Chapter 38
MITCHELL
“Mitchell, your honey bun is here,” Amy singsonged as we exited the adult ward.
“What?”
“Look at you, so cute!” she cooed. “He’s come to take you to lunch, silly!”
“Jolar is here? I mean, Jolar is here! Is it okay if I break for lunch now?” I asked Doc.
He shook his head at me. “No need to be flustered. Go join your mate for your meal. Maybe you two can schedule your wedding and honeymoon while you’re at it.”
I chuckled nervously. “Um, yeah, sure.” I hurried down the hall.
“He is way too easy to tease,” Amy moaned as I hurried past.
“Leave the man alone. He’s just shy and in love.”
I escaped through the door into the main sickbay and quickly spotted Jolar by the main door to the corridor outside. I hurried over. “You came to get me for lunch? “ I asked, all embarrassment forgotten as I slid right into flirt mode.
“I did,” he confirmed, gazing into my eyes. “It is good to see you.”
“It’s sure good to see you too.”
Shit. I sounded like a lovesick idiot! Which to be fair, was a fairly accurate description of me at the moment. Jolar too, from the way he all but had cartoon hearts shooting out of his eyes.
“So, I thought we could return to our quarters and replicate a meal,” he suggested. Then he looked chagrined and glanced off to the side. “I was told to not return until we’ve scheduled our wedding and honeymoon.”
I gaped at him, slapping the sensor panel to open the door before tugging him through it after me. “Snap!” I replied in a low, urgent tone. “Doc said the same thing, pretty much. He told me to not make him have to write it as a prescription!”
“Does it upset you that we will be selecting a prearranged package deal?’
I stared at him, dumbfounded. “What? No! The only arrangements I want to figure out is where, when, how we pay for it because - hello, Mylos don’t use money!
Oh, and what we’ll be wearing, obviously.
And I’d like us to pick out some rings together.
I was thinking silver, not gold or platinum or anything stupid expensive.
Maybe find a local jewelry maker where we’re going and pick from what they’ve got? ”
He nodded, starting towards the elevator. “Xeranos will handle the currency requirements, and we will have funds available to spend when on planet. I like the idea of our rings also being souvenirs.”
“Awesome!” I said as the elevator slid open.
“Do you still want a cruise? I remembered what you said about one and finding out if Lilo and Stitch’s town was a real place.”
“Yes!” I responded, then said, “Xero, take us home please.”
“Hello Mitchell. Taking you both to your level.”
The elevator began to rise. “I know I said we need to dial back on the Lilo and Stitch thing so it doesn’t drive us completely bananas, but it is his fave thing and I think with all the changes in his life right now, that having something he’ll adore like that and which will be both new as well as familiar, will be just the thing to help him adjust.”
“Very smart,” Jolar declared, leaning down to give me a peck on my lips. “I asked Xeranos to look at those things and make suggestions for what to book.”
“Now who’s the genius?” I murmured, kissing him back.
“That would be me,” replied Xero, sounding smug. The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to reveal our corridor.
“Other than you!” I called back to the sentient AI as we exited. “Okay, let’s go see what he’s got for us.”
“After we get our meal. We can look at them while we eat,” Jolar said firmly. “I find I am very hungry.”
He opened our door and I followed him in. “How about I rustle us up some pasta then?”
He nodded and I strolled over to the replicator. “Something nice, but not too fussy,” I mused. “Xero, what pasta dishes are available?”
“Might I suggest chicken cacciatore with a side of garlic bread?” came the reply.
“Sure!” Moments later I set our meal down upon the breakfast bar.
Jolar had already poured us some of the iced tea from the fridge and grabbed the tableware, so now all we had to do was sit, eat, and book our wedding.
It sounded so simple but I knew there would be some sort of hoops still to go through. There always were.
“Xeranos, please display what you found for me regarding wedding cruises and Lilo and Stitch.”
The wall at the end of the breakfast bar shimmered, becoming a viewscreen. A town with historic storefronts appeared on it.
“Lilo and Stitch is set on the island of Kaua’i.
Their town is fictional, but is based on the old town of Hanapepe.
Hanapepe, as you can see, retains its old world charm with plantation era buildings in the downtown.
There are farmer’s markets, and there is a beach park. There is also a Lilo and Stitch mural.”
I sucked in a breath as the mural came up. “Oh, Neal will lose his mind!”
Jolar nodded. “It is perfect.”
“Um, is there a hotel, and can we visit a luau? Darla told me about hers, and I am dying to go to one.”
“There are luaus available to book on the island,” Xero confirmed. “As for hotels, there are several inns with excellent ratings.” The display changed to show us listings of the inns he suggested.
Before I knew it, we’d not only cleaned our plates, but booked a cruise, a place to stay on the island when we disembarked, and bought tickets for a luau.
We would return to the ship via shuttle from the Mylos Scholarship Center in Honolulu, and we also had booked plane tickets to get to Oahu from Kaua’i to make that possible. We were all set to go.
“We leave in two days,” Jolar said, looking as dazed as I felt.
“We’re getting married,” I whispered.
“Well, legally, you already are,” Xero reminded me.
“Human married,” Jolar nodded.
“We’ll be super well married,” I giggled. “Oh, shit! I need to pack! We can take some of the stuff we just bought, but we’ll need wedding clothes and swimsuits, and does Neal know how to swim? Fuck! We’ll need to find a pet sitter!”
Panic mode was well and truly activated.