Chapter Note: I hope this answers a few questions. Don't worry, Natalie will be back...eventually.

Thanks Note: Again, thanks goes out to Elrod for his most excellent MAU universe and all MAU mistakes/transgressions are totally my fault. I am trying to keep this story as close to the MAU rules as possible, but I am afraid I may end up bending a few. Thanks also go out Beyogi, Landing and Grover for their sometimes real-time feedback and suggestions. Last but not least, djkauf for his magical editing.

Physically, Hector felt fine, never better, but it took all his willpower to decide not to call in sick when his alarm began ringing promptly at 0530.  The routine got him through the morning and it was only after he walked outside that he remembered his truck was parked in the garage.

“Damn it!” He trudged back into the house and entered the garage.  The damn machine was still there, taunting him with its presence.  He debated trying to collapse the thing, but he didn’t care enough. If the Men in Black came to haul him off right now or flash their little red laser light things in his eyes, he would only feel relieved that it was over.

The cab of his truck surprised him. One, it didn’t smell like vomit or harsh chemicals. Two, it looked better than new and showroom floor spotless and three, there was a robot sitting in the passenger seat.  “Yo! What’s up, boss?”

Hector jumped back as a small robot that looked like the little toy truck Decepticon from the movie stood up and waved at him from the passenger seat. “Holy crap! What the hell are you?”

“Oh, and a happy good morning to you too meat bag.  I slave away all night to get this box of bolts you call a truck clean and that’s how ya thank me!?!?”  The little robot stood with his vicious looking claw hands on his hips.

“Umm, sorry, thanks? I think...” Hector found himself feeling a little overwhelmed by the scrappy little robot chewing him out.  If there was ever a morning to stop for a cup of espresso, this morning was it.

“Well, that’s a little bit better...” The robot crossed its arms over its chest. “So, yer lucky your meat bag buddy made me.  This truck was a freaking mess, but I got it done.” It, or he, sprayed a mist of some liquid in the air as he held up one of its feet and a monster truck wheel made out of a sponge-like material spun rapidly with a whirring sound. “So, I got the crap out of yer fabric and thanks to my dirt disintegrator,” A small raygun shaped tool folded out from behind his left shoulder and shot a small red spark a few inches out of the barrel. “It’s almost better than new in here. I even did yer windows for ya, because, that’s just the kinda bot I am!”

Hector decided that the thing probably wasn’t going to attack him. So, he climbed into the cab and started the motor. “Umm, you need me to open the door for you, so you can, you know?” He gestured out to the garage.

“Whatta crazy?!? No way am I going to let you take this truck outta the yard here without my supervision. See, ya work construction right?” The robot stood on the seat and expectantly tapped his foot.

Hector hesitantly nodded his head.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought because I identified over 50 distinct soil samples in this here cab and if you think I am gonna let you muck it all up again, ya got another thing coming, capish?” The robot sat back down in the passenger seat and crossed its arms.

“Well, then, okay. So, you gotta name?” Hector hit the garage door opener and put his truck into reverse.

“Wheelie, I guess yer that Hector dude Bossman Greg was talking about, right?” The robot asked.

The garage door was open all the way. So, Hector backed his truck out. “Yeah and I hope you can make yourself look like something else because having someone spot you would be the last thing I need right now.”

Wheelie perked up. “Oh yeah, boss! I totally understand where yer coming from ‘cuz you meat bags can be a touchy bunch...” He noticed Hector glance over at him with a frown. “Oh, but not you boss. I mean, other meat bags, but here, I’ll show ya!”

Wheelie quickly morphed into a mini monster truck, complete with the Transformers’ sound effects. “See what I mean boss? Ain’t no meat bag gonna know, right?” His voice sounded like it came out of the grill of the mini-truck.

“Oh, that’s pretty cool and thanks again for cleaning my truck up.”  Hector’s thanks mollified the little robot and he or it, remained blissfully silent for the rest of the drive to Hector’s job site.

He had a lot on his mind with Natalie and he wondered how she was doing this morning.  He also wondered when the police or men in black would come haul him away. He didn’t know what would be worse to be arrested for. Kidnapping or using some alien technology?  Probably the alien tech because the government would probably just ship him off to Gitmo and call him a terrorist or something.  He wouldn’t be at all surprised to find their house covered in some protective bio-dome with black helicopters circling overhead when he got home this evening.

