HUMAN

Chapter One

"Oscar, this is the most inhuman, unbelievable...there's just no way -" Rudy Wells was stunned almost beyond his ability to speak. "I realize the Secretary's new, but how could he think...how could he dare...? Do Jaime and Steve know?"

"No. Jaime's always been so sensitive about being only 'half human', as she puts it; this would tear her apart. I'd like to tell Steve and get his input, bot now that he and Jaime have grown so close again, I don't think he'd be able to keep it from her, and I don't have the right to ask him to -"

"Don't you think that both have a right to know, given what could potentially happen to them?" Rudy said, very quietly.

"Probably," Oscar conceded, "but how do I do that? Jaime and Steve are the closest I've ever come to having a family. How do I tell them their new President and Secretary of State don't have the understanding to see that they're human beings? That they see them as 'unnecessary robots' and have demanded that we de-activate and neutralize them within 30 days?" Oscar's voice began to break. "Their own government is going to put them in wheelchairs..."

Rudy finished the horrific thought. "Or worse."

------

Steve grinned with anticipation as his car sped up the long driveway. He couldn't wait to see Jaime and tell her the good news - his meeting with Jack Hansen had gone even better than either of them had dared to hope, and their lives were - finally - about to become normal again.

Jaime had been framed for multiple felonies, the worst being Theft of Government Property (four million dollars' worth) and triple homicide. She'd ended up in a tiny, hellish NSB isolation cell called The Hole, and Steve had broken her out so the two of them could prove her innocence. Once they'd accomplished that, all charges against Jaime had been dropped and all that remained was the little matter of Steve's having aided a federal prisoner's escape from custody. Thanks to Jack Hansen of the NSB, that charge, too, had finally been dropped. Legally and officially, both Jaime and Steve were now free.

While they'd been fugitives working together to catch the real criminals, Jaime and Steve not only discovered that they were still a remarkably effective working team; they also learned that the spark between them had never truly died. It had been merely dormant, like a wildfire that requires exactly the right conditions before it bursts into flames. Once they'd acknowledged their deep feelings for each other, the bond between them grew rapidly in both strength and intensity, exactly like a wildfire. It was less than a month since their short stint as wanted felons, and one week since Jaime had moved in, seamlessly melding their hearts and lives together as though they'd never been apart.

Jaime waited nervously on the front porch, where she'd been since kissing Steve for luck and waving goodbye early that morning. She'd found herself too restless to sit, too nervous to pace (it made her feel worse) and so had ended up sitting on the porch railing, swinging her feet and trying to think only positive thoughts. They wouldn't charge Steve with a felony...would they? Life couldn't possibly be cruel enough to tear them out of each other's arms again. She heard his car turn into the driveway and nearly flew to the end of the stone-lined front walk so she could see him at the first possible second.

Steve beamed at her as he stepped from the car. "It's over, Sweetheart," he said, pulling her into his strong arms for a long, joyful bear hug. "Hansen has a heart after all. It's finally over."

------

Rudy Wells faced the biggest ethical dilemma of his life. The Hippocratic Oath stated First, do no harm, but what he'd been told he must do would harm his patients - his friends - immeasurably and permanently. They wanted him to remove all of Jaime and Steve's bionic limbs and circuitry and turn the parts and all relevant files over to a team of government scientists. Rudy wasn't sure he could bring himself to do it; he knew there might be penalties, but that didn't concern him. What they were asking was unconscionable! He also knew, though, that the procedure would be performed with or without him. In another doctor's hands, one who was unfamiliar with bionics, Jaime and Steve would most likely die.

------

"It should be illegal to be this happy," Steve said as he brushed the hair from Jaime's face with gentle, loving hands and then kissed her.

"Uh-uh," she replied softly. "I've had enough of life on the wrong side of the government, thank you very much."

------