AN: Playing the "real" ending to the "Soul of Steel" quest (aka, the Sue/Bernie subplot) is probably a necessary prerequisite to reading this story. It's the better ending, anyway.
Clio Lawrence stepped through the automatic doors of the hospital and looked up at the darkening sky. After walking one block, she stopped on a corner underneath a street lamp and lit a cigarette. As a nurse, she knew the dangers of smoking and how much damage she was doing to her lungs with every puff, but another look up at the colorful clouds reminded her that it probably didn't matter much anyway.
To the untrained eye, it may have looked like a beautiful, surreal sunset. To the natives of Coral, it was a reminder of their inevitable doom. Their abuse of the land, sea, and air had led to the upset of the delicate balance of the ecological systems and the overall environment was failing. Scientists couldn't pinpoint exactly how long the planet would still be habitable, but they all agreed that nothing could save it. It had been several years since the official reports had come out, but somehow, Coral was still clinging on to life.
Clio finished her cigarette and put it out on the sidewalk. She checked her wristwatch to help her decide which bus to take. Deciding that as it wasn't too late and she didn't have to report back to the hospital until the following afternoon, she boarded the one heading towards the outskirts of the city.
The house on the hill was small, yet comfortable. From the outside, no one could know about the expansive laboratory built underneath it. Though Dr. Jean Carlo Montague was still relatively young, the proceeds from his research and his salary from his consulting work with Coral's government allowed him to buy the charming cottage and set up his own workplace. Glancing at her reflection in one of the windows, the pretty newman ran her fingers through her shoulder-length blue hair before entering.
"Good evening, Ms. Lawrence."
"Call me Clio." She had had this exact exchange with the red android who'd greeted her so many times, her response was practically automatic.
"Yes, Clio. The doctor is downstairs, would you like me to inform him of your arrival?"
"Thanks, Ult, but I'll go see him myself." Clio walked over to the basement door and descended the stairs. Dr. Montague was hunched over his computer keyboard, typing frantically, and didn't hear her come down. The pink and silver android filing documents beside him saw her, though, and called out a friendly greeting.
"Hello, Clio!"
"Hi, Elenor." Elenor was a newer model than her "sister" and could retain simple requests with much better consistency. Her artificial intelligence programming was more advanced than Ult's and gave off the impression that she would be the older sister, if they were human; in reality, the reverse was true.
The busy doctor stopped what he was doing and spun around in his chair, a smile on his face. "Hey, there you are! It's been a few days, hasn't it?"
Clio knew that Elenor wouldn't let him stay holed up in the basement laboratory for too long, but she also knew that Jean's concept of passing time could be inaccurate, especially when he was lost in his research. She crossed the room and gave him a light kiss. "You know how hard they work me at the hospital. Have you eaten dinner yet?"
He scratched his chin and gave the question some serious thought. "I don't think so..." Elenor shook her head behind him.
"I'll go upstairs and make something with Ult. Come upstairs in twenty minutes." She looked up at the android, who silently confirmed the instructions.
Thanks to Elenor, Jean arrived at the kitchen table before the food did. The caring nurse reassured him that she was nearly finished preparing the meal and casually asked about his day. "Elenor, I think we're done for the night. You can take Ult downstairs with you," the scientist instructed. Normal children would have put up a fuss at being sent to bed so early, but the two androids obediently retreated to their charging capsules. Once they were gone, Jean started babbling about star systems, spaceships, artificial living environments, and other things that usually made Clio's head spin.
As he talked, she set down two plates of food and took a seat across from him. Without pausing in his description of his day's activities, he removed his tinted glasses and set them down on the table. Though she had seen them countless times before, the piercing blue of his clear, bright eyes never failed to momentarily captivate her.
She thought about the first time she had seen those beautiful eyes. The absent-minded doctor had come into the emergency room after a small explosion in his lab. He'd been grumbling to himself about careless mistakes, but Clio had convinced him to let her do a quick examination to assess his injuries. It appeared that he only had minor burns on his hands and arms, but as she wanted to be thorough, she'd asked him to remove his glasses.
Clio had always thought of herself as a grounded, no-nonsense sort of person, but his brilliant gaze had somehow distracted her from her exam. Though she had just met him (and she felt silly admitting this later on), she felt she could see his great intelligence behind those eyes and she felt drawn to it. Most of the visitors to the emergency room that night had been incoherent drunks in need of a nap and a shower and she had needed the reprieve.
As she cheerfully bandaged him up, the friendly nurse asked him about his laboratory. He was vague in some of his answers, but seemed glad that someone had actually asked him about his work. While she was putting the last piece of tape on the dressing, the young doctor shyly asked if she'd like to hear more about his research sometime, perhaps over dinner. Though the small, thoughtful man wasn't her usual "type", something had compelled her to accept the invitation.
