July 28, 2847 ‒ 02:36:12
As Two's due date approached, it became harder and harder for her to stay offline. So many of her systems ran to keep her containment chamber cool, to divert extra power to the nanobots, to write the child's programming and code their behaviors. Sleep mode was difficult to keep, though it was all she wanted, and this night was one of the worst she'd had in weeks. It had taken what felt like hours of tossing and turning to slip out of consciousness at all, leading to thin, restless sleep mode.
Not even that was meant to last.
Two woke to a critical system alert. Her visor hardly cleared the start screen before a window popped up, consuming her whole field of vision. Two had to read over it a few times.
Her eyeforms swelled to their full size.
"Nos," she uttered.
"...Mmm?"
"Nos... wake up..." she pushed at his shoulder. He rubbed his hand over his face, lying with his back to her.
"What is't, love?" the words fell out of his half-functional processors.
"B-Baby..." Two stammered.
Nos-4-a2 gave a soft yawn to bring air through his ventilation systems and shook his head. "Sorry, wha's that?"
Two grabbed his shoulder harder, her fingers trembling. "Baby!"
No words were exchanged while Nos processed what she said. After a minute, he turned over to face Two, optic still closed. He put his arm around her and nuzzled his head lightly against her metal. "Sorry, love... doctor said no interfacing til' six weeks after the baby's born..."
"No, Nos-4-a2, wake up!" Two urged again, wiggling out of his grasp, "I don't mean you, 'baby!' I mean the baby's ready!"
Two had never seen her husband move faster in his life. He sat bolt upright in less than a second, his jaw dropping open. "Now?!"
"Yes, now! The program is finished! It's finished!"
"Okay. Okay, I'm going to ‒ I'll call a car! Do you need anything? Should I get you a cloak? Do you need a power cell?"
"No, just call a car!"
Nos lept out of bed and flew to the closet, grabbing the first cloak he found. "Computer!"
"Yes, sir?"
Nos burst back into the room, trying to fasten the clasp on his inside-out cloak, a wild smile plastered on his face. "Contact a driving service, we need a car to the hospital immediately!"
~~~
July 28, 2847 ‒ 10:54:13
Nos-4-a2 alternated pacing and sitting, twiddling his thumbs, trying to keep himself occupied.
"Uncle Nos, don't you want to sit down? Watching you is making me tired," Willow sighed. After hours sitting in the waiting room, her game had run out of batteries, leaving her starved for entertainment.
"Let him be, Willow," Wall.E scolded lightly. He had been sitting next to Probe One, watching the news on the silent, subtitled holovision.
"...Why can't I be in there?" Nos muttered. It was killing him, not being able to see his wife at such a time. Their whole corner of the waiting room sighed at the repeated question.
"She's unconscious, being in there would only make your worrying worse and get in the way of the doctors. They're still repairing her," One repeated. Nos looked at the double doors that led to the operating rooms, hovering in place. It would be so easy for him to push through those doors and peek into her window...
He turned his gaze down and started pacing again. He didn't know how much longer he could stand waiting.
After Two woke him up and they'd rushed to the hospital, the nurse took them to a room where Two was prepared for the operation, connected to machines that monitored her vital system functions. Nos-4-a2 stayed with her through four hours of preparation before being sent out to the waiting room.
Two had gone through just about every emotion imaginable while the engineers set everything up. Twinges of pain occasionally shot through her from the deactivating reproductive hardware, but it was only to be expected. The nanobots had started detaching the probeling from her inner workings. Nos did everything he could to support her, though he could hardly handle himself as it was. To distract her, he talked to her about anything that came to mind. He held her hands ‒ though it earned him a few dents ‒ and told her stories when she was too distracted to talk. She knew every story he told, but was happy for any reason to take her mind off her dizzying thoughts.
It was six o'clock in the morning when one of the nurses told them it was time to start the operation. Nos stayed long enough to sit with her while the inhibition coding took effect, putting her offline for the operation. Before she went out, he made sure to tell her that the next time they met, they'd be parents. Two was so excited that the nurse had to dial up the inhibition coding.
As soon as Two went offline, Nos-4-a2 had to leave her in the hands of Dr. Darickson and his team. When he arrived in the waiting room with frayed nerves, Probe One, Wall.E, and Willow were all there. Seeing his family helped ease his mind, even though he was still on pins and needles.
