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Someone was in my house.
Someone was standing over my bed.
An Eridian was standing over my bed, an Eridian I didn’t recognize, an Eridian that wasn’t Rocky or Adrian or anyone on the security or medical team.
And they were reaching for me.
The drowsiness of sleep evaporated in an instant as adrenaline flooded my veins like a shot of pure caffeine, all my senses heightening as I leapt from the bed and, acting on an instinct I hadn’t felt since sixth grade karate class, seized the intruder by one of their arms and executed a halfway decent judo flip, the chemical cocktail of shock and terror pumping through my body giving me just enough strength to slam the intruder into the floor with a loud crack, the xenonite suit they must have stolen rattling hard against the floor. The Eridian yelled in pain, and I gave a yell of my own as I scrambled for the baseball bat I’d requested Rocky make for tomorrow’s class; ‘Earth games and how they utilize physics’, complete with demonstrations of baseball and basketball and Mayan pok-ta-pok, the pebbles were so excited.
The thought of my students spiked my adrenaline, and despite the terror in my heart, despite my teary eyes and trembling limbs, I raised the bat and advanced on the intruder, time seeming to slow just enough to let me think the situation through. I knew I could never outrun an Eridian, especially not with Erid’s increased gravity, but if I was coasting on a powerful adrenaline rush like it seemed I was, I could probably hold my own at least long enough for Rocky and the security team to get here.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait-“ the Eridian raised a placating grasper, subvocals emitting a high pitched hum as if frightened, as if afraid of the squishy weak little human. Their motions were skittery and arachnoid, their legs moving as if to get up, to come towards me, and I let out a scream of fear as I brought the bat down on their shielded carapace, the impact rattling my bones like I’d tried to strike a moving car, but I kept going, aiming for the more vulnerable underbelly and joints as best I could. Every creepy jerk and twitch of the Eridian jabbed at my hindbrain, adrenaline heightening every primitive instinct evolution had spent centuries burying. My safe place had been invaded, I was trapped in a confined space with a large skittering predator, and I couldn’t outrun it, my only option was to fight and god damn it I was fighting.
“Stop, stop, alien, stop!” The Eridian tried to lurch towards me, arms reaching for me, and an involuntary cry ripped from my throat at the thought of being restrained, pinned down, at the mercy of something I couldn’t fight against. The bat slipped a little in my sweat slick hands, but I swung it anyway, managing to slam it against the Eridian three more times before they grabbed it and wrenched it from my grasp, disarming me. Nausea and dread and mind-numbing panic churned in my gut, threatening to make me sick, my pulse pounding in my throat as I realized I was completely weaponless, unarmed.
Well, not completely.
“Will you calm down now, little alien?” the Eridian said, sounding more than a little stressed out, “I only wanted to examine you up close, to make sure you aren’t a threat to-“ They twitched towards me, and my body seemed to act on pure instinct as I threw myself at them with a yell, slamming my fist into the vulnerable joint at their wrist and instantly regretting it as I felt the bones of my hand crack like glass against their suit, agony lancing through me as I screamed hard enough to shred my throat. The Eridian screamed too, though I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why, when my bones were the ones that broke. Still, the agony was quickly dampened, distant, and I pushed through it to kick at the same weak joint, only succeeding in painfully rattling my entire leg and making the Eridian stumble slightly, as if my adrenaline-fueled kick had actually managed to push them a little.
“Stop! You broke something inside you! You’re hurting yourself!“ The Eridian grabbed me, grasping tightly at my wrists, clearly not knowing how gentle they should be with a frail meat blob like myself. The bones in my wrists grinded painfully, and I kicked my legs with wild abandon until a third arm managed to restrain them, and panic surged in my blood, heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird as I let out a scream and lunged forward on sheer instinct, teeth snapping inches from the xenonite in a way that made the intruder lurch back with a horrified yelp-
And suddenly Rocky was there, beautiful wonderful brave furious Rocky, throwing himself against the intruder with a shriek of primal rage, xenonite-clad carapaces cracking like thunder as they collided with the force of a small train crash, forcing the Eridian to release me to defend themselves. Rocky was smaller than them, but encased in a suit that was actually made for him, and unlike the intruder, he was driven by the unrestrained fury of a man protecting something that was his.
I threw myself back against the wall, away from the danger, and watched as my beautiful, ferocious Rocky absolutely pummeled the intruder for thirty glorious Earth seconds before the biodome’s security team finally swarmed into the house, weapons raised as they wrestled the Eridian to the floor, not bothering to be gentle. It took three security officers to physically wrench Rocky off of the intruder, Rocky raging and thrashing in a way that was both amusing and deeply touching.
At least until that manic emotion was turned on me.
