"Honey, I- well- the thing is- I am Tyler. I am also not- but I am-"

The buzzing of the low battery warning became more pronounced and I could feel the hard light membrane growing thin. I'd forgotten to swap the battery last night and then in the rush to get the kids prepared for school I hadn't noticed the light vibration before driving them. Given the pattern it was now projecting I had less than two minutes before it failed completely. Heather’s face vaccilated between confused and hurt as I stammered on:

"I really didn't want you to find out this way- I did want to tell you it just- never seemed right."

"Tell me what?"

Anger and pain were winning the battle for her face.

"That I- well- I'm not just not Tyler- I- I am, from the day I've met you I've always been the same person I'm just- Tyler isn't my name."

"And what is- that!"

She grabbed her butter knife and held it forward as the hard light around my arm dissipated revealing the blue skin beneath.

"Thats what I actually look like."

I said, holding out a hand with six fingers in a placating manner.

"What the fuu-"

The rest of my disguise fell away. I wasn't that far off from what humans looked like, I mean my skin was a different shade, and my eyes may be a touch larger, ok and I didn't have the right number of fingers, and my ears were pointed, oh and I didn't have the same configuration of teeth, but in my defense I'm not... human.

"Yea- so- my name is Yuhtip'frur, but you can still call me Tyler."

""That- explains alot."

She put down the butter knife and pulled out a slip of paper before continuing:

"Ryan stopped a vending machine from falling on his friend Liam yesterday. According to the other children he just caught it with one hand and then pushed it back upright. The teachers didn't believe it until they saw the finger marks embedded in the metal."

"Ah, that's- not exactly what I was expecting you to say, but I'm glad Liam is ok, he's a very nice boy."

"So- why didn’t you tell me this at any point, like I don't know before we got married or, had three children- wait how did we... have children are they- i mean ligers are all um?"

"Infertile?"

"Yea."

This seemed to hurt her more than my deception and tears began to well in her eyes.

"No, no they'll be perfectly capable, I know you've always wanted a big family. I made sure of that when- I-."

She narrowed her eyes.

"When you what?"

"I want to preface this by saying its perfectly normal where I come from. I edited their genes so that they would look fully human, and so that they wouldn't suffer any of the potentially deleterious effects of having parents- as different as we are."

"You mean different species."

"That is actually a matter of some debate, and one of the reasons I came here."

I could see her scientist side warring with the side of her that very much wanted to berate me for hiding my origin from her for so long. Thankfully, the scientist seemed to win out as her expression turned to curiosity.

"So we have a common ancestor? How far away is your home planet? Are there more- well i guess cousin civilizations or sibling civilizations? For that matter how did you get here? "Is faster than light travel actually possible or did you use a cryopod or something else? Have you been to other planets too or just earth and- oh what is your planet called? How did you learn English? Do you have a-"

"Can I start answering before you ask more?"

She nodded emphatically, and her expression reminded me of the young woman I met at a planetarium all those years ago. That expression of utter joy in seeing the stars laid out before her, not just reveling in their beauty but in the possibility of uncovering their secrets. Not for the first time I wondered if she could have fallen for me without the disguise and not for the first time I was certain she would have.