Maybe fixing Natalie with the machine was a bad idea, but Hector still believed it was the right thing to do. She was alive and probably cured. He smiled at what her reaction and her doctor’s reaction might be when they discovered that she had her ovaries back. He probably shouldn’t have made her a redhead, but she looked good and it beat being bald.  She could always color it. Giving her the healing factor, that could come back to bite him and Greg in the ass, but at the time, he was desperate and he decided it fell under the ‘stupid but it works’ idea category.

Hector made it through the morning without any life threatening accidents and had managed to shake off most of his funk when Greg called him about his new girlfriend using the machine. As badly as he had screwed up the night before, he didn’t see why not and he told Greg that.  He wasn’t sure about going to the convention still, but since it was originally his idea, he would feel like a jerk for backing out on Greg now.

Lunch proved to be entertaining. Eating lunch in the cab of his truck was almost like going home to his parent’s house.

As he opened his door and started to climb into his truck, Wheelie transformed back into robot mode. “Whoa boss! Not so fast there with the muddy boots. Knock those puppies off first because if ya think I am gonna let ya get my clean floor mats all muddy again, ya got another thing coming!”

Hector banged his boots together before he spun around and closed his door. “Ya know, you don’t have to keep my truck so clean.” Wheelie tilted his head to the side as if confused by Hector. “I mean, I do work construction. Keeping it clean is an impossible task with all the dirt and mud...”

Wheelie collapsed to his knees and held his hands together with supplication. “Boss, Whatta ya saying? You don’t want me?”

Hector did not expect the conversation to go the way it was going, but he also didn’t expect to be talking to a robot either. “No, no, no, that’s not it at all. You’re awesome, honest.” Wheelie perked up a bit. “It’s just that having you keep my truck spotless all the time might be a little too hard or maybe even boring. Wouldn’t you like other things to do besides clean my truck?”

“Oh no boss, cleaning is my job, my entire reason for being. Without cleaning, what else would I do? I’d just be scrap metal and obsolete. Please don’t make me obsolete, boss! Please...” Wheelie crawled on his knees to Hector’s side and tugged desperately on his arm.

“Cleaning ya say?” Hector speculatively appraised the little bot.

Wheelie jerked his head up and down with a hopeful expression. How a robot without a face could appear hopeful, Hector had no idea, but he somehow did with a robot version of puppy dog eyes.

“Well, I think I got something for ya then. Something that will never end and if it does, there’s still my truck and Greg’s car. Oh yeah, and the garage, but what would ya think about keeping my house clean?” Hector smiled down at Wheelie.

Wheelie’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets and he gleefully clapped his hands together. “Boss, really? A whole house? You would let me clean it?”

“Yep! You’re just the bot for the job too. No one or no thing is qualified to clean up after two bachelors. At least, that is what my mamma keeps telling me when she visits.” Hector chuckled at the memory of his mom’s last visit to his house. She picked up a few things of his out of habit before she finally gave up with exasperation.

“Oh boss, thank ya, thank ya, thank ya! I won’t let ya down!” Wheelie sat back down in the passenger seat.

With that crisis averted, Hector reached back and pulled his lunch cooler from the back seat. “Whoa there boss! Yer not thinking about eating your lunch in here are ya?”

During his drive home, Greg felt more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  What if the feds or the military had their house surrounded? What if Michelle didn’t come? What if Michelle did come and then freaked out like Hector’s friend? Not that he expect it to happen, but what if the machine didn’t work and he looked like an idiot?

Oh god, he still couldn’t believe that Michelle was going to be coming to his house! What if the mess scared her off?  He had a lot of cleaning to do before she arrived and once he got home, he only had, maybe, an hour to get it done.

“Crap, crap, crap, craaap!” Greg banged on his steering wheel with frustration as he pulled into his neighborhood. He peered up and looked all over for black helicopters, but spotted none. “Phew!”  He felt relieved when he pulled into the driveway and no SWAT team rushed out to arrest him.

