When Aura returned to the bedroom, she found Adan still quite awake. He was sitting atop the bed, making an attempt to distract himself with anything on his phone that still worked. “So now you’re the one hiding in the bedroom?” she greeted him as she closed and locked the door tightly behind her.

“Not hiding.”

“Not sleeping” she returned as she moved toward the bed. “And have you ever gone to bed at seven pm, like ever?”

“Not a lot else to do” he mumbled. “And hey, maybe insomnia is contagious” he responded, though he still seemed to have trouble making any eye contact, which was usually a problem of hers, as well as the insomnia.

“I’ve got a million other things in my head right now, and still I can’t help worrying that you may be ignoring and or avoiding me for some reason” she suggested worriedly.

“Aura, come on. That’s ridiculous, on several levels” he said as he gestured to their surroundings to accent his claim.

“That’s not a denial” she said softly.

“Aura” he gave an apologetic sigh and set his phone aside. “Come crawl into bed with me. An offer that is decidedly the opposite of ignoring and or avoiding” he attempted a smile, though it was faint.

She sighed heavily as well, but still came to join him atop the bed. She hesitantly slid closer to lay her head on his shoulder and wrap her arms around his waist. She then gave him a tight squeeze as she cuddled closer.

“See? Full bodily contact. No ignoring or avoiding to be had” he said as he leaned over to kiss the top of her head, wrapping her in his arms as well. Though there was still a tension behind his attempts at reassurance.

“Not quite full bodily contact” she allowed a small smile as she pointedly moved to run her hand over the front of his pants.

That did manage to wheedle a smile out of him as he laid his head back against the headboard. “Oh my, have I created a monster?” he teased.

“So humble” she teased back. Though she did stop her assault on his libido, and instead settled on going back to just cuddling close to him, holding him tightly.

He looked down at her and took another small breath, “something wrong?” he made himself ask after another moment of her just continuing to hold him tightly, as if afraid to let go at all right then.

Her breath shuddered as he once again saw through her so easily. “He really is” she whispered, causing Adan to look down at her in confusion.

“Who really is what?”

“Ilian, he really is... one of them” she admitted in a hoarse whisper, causing the tension to immediately fill Adan’s body again.

“OK... what did he do this time?” he made himself ask, as he could no longer bring himself to even try to make any argument against the claim.

“Admitted it” she choked on the statement.

“What?” Adan replied, choking on his words as well, both of them now looking back at each other.

“Yeah, he admitted it” she managed to repeat.

“Are you... sure?” he asked, not sure what else to say just then himself.

“Yeah. And he's apparently hiding from his own people. And hiding us from them too. That’s why he was in the bunker at all” she managed to make her way through the explanation, though shakily.

“And you believe all of that. He’s not just a really lucky escaped mental patient by chance?”

“Adan” she scolded.

He took another breath and thought a long moment. “So, like, what do we do now?”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“You’re asking me?” she let out another combination of a laugh and a cry.

Adan took another deep breath. “I think the real question, the only question, is do we actually trust him, or...” he turned his eyes pointedly to the stand where the guns were stowed into a drawer.

“Seriously?” she stated, her eyes following his. “Guns may not even work on him for all we know.”

“Well the point is, do we think we need to find out?”

“He hasn’t hurt us, Adan. Other than fucking with our heads, I suppose” she had to admit as she looked down again. “But he could have done a lot worse. He’s had plenty of chances, right?”

“So we do trust him?”

“I don’t know. But if he really is protecting us from his own people... Do we really wanna risk losing that?”

“So, we just have to go on blind faith then? Us?” Adan asked.

“I guess there’s a first time for everything, right?” she replied, hugging him tightly against her once again.

“And if he does turn on us?” Adan had to make himself ask.

“Then we’re as good as dead anyway. But if he is helping us, it’s all we got now, isn’t it? Other than each other.” Aura whispered. Adan sighed in concession and hugged her tightly as well.

----------------------------------------

When they awoke the next morning, neither Adan nor Aura seemed in much of a hurry to actually rise from their bed. Instead, they laid together, holding each other close, and sharing a few gentle kisses.

