The Wedding

What the hell am I doing?

Confused, disconnected and highly emotionally charged thoughts of her impending wedding raced through Tiana’s brain. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been married once before, and she understood she was doing it to help out a man she … liked a lot … even though he did not feel the same way and had no intention of staying married to her past the two-year mark, but deep down, not even understanding why, Tiana, was taking this wedding seriously. She wanted, however short the duration, for this to be a real marriage. She wanted their union to become as important to Derek as it was to her. She knew the risk she was taking in allowing her hopes to soar, but she couldn’t help herself. For some strange reason, she really liked the idea of being his wife.

Rita was the maid of honor and, after much coercion, the Marshall had agreed to serve as Derek’s best man. There wasn’t any of the pomp and circumstance of her first wedding, but she was every bit as giddy as she had been the first time around. The only other person in attendance was John Maverick, who, as captains have done since ancient wooden ships had first set sail thousands of years ago across the oceans back on Earth, would be presiding over the ceremony.

As she followed Rita into the Captain’s private dining room, she looked up at her groom. Derek looked so handsome in the suit they had shopped for together. He had purchased, with her help of course, a dark gray suit that fit his well-toned body like a glove. Underneath the suit, a classic white Martian-cotton shirt, with buttons instead of the more commonly used adhesive seals, highlighted every ripple of her fiancé’s torso. Shoes made of authentic Aurelian rhinoceros leather, not the more commonly used artificially synthesized version, completed the look.

The outside wall of the room was made of Rita’s patented steel tempered-glass alloy, giving them a breathtaking view of space. Derek had somehow managed to talk the schedule-conscious Captain into dropping out of hyperspace for the duration of the wedding, directly in front of a passing comet. Not many girls ever had the opportunity to be married with a blaze of fire as a backdrop.

Her wedding dress was simple. She wore a short, pleated white skirt that fell halfway between her knees and the curve of what Derek had referred to as her ‘sweet cheeks.’ Underneath her skirt a lacy thong — Rita’s suggestion — was waiting for her husband to discover at the proper time. Above the waist she wore a stylish, long-sleeved lacy white blouse. Derek kept looking at it. She figured he was probably trying to determine whether or not she was wearing a bra. He would just have to wait to find out.

Of course, no outfit would be complete without the proper shoes. She wore her favorite pair of white, high-heeled sandals, which she knew highlighted her muscular legs in a way she hoped would clear Derek’s brain of all activity other than her seduction.

There were no rings, no flowers and within a short five minutes they were husband and wife, Derek was no longer a ward of the Galactic Alliance and the Captain had returned his ship into hyperspace.

He was now her responsibility. She sure hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid.

As they walked back to Tiana’s suite, an awkward silence engulfed them. She knew what she wanted, but she didn’t know what his expectations would be. Would he make love to her? Would the relationship that had developed between them resume its natural course and continue to grow or would this contrived ‘wedding for freedom’ business result in them now becoming simply roommates? Two business partners watching the clock tick for the next 730 days.

As they reached her suite, wordlessly, Derek, in one swift, fluid motion picked her up and cradled her tenderly in his strong arms.

“Derek, what are you doing? I’m too heavy.”

“As if, my pocket-sized Venus. What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going to carry you over the threshold. You are my bride, aren’t you?”

Okay, right answer!

Touched by the romantic gesture, she put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his hard, muscular chest.

* * * *

“Computer, open door.”

Derek carried her in as if she was light as a feather. He didn’t care what it took; by the time the two years were up she simply had to fall in love with him and want to stay together.

“My, how sweet.” Derek’s thoughts were interrupted by a familiar female voice as the door closed behind them. “Derek, darling, you never carried me over the threshold.”

A good-looking, tall brunette stepped out of the bedroom pointing a disruptor at them.

“Melinda! What in the world are you doing here?”

“Derek,” Tiana interjected, “that’s Chrissie, my former maid.”