Hector’s truck was parked in the usual spot, which reminded him that he should have called and asked Hector to tidy up the house a bit, but it was too late now; he would just have to do what he could. Maybe he could make another cleaning bot?   “Hey there boss! Shoes off!”

Okay, maybe not. “What the...?” Greg looked down at the floor. It was sparkling clean for the first time in probably years. He looked back up, or more up and Wheelie stood there with his hands on his hips.  “Okaaay...sorry.” He kicked his shoes off.

“Thanks boss. I just got this part of the floor clean and lemme tell ya, it was a mess, but I am glad boss man Hector asked me to clean this place. How you meat bags cannot be constantly sick, I have no idea.”  Wheelie shook his head with confusion.

“Oh, umm, my friend, Michelle is on her way over. Would you mind cleaning the bathroom and then, hiding when she gets here?” Greg smiled when Wheelie saluted him.

“Sure thing boss! I’m on it!” Wheelie spun around and skated his way to the bathroom.

Smiling with satisfaction and feeling a little less stressed, Greg made his way into the living room where Hector was propped up in front of the TV watching the news.  “What’s up, bud?” He asked.

Hector glanced over his shoulder at Greg. “Oh, not much. Just checking the news to see if the police are on their way here or if anyone had anything on that party last night.” He turned off the TV. “But, nada.  When’s your girlfriend getting here?”

“Dude, she’s not my girlfriend.” Greg almost laughed when Hector gave him the silent stare of disbelief. “Okay, yet.  Any word from that chick from last night?”

“Natalie?” Hector’s face clouded over with pain and he sighed. “No, nothing, but I don’t expect to hear anything. She doesn’t have my number or even really know my name. She was also pretty pissed and I did lie to her, so I can’t really blame her either.”

“You liked her, didn’t ya?” Greg sat opposite of his friend.

“Yeah, yeah I did, but like I said, she doesn’t know me and I’m not going to be a chick again. So, it’s over.” Hector leaned back and looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought or what might have been.

“Sorry dude and if you don’t wanna come tonight, I understand...” Greg felt bad for Hector. This was the first time he had ever seen him so broken hearted over a girl, but it was kind of an unusual situation to begin with since the girl in question didn’t even know Hector.

“Thanks, but I probably will. It will be a good way to get my mind off of her.” Hector abruptly jumped to his feet. “So, when is she going to get here?”

Greg checked his watch. “Anytime now. She had to run home and get her costume.” Hector raised a curious eyebrow at that. “Well, it would have been a little hard to explain that she didn’t need it, right?”

Hector nodded. “Yeah, probably right. I’ll put the dishes in the dishwasher and I heard ya sic Wheelie on the bathroom, good choice.  You might wanna straighten up your room a bit. Ya, know, just in case.” He winked and grinned at Greg.

“Dude! That’s not going to happen.” Greg crossed his arms over his chest, but deflated under Hector’s steady gaze. “Okay, it might, but not tonight. Happy?”

Hector simply smiled and turned away to get started on the kitchen.  Greg worked on tidying up his room. Mostly that meant picking his dirty clothes off the floor, making his bed and running the vacuum over the carpet.  He also cracked his window open to let some fresh air in so his room wouldn’t smell as stale.  He thought about spraying some air freshener, but that would be too noticeable and lame.

He finished his room in the nick of time.

[Ding...Dong!]

The front doorbell rang. “Oh crap! I think she’s here!” Greg whispered as he ran past Hector in the kitchen on his way to the front door. “Wheelie! Hide!”

“Sure thing, boss!” Wheelie yelled back followed by the distinctive sound of him transforming into his toy truck form.

“If I get the chance, I have got to fix that sound effect...” Greg muttered to himself as he reached the door.  Feeling extremely nervous, he opened the door without taking the time to look through the peep hole.  It was only after he opened the door and saw Michelle anxiously standing there that he considered the alternative scenarios, like the police.  “Michelle!” He felt very relieved.

Michelle gasped with surprise. “Wow, that’s a nice greeting! A girl could get used to that...”

“Yeah, sorry. It’s just been crazy around here the last couple days.” Greg felt his face flushing with embarrassment.  He spotted her costume in her arms. “Is that your costume?”

Michelle nodded and patted the black garment. “Yep. So, where’s this costume machine of yours?”