The clock slowly inched toward eleven. The sunlight moved through the window and traveled across the floor torturously slow, leaving striped patterns on the carpet. Nos cast his optics out the window, looking out at the view of Axiom Lake from five stories above the ground. He wasn't sure how much longer he could wait before he stormed out of the waiting room to see Two. As soon as he had worked up the nerve to go, everyone's attention shifted to the opening doors.
Dr. Darickson stood on the threshold, the bags under his eyes magnified by his thick glasses. His mousy hair was even more disheveled than usual, and he had dark stains on his sleeves. Nos felt his power core drop out of his frame.
Darickson grinned. "It's a boy."
~~~
July 28, 2847 ‒ 11:06:11
Two couldn't tell whether she was awake. Wasn't she supposed to be doing something important? Where was she? It was dark, wherever she was.
Something hurt. She couldn't really tell what, but she felt smaller than before.
Energy signals radiated from all around her. Two tried asking Nos what was going on, but he didn't respond. Where was he? She thought he should have been there, still pestered by the thought that something important was going on.
As much as she tried to focus, Two couldn't get her optical system working. Or maybe something was wrong with it? Could that be what hurt? Everything she could see was grey and black and peppered with pinpricks of color. Her hearing wasn't any better. It sounded like it looked: unidentifiable somethings dancing right outside her range of perception.
Then the light changed.
Bright colors flooded in. More sounds came through. Brilliant shades of red, purple and blue approached her with an energy signature that wrapped her in comfort. A gentle pressure surrounded part of her... her hand. Her right hand. A delicate sensation streamed into her through the new contact. She asked Nos to tell her what was happening again.
"Shh, I'm here, Eve..." he answered through a distant fog, "You did it. You did it, my amazing little dove, you did it! It's a boy!"
~~~
Tears brimmed in Nos-4-a2's optic as he cupped Two's little hand in his. Even after he told her the news, she didn't seem to register what was going on. He thought she might be trying to focus on him, but the limits on her processors hadn't worn off yet. Not that he cared. He was so excited, he kept telling her over and over again, rubbing her fingers between his. He could feel her becoming more aware with every passing minute, dripping with anticipation for when she realized...
And there it was. The softest, most blissful smile came over her drowsy features as it dawned on her.
"A boy?" she beamed.
Nos-4-a2 made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "Yes, my love."
Two choked on a laugh as well, squeezing his hand. When she reached out, he readily leaned down to give her a hug and buried his head against hers.
"Have you seen him yet?" she asked in a wavering voice.
"No, but I'm sure he'll be here soon."
"I can't wait another moment."
"Oh, come on!" Nos sat up, "If I waited outside for hours, I'm sure you can hold on just a bit longer."
"It's not fair, how could they keep him away from us?"
"I asked the same thing when Darickson told me I could wait with you. They're just working out the last few bugs."
"Is everything alright?"
"Yes, he's perfectly fine, completely healthy. It's all just routine maintenance for newborns. You know what Patrick told me?"
Two looked at him expectantly.
"He said he's beautiful, Eve. He must look just like you."
Her smile looked like distilled bliss. He felt the waves radiating from her power core swirl around him, and as he leaned down to plant a kiss on her forehead, he basked in her emotions. He wanted to scoop her into his arms and keep her there forever, the robot who had given him her universe. Now, she'd even given him a family. Words weren't enough to say how much he loved her right then. Even the dust motes that twirled through the light looked utterly beautiful.
Stroking his talons slowly up and down her arm, he told her about how well she'd done and that everyone was there to support her in the waiting room. Nos-4-a2 thought that all the world should have been there for such a historic event. Their child was the first Energy Vampire born with the Earthling artificial reproduction program. Neither could think of anything else. Anticipation bubbled in the air as the new parents awaited the arrival of their son.
~~~
July 28, 2847 ‒ 11:44:28
Two couldn't rest for two reasons: she was plugged into a charger that fed her a constant stream of energy, and she still hadn't seen him. Everything else in her body felt tired and worn and thankful for the electricity being provided; even her mind felt like it had been fed through a shredder then messily stuffed back in her head, but there wasn't anything that could distract her from this.
Nos, too, was shimmering with waves of static impatience. He was still holding onto her hand, trying to keep himself occupied by playing with her fingers. It was no secret that the nearly sleepless, stressful night had exhausted him, but there was no way he'd leave to eat yet.
Two traced the dents in Nos's hands. She had never been so scared or excited in her life, though she had been less than prepared for the pain. Apparently, the newer versions of the reproductive hardware had worked that bug out a little better, but she wouldn't have to worry about that ever again. The reproductive ware had been removed during the operation, just as she and Nos-4-a2 had decided. That would be her first and last time giving birth.
