The Biological Files

Drax need to know where she was.  Always.  He didn’t need to be watching her always but he needed to know where she was and that she was safe.  They had talked about it when she noticed.  It had bothered her at first, when he wasn’t able to explain other than that it was a physical need.  He needed to know where she was the same way he needed to breathe and it seemed impossible to have one with out the other sometimes.

They came to understand it was because when he had left Horvath and Kamaria, Ronin had come.  When he had left her on Xandar, she had been taken from him.  

He needed to know where she was.  He needed to know that she was safe.  They were working on extending the amount of time between his checks on her.  He was up to four hours, which worked well for getting her to take a water and snack break.  She wasn’t good at that when she was concentrating on something.

He was amazed that he never found her doing one thing.  She would always be knitting, or reading or listening to music or dancing or watching a video, but it would always be at least two and sometimes three of those things.  He had been quiet delighted to find her reading out the names of histology stains and dancing to the ingredients lists.

This time, however, she was harder to find.  They were on a space ship, she was here somewhere.  He finally found in her in her room, which was unusual.  She was curled into a ball.  She was not doing anything that he could see.  That was distressing.

“Are you injured?”

“I’m fine.”

When a female says, I’m fine, it that tone, it means I am not fine but I want you to leave with out pursuing this further.  Or it means I am not fine and it is your fault.  It never means I’m fine.

Drax did not know what he had done to make her not fine.  Amelia had never “I’m fined” him before.

“Have I don’t something to upset you?”

“No.”

He waited patiently.

“I’m sorry.  I’m just not feeling well.  It isn’t your fault.  I’ll be better in a couple of days.  I should just be alone for a while so I don’t say anything mean that I will regret later.”

“You are in pain?  Do you require a doctor?”

He watched as she started to snap at him, then forced herself to stop.

“I am in pain.  I do not require a doctor.  This will pass in a few days.”

All creatures will snarl and snap when they are in pain, Drax knew.  He left the snack he had brought and came back a moment later with some painkillers.  

“These will make me sleepy.”

“Is that a bad thing?”  He watched her take one.

——

Drax needed to know where she was and that she was safe.  He knew where she was but she was not OK.  He didn’t know how to fix this.  It has only been two hours.  He shouldn’t need to check on her again.  Not yet.  She was fine.  She was….

He was standing out side her room, staring at the door.

Gamora came over.  “What are you doing?”

“Amelia is in pain.”

“What did you do?”

“I gave her pain meds and food two hours ago.”

“I meant, what did you do to injure her?”

“I did nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“No.”

“Did you want me to talk to her?”

“She has asked to be alone.  She said she is worried she may be mean and regret it later.”

“Hmmm…..  Amelia is always cautious.  If she is concerned about hurting us…”

“She must be in a lot of distress.  I don’t know what to do.”

“Family Meeting time?”

Drax looked at her.  They had Family Meetings, but it was always Amelia who called them. “Let me try to talk to her again first.”

He knocked and went into her room.  She was sitting up reading, but that was all.  She looked up when he came in.

He wasn’t sure how to ask what he needed to know.  “Did I injure you?  I was warned that it would be easy to break your bones without noticing.”

“I’m not injured.” She was still very tense.

When faced with an wounded animal, he thought, you need to be non-threatening.  Make yourself vulnerable. 

“I do not understand what is wrong.”

Amelia glared at him for a moment, then forced herself to relax.  It was subtle.  If he hadn’t been watching, if he didn’t know her as well as he did, he would have missed it.

She sighed.  “My species has a really short fertility cycle.  Now that I am healthy, it has returned.  I am nearing the end.  It is… unpleasant.  My hormones are making me moody and my body is cramping.  Culturally, this is a taboo topic.  Everyone likes to pretend it doesn’t happen.  Females are expected to hide that fact that it does.  I just need a couple of hours to myself and I’ll ignore it, come out and make dinner.”  She paused for a moment.  “I should sleep by myself tonight.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.  This can get a little messy and I don’t want to upset anyone.”

“How do you mean messy?”

“I’m fine Drax.  This is normal.  Unpleasant, but normal.”

“I do not understand.”

“My species handles fertility in a way that almost no one else does.  Our cycles are short, mine is only 29 Terran days.” Amelia thought back to her comparative anatomy research.  “After Kamaria was born, Hovat would have bled for a while?”

Drax looked alarmed.

Amelia sighed.  “Yeah…  um…. so… like that but only for four Terran days.”  She avoided his gaze.  “Sorry.  Too much informa-“

“And you expect me to leave you to suffer this alone?” Drax sounded appalled.

“It’s …. messy and —“

“Painful,” Drax interrupted. “And your people expect you to pretend you are fine and not ask for help?”

“Um… yes?”

“Please let me help.”

“What can you do to help?”

He shucked her out of her pants and spooned her up tight on her too small for both of them bed.  Cradling her close, he pressed his hand flat into the space between her belly button and her pubic bone and began to gently but firmly massage her belly.  She tensed for a moment, but as she relaxed, she started to feel better.  The massage helped the cramping more than the drugs had.

“How did you learn to do that?” She asked.

“My people expect a woman’s husbands to care for her.”

“Um…  Mine do to but—“  Amelia felt Drax tensing up behind her and just let that trail off.

“I will call a family meeting and the others will take care of you with me.”

Amelia gave that some thought.  “I don’t want to ick anyone out.  We are still new at this whole family bed thing and I don’t know what cultural baggage Gamora is had about this.  Rocket’s species has occult menstruation.  Plus he is so altered that I’m not sure he really has a reference for females.  I expect Peter to be upset by the discussion.  Can we just leave this for now?  I would rather you just round them up and encourage everyone to still sleep together with out me for now and we can discuss my problems once everyone is more settled in.”