“Oh! Sorry, it’s put away right now, but we normally set it up in the garage. Come in, come in and sorry, but can ya take your shoes off?  Our cleaning, umm, person hates it when we track dirt into the house.”  Greg held the door open for Michelle and held her costume for her as she removed her shoes.

Greg could tell Michelle looked impressed by what she saw inside their house. He couldn’t help feeling a little smug by Hector’s reaction to seeing Michelle for the first time.  As he introduced Michelle to Hector, he was cool and calm about it, but as soon as she turned her back; Hector shook his head and mimed exhaling as if he was too hot while he led Michelle into the living room. He wanted to try and explain things in as normal of an environment as possible, hopefully, without her freaking out.

“So, umm, Michelle, this is going to probably sound like a strange question...” Greg nervously glanced over to Hector. “But, umm, do you believe in aliens?”

Michelle’s eyes flared with surprise before a giggle escaped. “Oh my god, yes! I mean, who doesn’t?”

Feeling a little more relieved, Greg released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in. “Oh, good, because, umm, it might be a little hard to believe this, but our machine...” He nervously licked his lips and glanced back over to Hector, who gave him the keep going signal. “Well, we think it’s an alien disguise machine, or something.”

“What?!? Oh my god, that’s a good one Greg!” Michelle laughed until she noticed neither Greg or Hector had joined her.  “Umm, you guys can’t be serious?”

The both nodded their heads with solemn agreement.

“Okaaay, this is getting a little too weird now...” Michelle stood to leave.

“No, wait!” Michelle paused. “We can prove it. Just gimme one minute. Please?” Greg looked over to Hector for help.  Hector shrugged his shoulders as if to say, don’t look at me dude.

Greg looked back to Michelle. “Okay, so, I’ll prove it...” He activated his costume and felt pleased to note both Michelle’s and even Hector’s surprised gasps as his costume flowed over his body and the mask formed over his face.  Going for the full effect, Greg sprang up and clung to the ceiling with his hands and feet.

“Oh my god!” Michelle dropped her costume and stared up at Greg.

“Damn dude, that’s pretty cool...” Hector begrudgingly admitted.

Greg crawled along the ceiling until he reached the far wall.

“Damn boss, that’s pretty impressive, but if ya get footprints on the ceiling, I’m not cleaning it, just saying.” Wheelie transformed into his robot form and looked disapprovingly up at Greg.

“Ahhh!” Michelle jumped back and away from the robot that just transformed beside her, falling over the back of the couch in her haste to put some distance between herself and Wheelie.

Hector attempted to lend Michelle a hand, but she jumped away from him. “What the hell is going on here?!?” She glared at Greg as he jumped down from the ceiling and landed, facing Michelle and Hector. “Greg, this better not be some kind of joke!”

Greg deactivated his costume and it flowed back under his shirt, completely disappearing from sight, restoring his clothes in the process. “Nope, no joke Michelle. I call this costume my Spidersuit verson 3.7 and well, I thought it would be cool if we used our machine to help you out. Umm, sorry if we scared you...”

Michelle took a deep, calming breath before she turned to look over at Wheelie.

Wheelie cocked a finger at her. “Yo.”

“Okay, what in the hell is that? Tell me it’s not real, please.” Michelle glanced hopefully between Greg and Hector. “Okay, it’s a puppet, right? Someone is controlling it with fishing line or something, right?”

“Hey babe, I’m the real deal! Ain’t no strings attached to me!” Wheelie huffed indignantly as he jumped and transformed in mid-air into his truck form.

MIchelle collapsed into the couch. “Oh my god! It is real, this alien thing, it’s real? You’re not both aliens who are going to turn me into a pod person now that I know your secret, are you?” She glanced nervously between the two men.

Greg chuckled which helped put Michelle at ease. “No, like I was trying to tell you. Hector found this machine.  We think it’s called a Morphic Adaptation Unit and it lets you pretend to be almost anyone you want.”  He pointed to Hector. “Like, Hector, he made himself like Wolverine, claws and everything, well, not the hair.”

Michelle nervously laughed as she studied Hector. “Yeah, right...”

[Snickt!]

Hector grimaced as he activated the claws in his right arm and displayed them to Michelle.

