The day was hot and muggy, and Jessica Walker really wished she hadn't decided to walk home. Thankfully, she was only a block away from her destination. Her blouse was clinging to her back and she was sure she'd just about sweated all of her makeup off. She probably had huge sweat stains under her pits, too.
She finally reached her front door, heels clicking against the metal wheelchair ramp placed over the porch steps. She inserted the key into the lock, jiggling it slightly to get it to unlock all the way.
"Welcome home, Jess," the android's voice was soft and soothing as always.
"Hey Cecily," Jess replied, balancing on one foot while she pulled off her shoe.
"How did the committee meeting go?" Cecily asked, moving to pick up the discarded footwear.
"Cecily, I can pick up after myself," Jess protested, using the opportunity to deflect. "You're-"
"I'm an MP600 designed provide home hospice care," she interrupted calmly, finishing the sentence. "But that doesn't mean that I can't look after you."
Cecily's main role was to care for Jess's elderly grandmother. She'd only bought the android a few months ago, when it became more expensive to hire a human nurse than to just bit the bullet and buy an android to take care of her grandmother's extensive medical needs. Jess wished that she could do it herself, she really did, but after the fifth time of coming home to her grandmother wearing nothing but a blanket and completely unaware that she was naked, Jess realized she was out of her depth.
"How is she, by the way?" Jess asked, deciding to change the topic abruptly.
"I was able to get her up and dressed with minimal protest. I gave her cream of wheat for breakfast. With extra brown sugar, like you suggested."
"Did she eat it?"
The android nodded.
Jess nodded too and headed towards her grandmother's room. "Good. That's good. Well, you can take a break now, I'll sit with her."
"Jess, I don't need to take breaks," the android reminded her gently, following the young woman through the kitchen to the back of the house. "And you never answered my question."
Jess stopped with her hand on the doorknob. She hadn't forgotten her reason for being out of the house this morning, she just didn't want to talk about it. She'd spent months collecting data and conducting experiments for her dissertation. Cecily had actually played an integral role in Jess's study on android psychology. Both by allowing Jess to interview her extensively multiple times, and by making sure she remembered to eat and drink during her marathon typing binges.
"It was harder to defend that I thought it would be," she admitted finally. "But they gave it to me in the end."
Cecily beamed with pride and threw her arms around the shorter woman.
"That's amazing, Jess! I'm so proud of you!"
'Androids don't have feelings' my pasty white ass, Jess thought as she hugged Cecily back.