it’s just an extension of the mating call.

“This way to the back lot,” I say, veering to the right, and then right again down a narrow passageway. Only a few others exit along with us. This lot is reserved for the higher-level staff, typically those that are more likely to stay after hours. Almost all the spots are assigned, so we must trek all the way to the tree line, where my brother’s old Nissan truck is parked.