[Snickt!]

He retracted them. “Sorry, those hurt a bit...”

Michelle stood and raced over to study Hector’s hand. With wonder in her eyes, she turned back to Greg.  “What can you do and where is this machine?”

Greg sighed with relief. It looked like Michelle believed him now and she only freaked out a little. “It’s in the laundry room and you can make just about any costume you can think of...” Even though Hector had just displayed his claws, he was careful to not mention the part about it also allowing a person to change their body.  He didn’t want to freak her out again.

Hector chuckled. “Yeah, you can also turn yourself into an alien chick if you’re not careful.”

Michelle turned to Hector with shock. “What?! Really?”  Her eyes widened with realization as she noticed Greg blushing and glaring at Hector. “Oh my god! Greg? It can really do that?”

Greg smiled uncomfortably and ran his hand nervously through his hair. “Yeah, umm, I kinda found out about that little ‘feature’ when we tried to figure out what the machine did.”

“Oh my god, that’s too cool!” Michelle’s enthusiasm rapidly cooled. “Are you sure you’re not messing with me?”

Both Greg and Hector chuckled as Greg retrieved the box from the dirty clothes hamper. “Nope, here it is, let’s get it into the garage.”  Greg said, holding the box up for Michelle to see.

She did not look impressed. “That’s it? Come on guys. I mean, I know you have a cute robot-ahhh!”  Michelle screamed when she felt something grab her leg.

“Did ya hear that boss? Bossman Greg’s woman thinks I’m cute!  Can we keep her?” Wheelie glanced hopefully at Hector and Greg.

“Wheelie, let go of Michelle’s leg and no, we can’t keep her.” Greg glared at Wheelie until the little robot reluctantly let go of Michelle’s leg. “Now, say you’re sorry for scaring her.”

Wheelie looked down at the ground and held his arms behind him. “Sorry pretty boss lady Michelle. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” He looked up and seemed to shiver.

Michelle crouched down in front of Wheelie. “Ahh, you’re soooo cute!” She surprised Wheelie with a quick hug before letting him go.

Wheelie stumbled down the hall like a drunk man. “She hugged me.” He muttered with confusion.  “The pretty boss lady hugged me...”

Greg and Hector laughed at the spectacle. “I think you broke him Michelle.” Hector smirked as he held the door to the garage open for her.

Greg followed with the box and Michelle watched, confused as to why Greg was setting the strange metal box on the open garage stall so carefully.  “How does that little box do...” She trailed off as the box suddenly expanded into its phone booth size. “Holy...Oh. My. God!” Michelle glanced back and forth between Greg and Hector. “That’s not possible! How?”

Greg shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t know, but is this part over here that is the coolest.” He motioned for Michelle to come look at the side facing the garage door. The side with the control panel. As Michelle watched, Greg placed his hand on the paw print and brought up an image of himself.

Michelle ran her hand through the image a couple of times. “Wow, that’s totally like ‘Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope’.” She giggled excitedly.

With that, Greg altered his image to display Princess Leia.

“How did you do that?!” Michelle studied Greg’s hand. “I didn’t see you use a keyboard or select anything.

Greg took his hand off the paw print, causing Princess Leia to freeze. “It uses mental telepathy or something to read your mind.  Right now, if you wanted to, you could be her.” He pointed back to Princess Leia.

“Really!?! Wow...just wow, but what about you?” Michelle glanced coyly at Greg.

“What about me?”

“Her.” Michelle pointed at Princess Leia. “I mean, wasn’t she every boy’s fantasy girl?  You could be her right now.”

“Oh, no thanks. Once was enough for me.” Greg decided to stick with the story Hector forced on him because there was no way he could admit that he had modeled his second girl experience on her. That would be too creepy.

MIchelle giggled and gave Greg a quick hug to show him she was just messing with him. “So, what did you look like when you accidently changed yourself into an ‘alien chick’ as Hector put it?” She supplied mock air quotes.

“Oh, no, you don’t really need to see that, do you?” Greg glanced from Michelle and back to Hector. “Thanks...” He said sourly.

Michelle’s eyes were bright with expectation. “Please?”

