Well, I was hoping to be the first one to post a Laurence/Adelle story, but I put publishing this off and lost that privilege...ah well. :-( I hope you enjoy this, and please feel free to leave a review!

I always hated being a Handler.

It was the Actives I couldn't stand...as far as I'm concerned they're as worthless imprinted as they are when they're wiped. The Dolls I was chosen to protect---what kind of bodies were they to guard? Mindless autonomotons with a new mindless role to fill every day. Monday an assassin, Tuesday a brain surgeon, Wednesday a hooker on and on and on.

This wasn't the kind of guard job I wanted. I used to get jobs with businessmen, politicians, important people---people who were worth killing, people whose contributions to the world weren't stored in a disk to be downloaded into a new robot if their bodyguard got sloppy on the job. Where was the motivation, anyway? Big deal if an Active got lost---what special contribution did one have that any other couldn't fill? Only the purely physical. We don't have Handlers because any Active is particularly special---we have them because each one is valuable, rare, hard to come by. It isn't easy to find someone willing to be a Doll, but once we have them, they themselves become remarkably useless.

I was glad to be promoted out of that. Glad for the money, the prestige, but I did wonder, at first...would being Head of Security just make me a higher form of Handler, having to oversee the protection of dozens of useless automatons instead of just one? I worried this job would be no less satisfying. I was mistaken, of course. I was pleased to discover that while I am responsible for the protection of the Dolls, that I also get to guard all the company's other assets, and all the employees as well. And while some of those employees I would gladly let be killed---more...emotive than the Dolls, if no less annoying---I soon learned that in particular, my new position gave me a roll protecting one specific person, one I am glad to serve.

You, Ms. DeWitt.

I know you would say you don't need a bodyguard, even if you do expect me to act in that capacity from time to time. And I know you would certainly tell me you don't need a Handler, and I do not, in any way, mean to imply any disrespect. But I am also aware that you sometimes need one. As much as you try to pretend otherwise, you need someone to help you, and I am more than happy to serve that role.

I know you can sometimes find me...irksome. It can be clear, at times, that you do not like my advice or the actions that I sometimes take on your behalf. But please know, ma'am, that that advice, those actions, always are done on your behalf. My job is to protect you, and it's a job I take very seriously. I will do whatever it takes you keep you safe, from Alpha, from the government, from the parent company, and even from your own mistakes.

You probably don't like hearing that last part, and again I ask you not to take any offense. You are one of the most intelligent, strong, capable women I have ever met, but you do make mistakes. You are not infallible. You're not like one of the Actives, programmed to be perfect at whatever you do; you have flaws, imperfections, emotions that sometimes cloud your judgement and lead you to make the wrong moves.

But I don't mind. That just makes you a real person.

And I have absolutely no problem Handling that.