Title: The Milk of Human Kindness
Author: manette
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: The belong to DPB
AN: Harm and Mac pairing--sort of. A really silly answer to Cece March challenge

The Milk of Human Kindness


Harm was busy concentrating at the controls of the aircraft when Mac suddenly materialized beside him. She strapped herself into the co-pilot’s chair and let out a heavy sigh. “That was too close for comfort.”

“I’ll say,” Harm agreed. “I thought they were going to catch us for sure. Are you set?” he asked as he revved the engines.

“Let’s do it,” she said resolutely.

In moments they were soaring above the clouds, leaving their pursuers behind. They both grinned, pleased at the clean escape and settled in for the rest of the trip. Harm switched on the auto pilot after they’d gone a safe distance and turned to her and asked, “Are you ready to decompress?”

“I can’t wait.”

He winked at her and turned on overhead lights that were positioned over each of their seats. Blue and green beams pulsed faster and faster until a strong humming noise filled the air and with a giant burst of energy each of them were completely engulfed in bright, blinding light. They stiffened and sagged limply in their chairs. Mac came to first and looked down at her hands. She finally felt like her old self. Smiling happily she looked over at Harm and took a moment to study her partner. It wasn’t often she got to really watch him in unguarded moments and the tenderness she felt for him made her all teary-eyed. She loved him so much, but work had demanded that they ignore their feelings and concentrate on duty-especially these last few months. With the mission they’d just completed, she hoped they’d have time now to think about the future-a future that included marriage and children and a pet or two. She knew she was getting ahead of herself, but a girl could dream, couldn’t she? He’d been more open about his feelings lately—more willing to share his hopes for the future and that had to be a good sign.

He stirred just then and blinked a few times before noticing that she was awake and watching him. He straightened in his seat and asked, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. How about you?”

He stretched and ran a hand across his chest. Looking down at himself he grinned and said, “I’m great. Never felt better.” He looked at her, then and the hunger in his eyes almost knocked her out of her seat. Just as quickly the look was gone and he busied himself at the controls.

“When you look at me that way, what do you see?” It was almost a whisper, but she wasn’t going to let him pretend that he felt nothing for her.

“I see a desirable woman.” He said it with such a quiet desperation that she almost felt sorry for him.

“And I see a man who’s so afraid of losing control.”

“You lose control in my world and you die.”

“You’re not flying a Tomcat anymore. You’re flying a Zorcon 5000, the fastest space craft in the galaxy. It’s safe to let go now.”

His knuckles were white on the armrests of his chair when he said, “I’m afraid to believe it even though I want to. I do want you. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone, Mac. Sitting here beside you after all this time is driving me crazy.”

“What’s holding you back?”

He shook his head as if seeing her for the first time, “I’d forgotten how beautiful you are.”

She blinked her three eyes to keep the tears from falling, but the one that stuck out on a tentacle from the top of her head dropped star shaped splotches onto the floor. Having to assume the form of Sarah McKenzie for all those years had robbed her of her own identity and while she’d come to accept her human form, she’d never been completely comfortable in her other skin. “Oh, Harm.” She used his human name out of habit.

He reached out a green scaly finger and brushed the tears from her blue face, and then he leaned over and nuzzled her neck with his snout-like nose. “Sometimes I thought this day would never come, and we would have to mate as humans.”

They both made disgusted faces at the thought. They’d both had romantic encounters with humans during their time on earth and had been under orders to learn what they could about the reproductive practices of the species, but they’d managed to avoid much direct contact with each other when they could. They were considered handsome by human standards but she couldn’t get past the fact that he only had two eyes and no scales. They loved each other, though, and that fact had tempted them to try for more from time to time, especially since their mission on earth lasted years and years, and going without the man she loved all that time hadn’t been easy. She’d weakened and tried tempting him in Australia, but he’d kept his wits about him and reminded her of their mission.

He was born to fly—even things that weren’t spacecrafts—and that love made him leave her for a time to go fly Tomcats. She’d had trouble forgiving him for leaving her all alone with the humans and had eventually gotten involved with Mic. If she squinted he had a bit of a snout-like appearance that reminded her of Harm in his true alien form, so when she and Mic mated she could close her eyes and think of Deyonna, their home planet. Harm took up with Rene around that same time. He said her shiny lips were the closest thing he’d seen to Mac’s iridescent alien mouth, and he swore he dreamed of Mac when he kissed Rene. When she wasn’t busy being jealous, she believed him.

They became more and more human-like the longer they stayed and the petty emotions of jealousy, anger, and competitiveness seeped into their daily lives. By the time she went to Paraguay with Clayton Webb they were being ruled by their emotions and it almost ended them for good. He wouldn’t speak to her for months—even shutting off the brain wave messages she would try to send to him as she lay in bed at night. She’d never felt so alone and there were many times when she was tempted to give up and ask for a replacement. They finally found their way back together, and though they had a messy two years they never again lost sight of what they meant to each other. And now they were going home. The signal finally came when General Cresswell announced their reassignment. Their planet’s alliance with Earth was one the US government treasured and General Cresswell was one of the few privy to the truth about them. They agreed to tell their friends that they were going to marry and then they would disappear from their lives once and for all. They were tempted to celebrate their love while still in human form, but decided that their union was too sacred to sully with such an act.

Nomrah—that was Harm’s authentic Deyonnian name—set the final course for home and held out a claw like appendage. She placed her paw in his and followed him into the next chamber of the spacecraft. He led her to a special platform and helped her onto it. She trembled with love and anticipation. He touched his eyeball tentacle to hers and said solemnly, “I love you, Haras.”

“I love you, too, Nomrah.”

She started the love hum, which set up a vibration in his animal gland which made her irresistible to him. Not that he needed much humming to be persuaded. After nine years of waiting they were both ready to explode with what would have been called passion on Earth, but on their planet was referred to as rowdiness.

He wrapped his lizard-like tongue around her elbow and moved her arm up and down like the pump handle on a well. The pressure built and built and finally she let out a squawk of triumph and little purple and turquoise babies started spilling from her mouth, scampering onto his broad chest and down onto the floor where they squirmed and squealed in an adorable fashion. He settled her on the bed and gathered their babies in his arms. He was such the proud Papa as he brought them to her to suckle on her three ample breasts. She laughed and cried, and counted toes, and eyes, and snouts, and knobs, and tentacles, and ear flaps and they all seemed perfect to her maternal eye. Three purple boys, two turquoise girls and a splotched one, a girl that looked part human. She only had two eyes and a shock of brown curly hair. Nomrah looked concerned until the baby opened her eyes—one was brown, the other was greenish blue, and then he smiled and said, “We’ll name her Jag in honor of our great adventure, and she will always remind us of what we left behind.”
Nomrah lay down beside her and wrapped her in his scaly arms. Haras sang an Earth lullaby to her babies and they sailed toward home.

The End