“Fine...” Greg put his hand back on the display and the image of Neytiri appeared, except this time it was easy to see her queue braid on the back of her head.

“Oh, wow, she looks just like her. What would she look like if she was me?” Michelle held onto Greg’s arm as she peered around him to get a better look.

Greg turned to look at Michelle’s face and Neytiri’s image subtly morphed to take on more of Michelle’s features until it was easy to see the resemblance in the alien woman’s face.

“Wow, so, I could be her, right now?” Michelle glanced back to Hector before returning her attention to Greg.

“Yep, but you might wanna be a little shorter because she’s almost nine feet tall and that light fixture,” Greg pointed to the light. “Hurts to bang your head into, trust me.” He grinned.

“Oh, yeah, good point. Can you make her shorter?”

“How short?”

“Umm, six foot? I always wondered what it would be like to be that tall.”

“Sure.” Greg made Michelle’s avatar image shrink down to six foot while maintaining the same proportions.

Michelle clapped her hands excitedly. “This is so cool!”

Greg grinned at Michelle’s enthusiasm as he removed his hand from the paw print. “This is even cooler.” He touched the purplish crystal, causing the door to appear.  He motioned for Michelle to enter the opening. “Go on, just walk in and touch the purple crystal inside.”

Michelle started to follow Greg’s direction, but she stopped, clearly torn. “I can’t. Does it hurt?”

“Nope, just a flash of red light, then poof! You’re her.” Greg glanced back over to Michelle’s avatar image.

“Hmmmphh, why don’t you show her?” Hector smirked. “I mean, I wouldn’t trust us either if I was her.”

Greg shot Hector a murderous glare before turning back to Michelle with a smile. “Well, I could, I guess, but not as her.”  He noticed Michelle beginning to look disappointed. “But, I could as an Avatar version of myself, just to show Michelle that it’s safe.”

“Oh! That could work. I wanna see what you would look like as a cute Avatar guy.” Michelle laughed and stepped aside to allow Greg access to the machine again.

Greg quickly brought up his image, but as an Avatar male. He used all he knew about the Na’vi to create his image, but like Michelle, he reduced his height. Not down to six foot like Michelle wanted for herself. Instead, he reduced his male avatar height down to 6’ 5”. He also made sure he would be able to breathe Earth’s atmosphere.

Satisfied with his changes, he entered the machine and activated the machine. After the red light flashed and the doorway appeared, Greg stepped out, looking every inch the Na’vi male warrior. Much to Michelle’s delight.

“OMG, if there was ever a moment to revert to text speech, now is the moment because, Greg, that is amazing!”  Michelle placed her palm on Greg’s bare chest and hesitantly reached for his face to gently touch his cheek, followed by tracing his check up to touch his cat-like ears. “Wow, just wow...” She glanced over at smiling Hector, before glancing back to Greg. “My turn! I wanna be an Avatar chick now too!”

Greg chuckled as he made her Na’vi image display. “There, is that what you wanna look like? No other changes like hair color or something?”

Michelle’s eyes brimmed with excitement as she shook her head no.

“Okay then, just touch that crystal there, step inside and touch the other on in there.” Greg pointed to the purplish crystal on the outside of the machine.

Michelle gasped when the doorway appeared, but after a quick glance back at Greg; she breathed in to calm her nerves and calmly stepped into the machine. Greg glanced over at Hector and noticed he looked very interested in what was about to happen. Greg felt a little nervous too. What if she freaked out or worse, what if the machine didn’t work on real women or what if the machine was really an alien trap designed to steal Earth’s women. Greg chuckled at himself for even having that ridiculous idea.

Thankfully, they only had a second or two to wait before the door reappeared and Michelle, as a half naked Na’vi warrior woman stepped out of the machine.  Without thinking, Greg rushed forward to help her when she wobbled a little.

Michelle glanced up at him appreciatively. “Thanks...” She looked down at her new alien body with wonder before realizing that her breasts were only covered by strategically placed beads and that she was now a couple of cup sizes smaller. She blushed a beautiful shade of purple and covered her chest with her hands before realizing it was a little too late and slowly lowered her hands. “Well, I guess when in Rome...” She muttered as she looked back to Greg and Hector with newfound confidence in her appearance.