“Well, it appears that your slut ex-maid and my snake in the grass ex-girlfriend are the same person. What an incredible coincidence, huh. My, my, it’s a small galaxy after all. It’s a small, small galaxy.”

“Oh, Derek, I sure have missed your sarcasm. Let’s go easy on the name-calling, though, you might accidentally piss me off and I might accidentally disrupt a hole through your wife’s tits.”

Derek slowly put Tiana back down on her own two feet. As he did so, his hand accidentally slid up her thigh, under her dress and onto her curvy bottom. He felt his insides, not to mention his outsides, twitch with lust.

Shit, shit, shit, not a good time to get aroused!

“You know, Melinda, the different pieces to this complicated puzzle are starting to come together,” Derek said. “Between seducing Tiana’s husband so that he would become your pawn and seducing me so that you could derail the Portable People project, not to mention killing off several other scientists and engineers, you’ve been very busy, haven’t you?”

Hating his pseudo-superiority, she responded sarcastically, “Not bad, Derek, darling. Has the little woman, and I do mean little, been helping you with your homework? I see you’ve found someone else to lead you by the balls.”

Slowly, Melinda, alias Chrissie, walked the length of the room, placing herself between them and the door as Tiana continued Derek’s train of deductive thinking.

“Conniving bitch, traitorous whore, hmm, there’s more to you than meets the eye, isn’t there. I think you go by a couple of other names as well, don’t you?” Tiana said, letting her temper get the better of her.

“Ah, the carrot-topped twit thinks. She even speaks. Correct so far, but I fear that the knowledge of who I really am is a little beyond your pea-size human brain. You know, sweetie, there’s more at play here than just my sleeping with both of your husbands. If it’s any consolation, though, Derek was the better fuck. Weren’t you, stud?” she said, feasting her eyes upon Derek and eating him alive with her look, her intent, obviously, to taunt Tiana.

For centuries, redheads have carried the unfair reputation of having an anger problem. All her life, Tiana had lived up to this reputation, yet, for the most part, she had maintained control during the past couple of weeks, and she had really thought she had turned things around. She knew Chrissie had slept with her ex-husband, and while the knowledge had cut through her deeply, she had managed to keep her anger under control. Knowing that this woman had hurt Derek had also been unpleasant, but even throught that, she had kept herself under control. She was trying. She was really, really trying to behave herself and be the civilized woman that, as a member of one of the most advanced species in the universe, she was expected to be. She had convinced herself that she had turned the corner on her anger and that, for the rest of her days. She would handle all situations with a calm demeanor and the dignity that her lofty position in the galaxy’s engineering community demanded, regardless of what anyone ever did or could possibly say. Unfortunately, she had not counted on ever hearing another woman use the word ‘fuck’ in relation to her new husband.

Tiana grabbed a vase off an endtable and hurled it at Chrissie. No, actually, it wasn’t Chrissie she was hurling the vase at, it was Melinda whom she was going to tear apart limb from limb. She was the one who had defiled her new husband and who had, well … She really pisses me off. The fact that the two women were the same person was irrelevant.

“Bitch!” Tiana yelled as the vase hit its mark, injuring as well as temporarily distracting Melinda, who in turn fired the disruptor in Tiana’s general direction, barely missing her.

Before Melinda knew what was happening, Tiana had hurled herself upon her and, holding her by her hair, was repeatedly beating the other woman in the face.

Derek availed himself of the opportunity and grabbed the disruptor off the floor where Melinda had been forced to drop it before gingerly approaching the two struggling women.

It had all happened so quickly, but as she was about to vent her anger with another blow to Melinda’s face, Tiana felt a sharp pain on her side and subsequently found herself hurled across the room and right into Derek with a force she knew human beings were incapable of. As Derek and she hit the wall, they both had the wind knocked out of them. Tiana watched as Melinda swiftly got up, apparently unscathed despite being hit by a vase and getting pounded on by a very angry redhead. Just as quickly, she scowled at Tiana with a lifetime of hate blazing in her eyes and ran out the door, avoiding Derek’s disruptor shot.