“Grace okay? Grace okay!?” Rocky immediately scurried his way to me, so worked up that he’d slipped back into his old Hail Mary pidgin Eridian as he jumped around impatiently, tapping wildly at the floor for a better look at me, “Grace hurt, damaged? Grace leaking, bad bad bad, Grace leaking, bones broken, broken, broken! Rocky fix, Rocky kill hateful trespasser and protect Grace, protect protect protect-“
“I-I-I’m okay, Rocky.” I managed, feeling the adrenaline finally start to drain now that Rocky was here, my primal lizard brain starting to settle, secure in the knowledge that nothing could touch me with him around, “I’m safe. I’m safe, j-just… just scared.” Rocky growled at that, hitting a register almost out of my hearing range, and I could feel his senses focusing on my racing heart and trembling body, my ragged breathing, the tears in my eyes and sweat making my pajamas cling, the shattered hand dripping blood onto the floor, the disrupted blood flow where grasper-shaped bruises were already forming, the exhaustion that dragged me downwards as adrenaline stopped propelling me forward.
Oh mama, my body was gonna scream at me tomorrow. I’d definitely pushed my muscles too far with this little stunt, and my poor aching hand was barely clinging to life. The crash after this was gonna be miserable.
“Grace scared. Hurt. Rocky kill.” he turned to the intruder, menace radiating from him as he advanced on the cringing Eridian, only to be blocked by the security team.
“Savior Rocky, please, let us handle this.” the head of the team, a pearlescent Eridian I had creatively dubbed Pearl, spoke, “We will deal with this. You must calm down and tend to Savior Grace.”
“Rocky want-“ he cut himself off, taking a moment to gather his wits, to calm down enough to speak, “I want them punished. They broke into Grace’s home, they attacked him, they hurt him. Punish, punish, punish.”
“They will be punished, severely.” Pearl said solemnly, “We will increase security around Savior Grace’s dome, and investigate how this ♬♪♫♪♫ got in. I promise that nothing like this will ever happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t.” Rocky hissed, and I finally allowed myself to relax. Now that adrenaline wasn’t dampening my pain receptors, I was starting to feel like I’d been hit by a truck. My hand was on fire, my legs pulling painfully, my chest aching from how hard my heart had pounded, and I had definitely overstrained my muscles by judo flipping that Eridian (and god was that a weird thought, that I had judo flipped an Eridian).
“Rocky?” I called, my voice wobbling, and Rocky was immediately at my side, leaning up against me to help support me.
“You need a doctor.” he said, and this close I could feel him still vibrating with anger, “Horrible hateful little ♬♪♫♪♫ grabbed you, broke your hand, damaged your fragile bones, your delicate dexterous spindle-fingers, how dare they-“
“Oh, th-they didn’t break my hand, I did.” I hurried to explain, “I tried to punch them, you know, scrap, I panicked and threw hands, I… I threw… Oh my god I threw hands with an Eridian. I threw hands with an Eridian and survived.” I hid my face in my unbroken hand, and the security team exchanged confused chirps.
“What does ‘throw hands’ mean, question?” an officer I called Fizz Gizzard the Rizz Wizard (Fizz for short) asked, tightening his grasp on the intruder when they shifted, “Savior Grace, your hands are still attached to you, you didn’t throw them anywhere… Is that something humans can do?”
“It’s an expression, it just means I punched them.” I explained, mimicking throwing a punch, “Throwing hands, see?”
“I do not.” Fizz said, “But I accept your explanation.”
“Savior Grace, why did you attempt to engage in physical combat with an Eridian?” Pearl asked calmly, “Surely you are aware of the differences in our strength and-“
“Because he is stupid!” Rocky hissed, curling an arm around my leg, protective and reassuring despite being spitting mad, “Stupid stupid stupid, you should have run away, you should have run! Why choose now to fight instead of running?”
“We both know I couldn’t outrun a five legged rock spider in this gravity.” I defended, “I panicked, I panicked and attacked, fight or flight, remember when I told you about fight or flight?”
“You told me you always pick flight!”
“Apparently things change!” I threw my hands up and immediately regretted it when my broken hand shrieked in pain, “Ow, fudge, fudge, ahhhh fidget spinners!”
“Grace!” Rocky seemed to forget all his anger in the face of my pain, “Doctor, we are going to the doctor now!”
“Agreed, agreed.” I gasped, clutching my hand close against my chest. I made to take a step, only for my knee to wobble and give out from under me, and it was only Rocky’s quick action that stopped me from hitting the floor hard, “Ah, gosh dang it, mother flipping jolly ranchers-“
“Where does it hurt?” Rocky demanded, gently lowering me to the floor and tapping frantically, “Leg? Leg hurts? Grace!? Ryland!”