Her tail was the next thing that surprised and embarrassed Michelle, but both of the men were waiting for her to notice it. Neither were disappointed with her reaction to discovering it and realizing she could control it, but that it also would sometimes move on its own.  She spun around a couple times trying to catch sight of it before she realized what she was doing. “Oh my god, I didn’t just chase my tail, did I?”

“Yep.” Greg grinned mischievously. “And you looked so cute too. I wanted to get a string and see if you would go after that too.”

“Hummmphh! Meanie!” Michelle crossed her arms protectively over her chest as her tail lashed slowly back and forth on its own. She broke down and giggled when she realized that her tail was moving again. “I have got to see what I look like. Where’s a mirror?”

Greg led Michelle to the bathroom where Wheelie was working on cleaning the tub.

“Yo!” Wheelie turned to look at Greg as he entered the bathroom. He jumped back and peered hesitantly over the edge of the tub. “Holy crap! Is that you Bossman Greg?” Greg nodded as Wheelie peered intently at his Na’vi face before shifting his gaze to Michelle. He straightened up to his full height and gazed appreciatively at Michelle’s Na’vi body. “Whoa! Boss Lady, yer hot, but if ya ever feel like ditching this meat bag,” He gestured toward a rapidly annoyed looking Greg. “I’ll be there for ya babe!”

Michelle giggled and crouched down next to the tub. “Oh, that’s so sweet of you Wheelie.” She furtively glanced over her shoulder at Greg before leaning over and whispering near what she thought could be Wheelie’s ear. “Don’t tell Greg this, but if he tries ditching me, you’ll be the first robot I think of.”  She quickly kissed him on the top of his right eye casing.

Wheelie began shaking uncontrollably before he collapsed backwards and into the bottom of the tub as he made a whirring sound that slowly wound down to nothing. “Huhhhh, whaaa, the warrior goddess...she kissed me...” Wheelie said dreamily.

Greg chuckled at Wheelie’s overly dramatic display, while at the same time he felt a little jealous. “You’re going to break him if you keep doing that.”

Michelle glanced back at him with concern. “Oh, I hope not. He’s pretty cool...”

Wheelie weakly waved at her. “I’m okay...just need a little air...”

Greg cleared his throat and slowly shook his head from side to side. “Geez, Wheelie, knock it off. You’re a robot, you don’t need to breathe.”

Wheelie sat up as if surprised to learn that fact. “Really? Oh, that’s a relief. Hehe. I thought I was a goner for sure there!”  He looked at the mostly clean and shining tub and grabbed a sponge. “Oops, looks like I missed a spot over here...”

Michelle and Greg looked at each other and chuckled. Michelle caught sight of her reflection in the mirror and was drawn toward it. Greg stood back to allow her full access to the mirror and to admire her lithe mostly naked body at the same time.

Michelle studied her face with stunned disbelief as she wiggled her cat ears and blinked her large amber and green eyes.  “This is amazing!”

Greg nodded and grinned. “Yep, it’s pretty damn cool.”

Michelle ran her fingers through her hair and pulled her large central braid around to inspect.  As she held it up in front of her face, the ends opened up and she shot a quick glance back at Greg. “I wanna try this!”

Greg wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. From what he had read on the Na’vi, the queue formed a bond, called tsaheylu which also translated to ‘ultimate intimacy’. The connection caused the couple to share their good memories with each other. If they were a good pair, but if not, the connection was painful or unpleasant for the couple.  According to the movie’s mythology, all that was controlled by the Na’vi’s planet god lady thing, Eywa.  If the couple were meant for each other, the bond was stronger than marriage because the sharing of memories made them life mates. With the Na’vi, there were no divorces.

“Umm, Michelle, I’m not sure if that is a good idea...” Greg sighed when she glanced up at him, still holding her opened queue in her hand. “The Na’vi, well, when they use that between each other, they can become life mates. If the bond is accepted by the Na’vi’s ‘planet god thing’, they are officially married and that marriage is for life.”

Michelle’s large eyes grew even larger and she glanced down at her queue. She bit her lip and as she concentrated on it, the ends of her queue began to glow. She looked back up at Greg and moved closer to him, lightly pressing her body against his. “I wanna try it, with you Greg, please?”