Don't ask questions

He didn't faintly resemble his pictures. He was so oddly odd looking, she didn't know how he passed off his pics as his own in the first place. He was cockeyed, his ears pointed out far from his head, and his teeth were too small for his mouth.

She decided to give him a try anyway. It's not like she was some great beauty, and it had been a while since anyone had asked her out on a date (it was more like they asked her to have no-strings-attached sex). Outside of his looks, he was a decent guy.

Their dates started out pleasant enough, dinner, movies, sports bars to watch the game. Then he started showing odd behavior, too.

She wrote off his looks and his behavior as nerdiness, and stuck it out. When they finally got around to having sex, all of his weird quirks went out the window.

Her body had never known such sensations...despite the fact that he controlled their positions to variations of missionary only, it was the best sex she'd ever experienced...it was as if he touched every nerve ending inside of her simultaneously. She knew he'd be a hard habit to break. She had to admit that she was falling in love with him.

One evening, after their lovemaking, she noticed a large scar that reached from his lower back around to a few inches from his bellybutton, kind of like half of a belt.

She wrote it off as a possible appendectomy scar and thought nothing more of it.

Another evening, after another bout of lovemaking, she laid her head on his chest, her hand over his heart, and discovered what felt like two heartbeats. Well, not so much two heartbeats as one rapid heartbeat that seemed to flip-flop on itself.

She started to comment on it, but, being an avid fan and faint believer of science-fiction, decided against it. Images of him turning into a creature of unfathomable hideousness devouring her at the mention of this defect flashed in her mind, so, while highly unlikely, she decided better safe than sorry.

One day, she discovered that she was with child - his child - and apparently already a few months along as verified by sonogram. She didn't know how this could be, because while she wasn't on birth control, they always, ALWAYS used condoms. The only thing she could think of was that a condom had ruptured, and he failed to tell her.

She tried to think of a way to tell him...what if he didn't believe her? What if he accused her of cheating on him? She decided that she knew that while it seemed impossible, she had to tell him. She hadn't slept with anyone else. She was also far from the virgin Mary. This was no immaculate conception.

She told him that they needed to talk, and asked if they could do so over lunch. She picked the busiest restaurant she could think of, so if he tried to get indignant, she'd have some type of protection.

When she told him, a he flashed her a wide smile. She was taken aback, because he'd expressed no desire to have children at all.

He became an obviously feigned giddy, informing the waitress to give her whatever she ordered, for she was pregnant with their child and undoubtedly craving things. This made her slightly uncomfortable, but she played along.

When they finished their meal (he'd insisted that she have a heaping serving of ice cream smothered in fudge and strawberry sauces), he walked her to her car, and suggested that they spend a little "family time", including have a little congratulatory sex, if she was up to it, in her condition. She warily agreed.

Whey they reached her apartment, they spent a lot of time cuddling, watching T.V., and taking pictures of her rounding belly. Eventually, though, they wound up in the bedroom. He was especially aggressive this time around. He was hurting her. She tried to get him to take it easy, but there was no stopping him. She just prayed that he'd cum quickly to end her suffering.

There was no quick end, however. When he was finished, though, her face was tear-streaked, and her legs were sore. She experienced some slight cramping in her abdomen, but at that point felt that a miscarriage would be welcome after the pain she just endured. After a few minutes the cramping subsided, and the father of her child was sound asleep.

She turned over and stared at him. He had never hurt her before, physically or otherwise. She could not understand what brought on this vicious attack. In her mind, that's exactly what it was.

She reached out to touch him, as if his meaning could be ascertained from skin-to-skin contact.

She touched his arm, then stroked his shoulder, then his chest - and felt the double heartbeat again. She had forgotten! She didn't want to ask him about it, but she was carrying his child...she had to put aside her silly fantasy and find out if he had a heart defect; for the sake of their child she had to know.

When he woke a few hours later, he joined her on her living room couch where she was freshly bathed and curled up with a book.

He first apologized for being so rough with her...he didn't know what got into him, he said. He then made a lewd joke about "pregnant pussy".

She faked a laugh, then breached the subject of his irregular heartbeat. Much to her relief, he didn't turn into a hideous monster, and gladly explained his 'murmur'. After their discussion, she stated that the baby was hungry and limped to the kitchen to make dinner.

They ate, watched a movie on satellite TV, then retired to the bedroom. He gave her a full-body deep tissue massage, then covered her body in soft kisses, to make up for his losing control at her expense earlier that day. She fell blissfully asleep.

She awoke to her worst nightmare.

She was no longer in her apartment. She wasn't sure if she was even on Earth any longer. The only thing that she was certain of was the excruciating pain she was experiencing, by way of a long metal tube inserted into her stomach through her belly button.

She was lying on the ground, or whatever this freakish place's equivalent of the ground was. It wasn't solid and firm; it was slimy and sinewy, and she was partially submerged in it. She kept getting pinched every few minutes.

She looked around and found no one. The "room" was covered in the same material she found herself buried in. In fact, she thought through her pain, it was probably what the room itself was made of.

She wanted to scream, but was afraid that the stuff would fill her mouth. She moaned through her pain. Soon, she sensed movement.

She saw him with another person, a woman. She looked just as odd as he did. They walked in very close to each other, like they were lovers. She saw that they were holding hands, and knew that they were in fact lovers.

They explained to her how she had been chosen years ago to bare their child. They'd spent many years, searched hundreds of galaxies to find her, the only being suitable to sustain their seed to term. While they could conceive, they could not sustain the pregnancy. They then explained the metal tube, that while her body could carry their child, she could not provide the nourishment the child needed, so it was being fed through the tube. Her pain would not last much longer, for she was close to giving birth.

She was very afraid. She had no idea what to expect. She was way past the point of feeling hurt that he'd deceived her. Besides, it didn't count, right? He wasn't even human.

She felt a sharp pain in her back. She maneuvered a hand to rub the pain, then moved her hand to her abdomen; it was swollen beyond belief. How long had she been here? Another sharp pain hit her, and she no longer cared. She just wanted to not feel anything anymore. A tear rolled down her face. The skin around the metal tube began to itch. Great.

His alien mate saw her tear, looked at him and told him it was time. She then kneeled over her and breathed a white vapor into her nose and mouth.

It smelled like him, when he was freshly bathed and cuddling with her, the times she enjoyed most. The next thing she knew, her body wracked with pleasure. She writhed within her organic restraints. It was as if she was re-living their best lovemaking experience, increased 100-fold. This lasted for hours, until she blacked out.

When she came to, she was back in her apartment, alone. There was no sign of him, that he'd ever been there, that she ever knew him, that he ever existed. None of their date souvenirs were there. None of her sonograms, none of the naked pictures they took, him holding what was then her tiny lump of an abdomen. She was no longer pregnant. She rushed to the calendar - only one day had passed. Her head swam. Was she crazy? Had she imagined it all? Was it just a dream?

She ran to her computer. They'd first met over instant messenger; all she'd have to do was check the message archive. No evidence existed there, either. She broke down in tears, partly for her lost love, partly for her lost child, partly for her lost sanity.

After allowing herself ten minutes of crying, she got herself together and started her shower. She disrobed, hopped in, and let the hot water cascade down her body. She grabbed her sponge and soaped it, then guided it over her body. When she reached her abdomen, she rubbed over a tender spot. She looked down and saw that most of her abdomen was red, and there was a scar that started a few inches from her belly button, on around to her back, almost like half a belt...