Author's Note: This story takes place in the middle of Season 2, pre-Mouse, and pre-Web
Creature. I set it in Season 2 because during that season, Bob and Dot seem closer, and
therefore, this story fits better there. Praise and Flames may be sent to
Maxaholic47@yahoo.com . I do not own Reboot, any of its characters, or anything else
associated with it or Mainframe Ent. Hope ya like!


But You're Never Scared

It was long after dark at the P.O. after a particularly brutal attack by Megabyte. Bob,
Dot, Enzo, Phong, and the police had managed to defeat him, but just barely. Everything was
quiet now, and Bob and Dot were the only ones left in the control room. Though it was late
and both of them were bone-tired, the attack had shaken them. Neither wanted to go to bed
and be alone with their thoughts. They stayed as long as they could, doing final checks on the
system. As they shut everything down for the night, Dot stayed looking out the last vidwindow
at the city. It was so dark, and Megabyte's associates could be waiting around any corner…
What Dot was thinking must have showed on her face, because Bob said, "Hey, Dot, you
want me to walk you home or anything?"
Dot looked over at him and smiled faintly and said, "Thanks, but I think I'll be okay."
He nodded, and said, "Okay, if you're sure." She nodded. He put a hand on her shoulder for
a second, a friendly gesture, but one that conveyed more than friendship. He gave her a
mellow version of his happy-go-lucky grin, then said, "See you in the morning." He grabbed a
zipboard and walked out of the P.O. "Goodnight," she called after him.
As Dot zipped along Mainframe's dark and dormant streets, she found herself wishing she
had taken up on Bob's offer. She couldn't shake off the thought that a hit man could be
waiting for her. Dot told herself she was just being paranoid, but she decided to take a
different route home anyway. Her new route took her through the park. As she walked along
the path, her mind kept going over and over what had happened and how close they had
come to not making it out alive. Dot wished she were home so she could just lay down and
think; her whole body ached. The wind rustled the tree leaves, breaking her out of her
thoughts. She looked over at the source of the sound, and as she did, she saw a bench sort-
of hidden by a willow tree. Dot then realized how tired she actually was. She decided that as
she wasn't going to get much sleep tonight anyway, this was as good a place as any to rest
and think. The tree would hide her, and anyone sneaking up on her would have to walk
across an open patch of grass, she'd see them. Dot walked over and sat down.

* * *

Bob had made it home okay; he hoped Dot had, too. He reminded himself that Dot was a big
girl, she could take care of herself. He sighed and flopped down on his bed, not even
bothering to change his clothes. As he lay there everything that had occurred in the last 24
hours kept playing over in his mind like a bad horror movie. It did not take him long to realize
that he was not going to get much sleep tonight. He sighed again. Nothing new. Being a
guardian, Bob had seen more than his fair share of horrible things, and he had had many
sleepless nights. He decided to take a walk in the park, as he had discovered it was one of
the most peaceful places in Mainframe, especially at night. He got up and grabbed a blanket.
Mainframe usually had good weather but it had been unusually cold the last few nights. He
smiled when he realized what he had just thought. Dot was rubbing off on him more and
more. He headed out.


* * *

Dot had fallen into a light sleep when a noise woke her. She quickly sat up and saw
something coming toward her. Dot was getting ready to fight when she heard the something
say, "Dot?" in Bob's voice. She laid her head back on the bench in relief. She picked her
head up and watched him come over and sit down beside her. Bob said, "What are you doing
here? Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I just had so much going around in my head and I'm so tired, walking home at
this time of night was overloading my brain. And my body. I sat down to rest but I must have
fallen asleep or something." Bob nodded, and Dot said, "What are you doing here?"
He answered, "I couldn't sleep. Taking a walk clears my head and lets me think out loud or
hit things if I need to." He grinned. Dot smiled back at him, but it faded as the cold wind blew
and she shivered. Bob put an arm around her, enveloping her in the blanket. She smiled her
thanks and leaned her head on his shoulder. Neither of them said anything for a bit, then Dot
burst out, "I can't stop thinking about what happened today. What might have happened.
How close we were to…" She broke off, close to tears. "I was so, so scared," she whispered.
Bob tightened his arm around her and said, "It's alright. I was scared, too, but it's all over
now and we're still here. Everything's gonna be okay." Dot then looked up at him in
amazement.
"You were afraid?" she asked. Bob gave her a confused look. "Yeah, what's the matter?"
Dot answered, "Nothing. It's just that you're never scared." Bob again looked confused and
questioned, "What makes you think that?"
At this point Dot sat up and turned to face Bob. She responded, "You're always so confident
in games and with Megabyte you're always talking and acting like he's nothing and-"
"You're pretty tough with Megabyte yourself, you know," Bob interrupted.
"I know, but with your self-confident personality and all, I guess I just thought that with you it
wasn't 'false bravado' and you really felt that way."
"Its good to know my act is working. Wow, I must be good to fool even my best friend."
"It works really well."
"Thank you. But it has to. I have to fool the people of Mainframe into believing I'm never
afraid, that I'll never falter in protecting them. 'Cause that's my job- to protect them. If I seem
afraid, they won't trust me, they won't listen to me. They'll be easy for Megabyte to infect,
because they'll be vulnerable and fearful and more likely to believe that he's the one who
should be in control, the one who will make them feel safe." Dot nodded, understanding. She
had been doing the same thing when raising Enzo and running the city, but she had never
realized it.
They were quiet again for a moment, then Dot spoke. "You know, today I was afraid of getting
deleted." She paused. "But I was afraid of losing you more. I'd miss you. Too much." Bob
looked down at her for a minute, nodded and said, "That is exactly what I was afraid of. I
couldn't live if you were gone. I'd 've lost…someone very important to me…and failed in my
programming-to protect you." Then he added, "Not that I need programming for that." At this
statement she blushed but smiled and leaned her head back on his shoulder again. They
were once more silent, just sitting looking at the sky. Both of them were feeling calmer; now
their bodies' signals started to get through to their brain, telling the two that they needed
sleep, now. Neither Bob nor Dot wanted to leave the position they were in, but they knew if
they stayed, things would get awkward in the morning, so the sprites stood up, exchanged a
small hug, and went their separate ways toward their homes. As Bob walked along the
darkened street he looked up at the sky and whispered, "I'll always protect you, Dot."


FIN

AN: After writing this, I realized that the characters were not quite "true to character". This
was one of the first fanfics I wrote, way back when I hadn't thought about characterization.
Now I do, and I had the realization you just read. I almost deleted the whole thing. But I didn't
want to. I liked the story. So I decided that I would post this story with this line of defense:
**Chica whips hand into pocket, pulls out a small card and holds it in front of your face.
Upon it you read: Poetic License **