Finally, she had to speak up again. Her brain was never quiet, and now it seemed her lips were having the same problem. “Who does he look like?”

“What?” Adan asked as he gave her a puzzled look.

“He said he took his current appearance from your head.”

“What?” he repeated more loudly.

“And then altered it, whatever that means. So think, who in your life does he even look like?”

Adan scoffed, then thought for a long moment, then shook his head. “No fucking idea.”

“Helpful” she sighed as she laid her head on his chest again.

“Well that’s just fucking weird. Why would he even say that? Or do that?” he added more quietly.

“Weird?” she couldn’t help a smirk against his dark nipple. “As opposed to all the normal things about being locked in a bunker with a member of the race of aliens who are killing every other human on the planet?”

“Sarcasm abuse strikes again” he returned with his own wry smile.

Ignoring his jibe, Aura continued, “he said he took parts of this fake identity of his from both of our heads. The story from mine, the appearance from yours. So who does he look like? Think harder” she pressed, trying anything she could to make any sense at all of this new reality of theirs.

“No idea” Adan insisted.

“Maybe one of your ex boyfriends?” she taunted, “you do think he’s hot.”

“Shut up, so do you” he defended.

“Of course I think he’s hot. He looks like he could be related to you for fuck’s sake” she defended. It was only once the words were out though, that they seemed to strike a chord.

They both seemed to have the same thought at the same moment as they looked back at each other. “No. No way” Adan denied, though his voice faltered. “He was six when he died” he refuted the idea, though there was doubt in his eyes as the two of them both moved to sit up.

“He said he altered it too, maybe...” she just shook her head, as this was a more than raw subject for Adan.

“So you’re actually saying you think he made himself look the way Brady would have looked if he...” Adan swallowed hard and looked away, trying to reconcile that thought in his head.

“I’m sorry, Adan, but... it could be possible, right? I mean. Just the mere fact of him making himself look human at all. He had to have some kind of template to go on, right?”

“OK, I just need for this conversation to not be happening right now” Adan stated, more than a bit disoriented by the entire subject as he got up from the bed and headed toward the bedroom door, Aura sighing sadly after him.

Adan was still standing in the hall, trying to compose himself, when Ilian emerged from the second bedroom. “Morning” Ilian greeted him quietly, easily taking note of Adan’s heavy sigh in response to his presence. “Are you making breakfast again today?”

Adan just shook his head at him, “feel free.” he stated as he gestured for Ilian to make his way to the kitchen ahead of him.

Ilian just gave him a hesitant nod and moved down the hall past him. After another moment, and another sigh, Adan finally moved to follow him. He caught up with him just as Ilian entered the kitchen.

“So you told her. Congratulations” Adan stated brusquely.

“And she apparently told you. Good. No more secrets” Ilian stated softly as he moved toward the pantry.

“Well I don’t know how true that is just yet” Adan stated under his breath as he moved to follow him.

“So, is she alright? Calm?” Ilian asked as he began gathering food a moment later.

Adan scoffed, “yeah, great.” He then took another breath. “And you apparently told her even more than you told me. What’s this stuff about how you came up with... this?” Adan asked coolly as he gestured to Ilian’s appearance.

“This?”

“Looking like this,” Adan enunciated more clearly, anger barely veiled behind his tone. “You told her you pulled this from my head?” he asked with disbelief.

“Like I said, I thought it would help you both trust me if I seemed familiar.”

“Familiar? That’s what you call this? Familiar how?”

“I wanted to look like the people you loved. The only person she loves is you. And this was the only other person you loved, besides her,” Ilian admitted quietly.

“Do you know how fucked up that is, Ilian?” Adan retorted, voice strained with emotion again.

“I thought the appearance was the one thing I got right,” Ilian stated with a sigh.

“Looking like my dead brother? You know, if he hadn’t actually died? How does that strike you as right?”

“Apparently it wasn’t,” Ilian conceded. “But I can’t change it now.”