Title: Kindness
Author: Small-Wonders.
Word Count: A little over 1,000
Characters / Pairings: Lisa. Joshua. Anna. Slightly Lisa/Joshua.
Rating: PG. Maybe even G, but I tend to err on the side of caution.
Spoilers / Warnings: Spoilers through the promo for 1x10. Someone…uh…get's slapped. Un-betaed.
Summary: The sound of artificial human skin striking artificial human skin echoes throughout the large chamber as Lisa falls to the floor. As her tentative grasp on the human emotions raging inside her fails completely, a shame-filled blush spreads across her human cheeks. More evidence of her utter failure. Slightly Lisa/Joshua. One-shot.
Disclaimer: Uh, I own nothing? No characters, no concepts, not even some of the dialogue. Oh, all those grammatical, cannon and spelling errors...yeah, those are mine.
Author's notes: I know I put the spoiler warning up there for the promo, but if you haven't seen it, don't worry; this should still make sense and considering the five seconds of the promo I will spoil highlighted something we've kinda seen coming, this really shouldn't be too bad – unless you're cripplingly spoiler-phobic. If that is the case, more power to you. Also, I wanted to post this before the episode airs because cannon will probably prove – once again – to be my enemy. This is why we call it fanfiction.
Read. Enjoy. Review!
Kindness
By Small-Wonders
"You're grasp of human emotion is impressive."
From the moment she begins to speak, Anna's displeasure is evident.
The sound of artificial human skin striking artificial human skin echoes throughout the large chamber as Lisa falls to the floor. As her tentative grasp on the human emotions raging inside her fails completely, a shame-filled blush spreads across her human cheeks. Her fingers brush against the side of her face and a few drops of wet, sticky human-blood drips onto her fingers. More evidence of her utter failure.
"Understand, daughter," Anna hisses as she stares down at her offspring, "That you either get this little empathy-trip of yours under control, or I get it under control for you. Emotions are weakness, and weakness is something I cannot tolerate."
Slowly, Lisa rises to her feet. "I understand." She doesn't apologize. It wouldn't be accepted anyway.
Anna nods. "Get out of my sight," she demands, turning away.
Lisa leaves abruptly. The halls are a bustle of activity. Human live-aboard members and other daily visitors and V's pass her without giving her a second glance. Lisa has no idea where she is going, but she knows that she can't stay in the hallway much longer without demonstrating an undeniable and deadly display of emotion.
A hand on her arm halts her thoughts.
"Come with me," Joshua tells her.
The fleeting thought that he might be there to kill her enters her mind, but she's too preoccupied with the stinging pain she suddenly notices burning through the human skin on her face. His hand stays gently locked around her arm as Joshua leads her to the medical bay, and into an examination room.
"Your face is showing," he explains quickly, turning away from her and searching through some cabinets. For the second time, Lisa reaches up to touch her wound and realizes that he's right. It's a small gash, but any exposure of her true nature would be catastrophic.
Her mother would really kill her then.
As Lisa climbs up onto the examination table, Joshua hands her a flexible, pellucid container of blue gel and instructs her to shake it to activate the cooling properties of the compound. Then he sets to work healing the damaged tissue above her temple and below her eye. She hadn't realized how hard Anna had hit her before.
"Anna did this?" Joshua asks as if reading her mind, and Lisa nods. "Yes."
His fingers hum against her skin as he gently sews the tiny hole closed. If she actually was human, he could heal her right away, but since she is a V and this skin is artificial, there are a few procedures that need to be followed for their technology to function properly. Mostly-closed wounds, for one.
"That needs to stay for a few minutes before I seal it completely," he informs her, moving to the second cut. This one is just a bit longer and it hurts a little bit more. "Press the cold-piece to your eye," he says once he's finished, lifting her hand with his so she follows his instructions. Lisa obliges, applying just the tiniest amount of pressure.
It stings for a few seconds, but then it dies away and she's left with a dull throbbing sensation.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," Joshua says, leaving her with thoughts of her mother's disapproval. Heat burns on her cheeks as the moment her mother slapped her becomes a never-ending mental replay.
Her eyes start stinging. Confused, Lisa lowers the cold-pack just a touch and gently presses the pads of her fingers against the skin beneath her eyes. When she pulls her hands away, she's surprised to see that she's wiped away drops of moisture.
She's crying.
Alarm drives the tears away. Frantically she wipes at her eyes with the back of her hands.
Joshua can't see her crying. Empathy tests, those he might lie to her mother about. Unbridled displays of obvious human emotions, not so much. More than that, she needs to make these feelings go away if she doesn't want to end up like that weak egg her mother used as an object lesson a few days ago. Emotions are what make humans weak. Weakness must be crushed by strength.
Lisa will not be weak.
When Joshua comes back, he has a light blue wand in one hand. It lights up, and the soft glow illuminates the side of her face as he seals up her wounds.
She is surprised, however, when he brushes his fingers down the side of her face, tenderly caressing the two areas where she was cut. It causes a strange feeling to flow through her body, one that she's never felt before. It's pleasant. It makes her want to…smile?
The corners of her lips instinctively pull upwards.
And then they fall down again.
She looks up at him nervously to gauge whether he's seen her reaction to his touch. His eyes are fixed on the side of her face. With such an intense focus, the ship could probably fall out of the sky and he wouldn't notice.
Her eyes dash back down to the floor.
"Are you still in pain?" Joshua asks. Is he…concerned?
Lisa rotates her head from side to side. "It's going away."
Joshua finishes up and instructs her to roll up her sleeve. He gives her a quick shot.
"For the headache," he explains, stepping back. Carefully, Lisa slips off of the table and onto her feet, unsure as to why his sudden, inexplicable kindness…means so much to her.
She holds out the cold-piece and as he takes it from her, their human fingers touch. Something akin to static electricity flows from his hand to hers and Lisa draws in a sharp breath.
Lisa is silent as she slowly walks past him. Her hand just brushes the handle to the door when she suddenly decides to throw caution to the wind.
She turns around. Joshua is watching her, his lips compressed in a thin line. No emotion shows on his face.
"Joshua…" she closes her mouth, and then opens it again. "Thank you."
He blinks, and her sharp eyes catch one corner of his mouth quirking up slightly – much like hers had moments ago – before he presses his lips together tightly.
"It is my job."
Lisa nods. "I know…"
"Lisa," he takes a step forward. "I'm sorry."
Unsure of how to respond to that, Lisa leaves.
Numbly moving through the hallways once more, Lisa wonders if the soothing, relieved feeling that sinks into her chest is how humans feel when someone is uncharacteristically kind to them.
Perhaps her mother is wrong.
Perhaps these emotions are not so bad after all.
Fin.