“I do not believe this is the correct action.”

“Please Drax?  I know this is a normal biological function, but I still have some residual cultural shame about this.”

That was not what he wanted to hear.  “Your people expect you to be ashamed for being a woman?”  He was quiet and deadly calm.

Amelia hesitated for a moment.  “We would not necessarily think of it like that.  My people expect people to ashamed of all kinds of biological things that are completely normal like pooping and male pattern baldness and not having the body of a sixteen year old your whole life and, yes, this. The culture I was raised in makes millions of dollars selling women products to pretend this doesn’t happen.”

He considered this.  It explained some of her odder behaviour.  “You shouldn’t have to be alone.”

She sighed.  “You weren’t expecting this.  Can we try it my way this time and I will let you handle the next time as you wish?”

Drax hugged her a little tighter.  “Alright.  When you find my way to be far superior, you will allow me to care for you.” He declared confidently.

“I believe your way may well be superior, but I’m not sure if it is sustainable with how often this is going to come up.  I could take artificial hormones to stop my fertility and the … fall out, but the side effects were a problem for me.”

“I would not ask you to alter your physiology like that.”

“Thank you.”

——

Amelia made an appearance at dinner.  Gamora asked, “Did he hurt you?”

Rocket turned to pay attention at that.

“No.  I’m just tired.  Not feeling so well.”

“You gettin’ sick?” Rocket demanded.  “I told you that street vendors weren't that best places for Terrans to eat.”

“But I like food on a stick!  Just maybe not when it turns out to be rat on a stick.” Amelia sighed.  “It isn’t something I ate.  I just need a couple of days off.”

“Anything we can do to help?”  Peter asked.

“Throw chocolate and run away?” Amelia suggested.  “No.  It’s fine.  I’ll be fine.  I just…. want to apologizes in advance if I’m a bit snippy the next couple of days .”

Amelia finished her food and headed back to her room.  Gamora and Drax shared a look.

After she was sure Amelia was out of ear shot, Gamora asked.  “Ok.  What did you learn?”

“She is ashamed that her fertility cycle has ended.” Drax hesitated.  “I did not think to ask if the shame is because she is not with child.”

“She can’t have your kid, you know.”  Rocket commented.

Drax looked sad.  “I know.  I desire to raise children with her, but she has been unresponsive to my suggestions that we invite Gamora to join us in our sexual encounters, I do not expect her to be willing to mate with Peter in order to have a child.”

“Wait! What?  When do you start planning an orgy and why wasn’t I informed?”  Peter demanded.

“After the space station, Gamora said that she wanted to try us both.  I do not object, but when I raise the subject, Amelia changes the topic.  You were not interested in watching so I did not anticipate you wanting to participate.”

“Dude!  I was completely interested in watching!  It just seemed rude not to ask first.”

Drax considered this.  Amelia had informed him that dude was a non sexual term of affection.  “I had not realized that it might be considered rude to have our family watching us.  Perhaps that is why she in unwilling to invite Gamora.”

“Back to the topic at hand.” Gamora said, “What do you mean her fertility cycle is ending?  Is she old enough that she can no longer have children at all?  Or is this just the end of her heat?”

Drax realized how little he knew about Terran sexuality.  “I don’t know.  Peter?”

“Don’t look at me!  I left Terrra when I was just a kid.  i don't know about that stuff.”

“Can we call the science monkeys back on Terra and find out?” Rocket suggested.

“I don't want to have to ask that!" Peter replied. 

“I understand the Terrans are uncomfortable talking about sex, but how else will we learn?” Drax demanded.  “We require information more than you require avoidance of rudeness.”

“Ok, OK.” Peter stalled, “First thing.  You sometimes miss the point.  What exactly did she say?”

“That she was ashamed and in pain and going to pretend nothing was wrong.  That she was going to be messy for four days.  That this happens every 29 days and that she will let me take care of her next time.”

Gamora nodded.  “Not the end of her fertility then, just the end of this heat.”

Drax nodded.  That made sense.  He should have known that she wouldn't allow him to worship her body like he did forever.  He was saddened.  He had enjoyed her flavours, but could wait patiently for her interest to return. 

"Amelia said she is not vetoing the sleeping arrangements. She just needs to sleep alone for a few days.  She wants us to continue without her."

That gave everyone some pause. 

It was Rocket that recovered first.  "What is with that girl and co sleeping?"

"She thinks we are all touch starved. She explained to be that she believes that is bad for people's mental health."

Another moment of consideration. 

"Huh."  Peter said.  "That explains the random hug I got yesterday."

"I am Groot."

"When did she tell you that?"

"I am Groot."

"Huh."

Moment of silence followed by Peter bursting out with, "Ok man, you gotta tell me what he just said."

"Apparently, Amelia has lost hold of her sensibilities and finds you intimidating."

"What?"

"I know right? Have seen my weapon collection?  I am totally more intimidating that you."

Gamora felt the need to interrupt at that point. "Male posturing aside, is anyone else going to call veto?"

There was another moment of silence while everyone considered this. 

Drax said, "I will not veto."

Rocket: Yeah,  I'll stay in the room, but you aren't touching me. 

Gamora:  I will stay under the same conditions 

They all looked at Peter. 

"You know this is ridiculous, right?  A bunch of guys sleeping in a pile?"

No one wanted to make eye contact but Groot said his line.  Rocket glared at him. 

"It is occasionally comforting."  Gamora said at last.