Giving birth... that was another concept entirely. After carrying the little 'bot for around 60 weeks, she could hardly believe it was over. She would never be pregnant again. Now that she'd given birth, she felt just as confused as she did when she first found out she was pregnant. A part of her was waiting to wake up from this strange dream, though she knew it was all real. The door she was staring at was real. The feeling of missing parts inside of her was real. Nos-4-a2 sitting next to her, probably thinking something along the same lines, was real. Never before had Two felt so invested in the present moment.
Suddenly, Nos froze, his hands becoming tense around Two's. He picked up the sound of footsteps coming down the hall just before she did. Two's energy fluctuated as the footsteps stopped in front of their door, a shadow falling over the frosted glass window.
The door opened, revealing a black-haired human nurse holding a blue bundle in her arms. She had a pleasant enough look about her since she'd been up all night.
"Congratulations, Eve Two and Nos-4-a2," she smiled, "He's in perfect shape."
Nos let go of Two's hands so that she could use both her arms to receive the bundle of fabric. A soft pulse came from within the blanket that each parent recognized as part of the other.
Two couldn't keep her hand from trembling. It was time... after fourteen months, they were finally going to see their baby. The universe held its breath as she pulled the top of the blanket away from the new robot's face.
"Oh... N-Nos..." her voice caught. She tugged the blanket down more to take him in.
The newborn fledgling's whole shape was not unlike Nos-4-a2's, besides his head being round instead of flat on the back, and with a rounded chin as well. He didn't appear to have any neck besides three black cables, one thick and two thin, connecting his body to his head, and instead of purple triangles on his forehead like his father, he had dark blue semi-circles, cutting off at his black visor. There wasn't a single tooth in his small mouth, and as he yawned, they could see that his tongue wasn't forked like Nos's, but round. The rest of the metal on his face was such a pale shade of blue that it was almost white.
The exposed section of his shoulders was deep purple, along with his upper arms. His forearms were the same pale blue as his face. The couple noticed with even closer inspection that his hands were like Two's in having magnetically bound pieces, including a bit for a palm that she didn't have. The middle section of his torso was pitch black like his visor and completely smooth besides a single silver wire on each side, while even further down, he had two silver rings around his waist where Nos-4-a2 had three gold ones, and a silver upside-down triangle that followed the taper of his lower body.
"Congrats again, you two. I'll let you have some time alone with him, but Dr. Darickson wants me to tell you, Two, that you need to rest. You know what to do if you need anything," the nurse told them matter-of-factly.
"Thank you," Two nodded as the nurse left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.
There was a minute of silence where Nos and Two just kept looking at the baby in the latter's arms. Slowly, Nos reached around her back, holding her closer to him.
"You did it," he whispered shakily. Two looked over at him to see the most endearing smile on his face, oily tears shining in his optics.
"Oh, Nos…" her voice trembled as she leaned her head closer to his and cuddled the baby between them. Nos gave her a little squeeze around the middle in response.
"Do you… want to hold him?" she asked softly.
He pulled his arm from behind her, putting both out to take the baby. Two handed the sleeping bundle to him, and he held it as if the little robot would shatter at the slightest bump. Their child was very small to Nos, even though he had taken up so much space inside of Two. The tiny fledgling's head could fit in his father's palm, and his entire frame from top to bottom wasn't as long as Nos's forearm. A single oily tear fell down the Energy Vampire's cheek. He couldn't explain what it was about the baby, but just seeing him, feeling his unique, peaceful energy signature made Nos so inexplicably happy.
He looked up at Two, overpowered by the need to tell her, "Thank you." The words were quiet, sincere, and from the very depths of his soul, making Two's visor sting.
She gasped and Nos-4-a2 almost leapt in surprise when the baby emitted a quiet start-up chime.
Nos gaped down at the child, cradling him to his chest, staring straight back at the tiny purple eyeforms blinking open in the baby's visor. It was the most remarkable thing he'd ever seen. Their baby blinked up, focusing on Nos's optics.
"Hey there, little tike," he whispered, "I'm your daddy!"
The baby blinked again and made a face, like hearing his father's voice was the most incredible thing that had ever happened to him. Next to being born, it probably was.
Two experienced a moment of inspiration. She wasn't sure why, but it felt perfect, like it just fit. She remembered one of the names that they'd picked for a boy. "…Fletcher."
Nos laughed, blinking another tear away. "Welcome to Earth, Fletcher."