Katja's in love... but it's time for the secrets to be made known.
"It never ceases to amaze me how soft and shiny your hair is," he sighed, twiddling a lock of her long mane. She smiled coyly and gently pulled it from him. Touching was a no-no. At least until he knew.
"Anselm...how kind..."
He was looking at her in that way that made her want to curl up in his arms. She smiled then turned her eyes away, pretending to be shy.
"Katja, mein liebling, I love you, and I respect your commitment to purity...but to not even allow me to touch your hair or to hold your hand...I don't understand. Don't you trust me?"
She wanted to blurt out yes, she trusted him. She trusted him with everything he knew about her. But he didn't know everything. Not everything. And on that...she wasn't sure she could trust him.
"Of course I trust you...and I would very much like to touch and be touched, but...I cannot. Not yet. Not until..."
"Until what?" His eyes were pleading. "Whatever it is, Katja, I will wait that long. I want to know you for a long time."
Burning. That was the only way to describe his gaze. Embers of passion. Her throat constricted. She was living a lie--right in front of her love.
"A...long time?" she choked. "Anselm..."
"I want to know you forever, Katja. I want to share everything with you. My hopes, my fears, my secrets--"
She winced at 'secrets'.
"--everything, Katja. I want to wake up to you. Your beautiful brown eyes...your gorgeous, shiny black hair...your gentle face...your spirit. I love you Katja. Do you love me?"
She restrained tears that prickled at her eyes. "Ja, oh Anselm, of course I love you! And I would love for us to be together."
He sensed the 'but' in her absent words. "But...there's something else, isn't there?"
She did not reply, only stood there, eyes misty, throat tingling, chest fighting the latent sobs that developed behind her ribs.
"Yes...there is. There's something you don't know. Something that..." she hesitated. Past this point was the land of no return. "...that I've been keeping from you."
He looked hurt. She wanted to cry, but she could not. Not yet. It was make or break time. She could cry when it was all over...
"You've..."
"Hidden a very big, very important secret from you? Yes, Anselm. It's the reason I won't let you touch me. The reason I tell you I work in a chemistry lab--which I don't. I don't work with sulfur compounds all day. And the reason I can't type."
Rather than hurt, he looked quite perplexed. She swallowed a sob and brushed more tears from her eyes.
"How much do you love me, Anselm?"
He seemed bewildered. "More than Heaven and Earth, save God Himself, Katja."
"Do you believe our love can withstand any secret?"
"Katja, what secret? Do you love someone else? Are you not a virgin? Whatever it is, I can take it. I don't care if you have a terminal case of AIDS, Katja, I love you, and that's all there is to it."
Mein Gott, all I want is for him to take me in his arms...but I can't...not yet... and after I tell him, he may never...
"Anselm... I have to tell you or it will rip me apart..."
"Ja? Katja, what is it?"
She probed his eyes with hers for any sign of doubt, aversion, or other unsavory things. He held only confusion and desperation--as much as she'd given him cause for.
"Anselm...I'm...a mutant."
He blinked. "Katja...that's all? Is that so bad? Did you think I'd hate you because of the fact that you're different? My cousin is a mutant. Katja, were you really afraid because--"
"Stop," she squeaked. "You don't know everything yet."
He stared. He said nothing, only stared. Chest heaving with guilt and anguish, she punched viciously at her 'watch', dropping the protecting image that had enveloped her true form...
"I never let you touch me because...I never told you, Anselm, what I really looked like."
He stared.
"Heilige Gott ..."
It broke. The dam she'd forged against her own tears broke into a thousand pieces, and she collapsed to her knees, curling up in a little ball, wrapping her accursed pointed tail around her bizarre, two-toed feet. And she wept. For guilt. For shame. For a love she was sure had ended with the simple press of a button. She could hardly spare a breath to whisper, "I'm sorry... do what you will."
The seconds that passed felt like years as she cried upon her knees, clutched to her chest by her velvety blue arms. Perhaps he'd left. She'd not have noticed if he had. Whatever she believed they'd had was certainly over now...she'd been a fool to lead him on and make him love her...she who lived an outrageous lie. Not that she'd ask him to look past her freakish appearance. A normal man should not marry a mutant demon.
She felt a presence beside her as her tears began to subside. It was Anselm--she knew him by scent.
"I always wondered why you could do the Vulcan sign better than anyone else."
She raised her tear-soaked face from her knees but did not look at him. "If the only reason you're still here is to mock me, please leave. I get enough of it as it is."
He sighed, then sat on the floor beside her. "I'm not here to mock you, Katja."
This time she looked at him, her blank yellow eyes as big and pained and pleading as they could be. He forced a small smile.
"I must admit, I'm surprised--and a bit disappointed that you hid this from me."
She set her head back down on her knees again, and by no means gently. He sighed again.
"I mean, I really wasn't expecting blue fur, a tail, and yellow eyes. Or the three fingers. That was interesting, too."
She felt her gut wrenching. Maybe he had enough heart not to mock her or run screaming. At least, she thought, tears springing to her eyes again, he'll break it off gently.
"If...if it's...o-over, I'll under-sniff-understand."
She felt a warm arm slip around her quivering shoulders. He leaned in close. Closer than she'd ever let him come. Not that she had any reason to stop him now--she had nothing left to hide.
"No. It's not over. It will take some time to get used to my girlfriend being blue...but I like blue."
She looked up at him, shock written in her wide eyes and gaping mouth. "What...?"
He nodded, then smiled broadly. "And I'm going to have to figure out which finger the ring goes on, ja?"
Shock. Pure, unadulterated shock punctuated every feature of Katja's furry face, from the hanging jaw--complete with fangs-- to the wide, staring eyes and brows standing at attention near her hairline. Anselm grinned.
"And now that all secrets are in the open..."
And he kissed her.