"Clio? Did you hear me?" Jean's voice snapped her back to the present.
"...I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something that happened at work."
He wasn't upset. "I said that the crew of the Pioneer 1 contacted us, they plan to land on Ragol soon."
Ragol was the planet that could be their salvation. Automated space probes had reported a compatible living environment and the gigantic spaceship Pioneer 1, filled with hunters, scientists, and some brave colonists who had volunteered for the mission, had finally reached it. Clio was intrigued. "What happens next?" she asked.
"If they can survive on Ragol, we begin preparations for launching the Pioneer 2." Dr. Montague had been too young to work on the original Pioneer project, but he had been an integral part of its successor. Clio had to admit she wasn't exactly sure of everything he did, but she knew that his contributions to the project had been very time-consuming. As they were still ongoing, she was almost surprised that she and Elenor had managed to drag him out of the basement.
"It will take many months for the ship to be ready and for us to finalize the details of our plans," Jean continued. "I'm optimistic, though, that everything will go according to our expectations."
Clio cleared the empty dishes from the table and left them in the sink for Ult to deal with in the morning. Jean put a hand on her arm and looked up at her inquisitively. "Are you staying tonight or do you have to go home?" he asked softly.
She smiled. "I can stay. I don't have to be back at the hospital until later tomorrow."
The two newmans preferred to sleep in the nude, perhaps as a callback to their animal ancestors. Jean wrapped his arms around the smaller woman and pulled her close to him. She snuggled up against his body and asked, "Isn't it nice getting out of that dark basement every now and then?"
He chuckled and brushed his lips against hers. "Only if you're upstairs waiting for me."
She moved her mouth to his ear and whispered, "I would hope I'd be enough temptation to occasionally get you away from your research."
"Oh, you are." He rolled her on top of him and could feel her heart beating against his chest. "I do love a good distraction from time to time."
Clio propped herself up on her arms and raised her eyebrows. "That's all you love?" she playfully asked.
He laughed. "You! I love you!" He pulled her back down to him and kissed her, burying his fingers in her mass of dark blue hair.
When Clio awoke the following morning, she was surprised that Jean was still in the bed with her. The doctor was normally an early riser, but today was an exception. The concerned nurse frowned as she watched him sleeping deeply. It was entirely possible that he hadn't slept in a long time, as he sometimes had a tendency to completely lose himself in his work, despite Elenor's best efforts to keep him on a normal schedule.
She showered quickly and got dressed before heading for the kitchen, where she was greeted by Ult. "Good morning, Ms. Lawrence."
"Call me Clio," she sighed.
It wasn't long before Elenor joined them in the small room. Clio helped the androids tidy up from the previous evening and made idle conversation with them. Sometimes it was easy to forget that they weren't human, especially Elenor.
"Don't get involved with a man who has kids! At your age, you need a someone who will focus on you!" a coworker had once told her, only half-joking. As Jean was several years younger than her, Clio hadn't thought this piece of advice would be necessary; she was slightly surprised, however, the first time he introduced her to "his girls", as he called them. He had created both of them by himself and exhibited the same fatherly love and pride that she had seen in her friends who were parents. Their little family was a departure from the norm, but Clio was able to accept the situation. She did still wonder, though, when she would be able to start a family of her own.
The awakened doctor entered the kitchen and let out a small yawn. "Good morning," he greeted them. He kissed the blue-haired newman on the cheek. "Somehow, I always sleep better when you're here."
"That's because I feed you well," she teased.
Jean looked down at the floor. "Maybe we should think about you staying here all the time," he said shyly.
Clio had been waiting for this topic to come up in conversation, but she hadn't been expecting it that morning. She also suddenly felt very aware of the two androids in the room listening for a response. "I suppose we could give it a try." As the words came out of her mouth, she realized she didn't sound very reassuring. She slid her arms around Jean's waist and kissed him. "After my shift today, I'll go back to my apartment and pack some things to bring over."
His face brightened. "I was hoping you'd agree to it."
"I thought you'd never ask," she laughed.
Elenor's metallic face displayed the same blank expression it always did, but she warmly voiced her approval of the decision. "I'm so glad you'll be living with us, Clio."
"Yes, it sometimes gets lonely around here when the doctor is so involved with his research," Ult chimed in.
They may not have been the children that Clio wanted someday, but there would be time for that later, she thought. For the rest of the day, her stomach was in knots as she contemplated both the excitement and fear of taking this big step in her relationship with Jean. She loved him, and was secure in his love for her, and the exhilaration only intensified as she realized he may be the person with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life.