Of Knights and Aliens

Chapter 91

Maggie swallows her nerves and bows over-dramatically as she holds the door to the garden open for Alex. She smiles when she hears her girlfriend chuckle at her antics before following her outside.

Maggie had chosen this entrance to the garden specifically because it's one of the few where when you walk out, you can't immediately see what Maggie has set up. She watches Alex wander over to a patch of flowers along the path and smell them.

"What kind is that?" Maggie asks.

Alex glances up at her with a smile. "It's a dahlia. Specifically, it's a kasasagi dahlia. It's Mom's favorite dahlia, so whenever the gardeners can, they like to grow it. Mom always says if reminds her of a sunrise, how all the petals go from that deep yellow to red."

Maggie hums. "It's very pretty."

"Yeah, I think so too. It's become one of my favorites, too. Though Kara always says it looks like someone stuck as many petals as they could on a flower."

Maggie bursts into surprised laughter. "That's fair, I can see that."

Alex chuckles, grinning up at Maggie. "Yeah, I can too."

"So tell me about dahlias, Danvers. I know you must have some facts about them in that big brain of yours, babe. Especially if they're your mom's favorite." Maggie encourages.

Alex grins at her. "I don't know about the kasasagi type, but I do know about dahlias. There are 42 species, but hybrids are usually what are grown in gardens. They have a lot if diversity, like that one over there is also a dahlia." Alex points.

Maggie's eyebrows shoot up. "Wow, yeah. I can see the diversity. They both have a bunch of petals crammed on them, but they look so different."

"Mm hmm. And this variety, it's partly because dahlias are octoploids, which means they have right sets of homologous chromosomes, though most plants have two."

Maggie nods. "Okay."

Alex pauses as chuckles. "You know, you're one of the few people I've spouted scientific stuff at that hasn't gotten completely lost."

"Not everyone has the brain for science. Plus, you're a genius Danvers."

"Pfft, I'm not a genius." Alex says, blushing.

"You are." Maggie says without any hesitation. "Now give me one more factoid so we can get to our food before it gets cold."

Alex huffs but complies. "Most of the species don't attract pollinators by scent, which is why they're so brightly colored."

"Cool. Hang on, Danvers. If they don't smell, why were you smelling them?" Maggie asks as they begin walking slowly down the path.

"Because they smell like flowers, and I like it." Alex answers.

"Alright, I can understand that. Hey, if there are so many kinds of flowers in this garden, do you have that one weird one that opens only every couple of years and smells like corpses?" Maggie asks curiously.

"No. For some reason, the gardeners seem to think that it would take away from the beauty of this place, to have it smell like corpses every couple of years."

Maggie chuckles and the nerves return as she they pass another lamppost, as seeing Alex illuminated among a beautiful garden at sunset is breathtaking. She takes Alex's hand in hers and relaxes slightly when Alex squeezes.

The brick path beneath their feet opens up into a secluded area in the gardens that not everyone knows about. Maggie can hear Alex's breath hitch and fights the urge to fiddle with something, watching Alex's reaction.