“Think I overdid it, Rock.” I groaned, the hard floor feeling far more comfortable than it should, “Remind me to tell you about adrenaline strength one of these days. And the aftermath. Ugh…” A sweet young officer I called Curie piped up, always eager to help me with anything I needed, no matter how small.
“I will fetch the doctor, bring her here instead of making Savior Grace walk!” she called.
“Oh no, you don’t have to…” I tried, but she was already out the door, and the security team followed her, dragging the defeated Eridian prisoner out until all that was left was Pearl and Rocky.
“Remain still.” Pearl ordered him, kind but firm, “The doctor will arrive shortly.”
“It’s really just an adrenaline crash.” I sighed, but dutifully laid my head down, Rocky eagerly pressing up against my side, careful not to hurt me more, “And a busted hand. And some bruising. And maybe some damage to my leg, but I’m really fine, promise.”
“I cannot believe you attempted to fight an Eridian with your bare graspers, and teeth.” Pearl commented, and she almost sounded impressed.
“Neither can I.” I groaned, “But we have a saying on Earth. ‘Fear is a heck of a drug’.” Rocky let out a sound almost like a snicker, tapping on my shoulder.
“My Grace is stupid.” he said with an amused lilt to his voice, “But also brave. Good to know your survival instincts are still in there somewhere.”
“Yay me.” I said flatly, and Rocky just snickered again.
“I’m gonna tell Adrian you punched an Eridian three times your size.” he said, “And your students, too, I’m gonna tell them.”
“No, don’t tell my students.” I whined, “I’ll never get them to focus on science, they’ll just wanna talk about the fight.”
“Punishment for not running away.” Rocky sang, “Punishment for putting yourself in danger. No science for Grace, only overexcited pebbles.”
“Fudge this, I’m going back to Earth.” I groaned, and Rocky shifted to lay atop me, not enough to crush but just enough to restrain.
“Nope.” he sang, “You’re staying with me forever. My Grace, all mine, mine mine mine.” I sighed deeply, but I couldn’t pretend that the words didn’t send a zing of warmth through me.
“You’re lucky you’re cute.” I grumbled, wrapping my uninjured arm around him, and Rocky let out a sound he knew I found adorable, really playing it up, “I wouldn’t put up with you otherwise.”
“What is that human word?” Rocky mused, “Oh, right. ‘Ditto’.”
“You’re so rude.” I sighed.
“And you love it.” Rocky said smugly, and darn it, he was right.
“Well, you seem to have the situation under control, Savior Rocky.” Pearl spoke up, sounding amused, “I will patrol the perimeter. Please, keep Savior Grace comfortable until the doctor arrives.”
“Of course I will.” Rocky shook his carapace, and Pearl tilted hers in a manner that almost seemed teasing.
“And keep your wits about you, Savior Rocky.” she said with amusement in her voice, “Savior Grace is already highly sought after as a kind and fascinating alien, imagine how popular he will become when word gets out that he survived a physical altercation with an Eridian.”
“Oh come on!” I exclaimed as Rocky let out a displeased hiss, pressing even closer to my side, “I didn’t mean to one-v-one an Eridian, and I only survived because they didn’t seem to want to hurt me!”
“Still, you did.” Pearl made a tinkling sound I’d come to recognize as laughter as she made her way to the door, “And it will make you even more amazing to our people. You will likely get more attention than ever, you may even begin to receive even more breeding requests than you already do.”
“B-B-B-Breeding requests!?” I shot upright. Or rather, I tried to, but Rocky’s weight kept me soundly pinned, “What on Earth do you mean, breeding requests?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Rocky grumbled, shaking himself like a wet dog as Pearl ducked out, leaving them alone, "I destroy them before they get to you. Not sharing my Grace.”
“How would that even work?” I asked, disturbed but also, admittedly, a little curious, “Like, you guys lay eggs, right? How would I as a mammal-“
“I said don’t worry about it!” Rocky stomped a foot, “They can’t breed with Grace, they’re not worthy!”
“Whoah, I didn’t say I wanted to… t-to breed with anyone, I’m just wondering about the logistics of-“
“Shut.” Rocky put a hand over my mouth, “Quiet now, no more talk of breeding.”
“Yes sir.” I mumbled, muffled against his grasper, and he gave a satisfied hum.
“Good boy.” he said, and I felt myself going red, “Good Grace. My good Grace.”
Yeah. Yeah, I was his, no doubt about that. But luckily I was spared any more teasing by the arrival of the doctor, and Rocky seemed happy to put all talk of breeding aside in favor of fretting over my injuries, and learning about the strain adrenaline rushes and hysterical strength put on the human body.
Rocky didn’t let me leave the bed for three whole days, but it wasn’t so bad when he also refused to leave my side. There were far worse punishments than enforced bedrest with a mandatory cuddle partner.