Tiffany came into the house. Gigi was sitting at her table, knitting something, with her cat next to her. At her stealthiest, Tiffany closed the door silently. It was inaudible. Not even a creak. Perfect. She flattened herself up against the wall, and noticed that Gigi still had not noticed her. She was gunna love this. The plan was to sneak into the room, and not get noticed at least get her a little surprised or something. She looked around the corner, and she was still knitting. This was going to be great. Slowly she crouched down, and got low to the ground. Not even the cat could see her. Oh, this was rich. She never even got this far before. Finally she started getting closer. Finally she was so close.
"You can't fool me, Tiffany. Del has tried, and he's a cop." In mid crawl, Tiffany stared at her, her mouth agape. How did she do that? She wasn't supposed to hear things. She was just an old lady. Still Spooner had tried also. He tried to get her all the time, and it never worked. She got out from her crouch, and stood up straight. Gigi smiled to her. Tiffany smiled back. "Well, don't act like a stranger, baby. Give Gigi a hug." Tiffany grinned, and looked up at Gigi. She gave her a tight hug.
She raised an eyebrow when she pulled back. "How did you I was here?" She questioned. A few dishes were in the sink, so Tiffany helped clean a few. Most of the dishes looked like pie dishes. She was probably making pie in the oven.
Gigi shook her head. "I have my ways. Have you been talking to Luke lately, doll?" She shook her head.
"No, Gigi. I haven't talked to Luke." She said sitting at the table with her.
Gigi stared at her with a bit of aggrivation. "You know, when I was a little girl, if I were taking medecine, I would talk to my doctors, and ask them questions. I wouldn't just pretend the problems weren't there." Tiffany pretended to be asleep. She made a snoring noise. "Tiffany." She pretended to wake up. "I bet that if I stopped making pies, you would talk to Luke." She giggled with happiness, as she finished drying the last spoon. The shiny reflection of the spoon showed her own face. "I have a few yarn balls in the living room, if you would like to bring those out to me."
"Yes, Gigi." She put the spoon in the drawer, and walked into the living room.
Meanwhile, Spooner, and Sonny were upstairs, getting ready to meet her. Sonny stared at her as she grabbed the yarn balls. He was spying on her from the top floor. She had long red hair that went all the way down to her waist. It was cherry red. The hair was straight, and long without much of a poof. It was very slick to her head. Her eyes were green as the grass. They seemed to be large and doe like in accordance to her face. Her bone structure was very different. It was boney, and almost seemed gaunt, as if she was really sick or something. Her slender body did not look right. It seemed as if she had an eating problem. Her face held on to a few freckles that went from one cheek across the bridge of her nose, to the other. He recognized her right away. "That is the little girl from the photograph. This must be her . . . all grown up. Am I correct?" Spooner looked down at her and smiled.
"Yep. That's right."
Sonny looked back down at her. As she was walking back, Sonny looked down at her legs. Something was not right. Right where her legs were supposed to be, there were none. Her legs stoped right above the knee. She had a pair of slender pole like prosthetic legs. At the end there were fake metal feet. They had gears, and cogs on the inside. She had no legs, but it seemed like she could move her prosthetic legs. Perhaps her prosthetic legs were connected to nerve recepters, like Detective Spooner's arm was. She must have lost her legs before Detective Spooner lost his arm. Her prosthesis didn't have any skin replications. It was mechanical for all to see. Sonny's mouth opened only slightly from the surprise of her legless form. His eyes looked a bit bulged from the shock. He turned to Detective Spooner quickly. "She has no legs!" He whispered with the smallest hint of shock.
Detective Spooner looked down at her from the upstairs hallway. He didn't looked surprised since he knew this all too well. She held three yarn balls, but while walking, she fumbled, as her prosthetic legs gave out. She quickly clutched on to a tall floor lamp. The yarn balls bounced around the room. "Yes, I know, Sonny." Slowly she pulled herself up to her fake legs. In the middle of fumbling, she looked down at the part that was her knee. She saw one of the mechanical links was out of place, in the knee joint. "When she was five years old, she lost both her legs above the knee." She took a small screw driver out of her purse, and fixed it right on the floor. "A year later, she met me in physical therapy, when I lost my left arm." She tinkered with it a few times, and when she stood up, she was as good as new. "Dr. Lanning gave her new legs, just like he gave me a new arm. She lost her legs before I lost my arm, so her limbs are an older model than mine." She slowly got onto her prosthetics, and when they were both flat on the ground, she tried to keep her balance, by holding her arms out, to steady herself. Quickly she picked up her yarn balls, and took them into the room.
A wave of sympathy washed over him. He felt sorry for her. Loosing her legs, almost entirely. That was something truely horrible. Also such a catastrophy at the age of five. That was even worse. She was quite an interesting human. Not only was she very fragile looking, she had already had an accident in the past. An accident that had happened before he was around. The room had been revisited by her coming in. Sonny gazed down at her, as she picked up the knitting needles. She was quite a strange little human. She was probably the most interesting human he had ever seen. That was when he knew. He knew he had to do whatever it had to take to help this truely unique human out. He smiled up to Detective Spooner. "I would very much like to meet her, and belong to her."
Spooner looked at him and grinned. "Okay. I'll introduce you right away." He said assuringly.
Tiffany had been sitting in the kitchen. Her red hair was being braided by Gigi. It was a pastime that they both enjoyed very much. It made Tiffany feel like she was a child again. Though she was eighteen she never acted much like a child. On the outside she was a typical teenager. On the inside however, she acted like an older woman. She just considered herself to be an old soul. As she sat there, she saw Spooner walk in. "How's my main chick doing?" He said happily. Tiffany looked at him, and smiled, jumping into his arms. He picked her up, and spun her around. She seemed more than happy to meet Spooner. "Wow, look at you. I keep forgetting how big you're getting. Well, you're still skinny, but age wise, you are growing quite well."
"Thanks." She said. "Gigi says I need to talk to Dr. Luke, but as far as I know, I feel fine." She chirped. "So how you doing big fella?" She jokingly punched his shoulder. "You getting any time off from the station?" She asked, sitting back down, so Gigi could finish braiding her hair. Spooner shook his head.
"Nope. You know me. Rather be there in the station, than sitting around the house." He said sitting down.
"Well, you should get a bit off time off. You tend to work too much. You need to take some time off. Go talk to Marcy, or something. Right? Am I right, Gigi?" Gigi simply smiled, and continued with her long hair. They sat there talking about what each other had been doing. After a while, the oven's timer went off. Gigi grabbed the apple pie from the oven, and set it down to cool. Tiffany, her hair now fully braided, walked over to the window, opening the window up. A cool breeze fluttered the curtains. She smiled, and then sat back down. Spooner could see her critical case of claustrophobia getting worse. He would not shut the window, for he knew Tiffany would get fitty. Instead he decided to present Sonny to her.
Getting ready for the presentation, he walked over to her, and motioned her to stand up. "Alright, Tiffany. I think now is a great time to show you the surprise." A little shine was on her face. Suddenly things went dark. Spooner walked behind her to cover her eyes. "Now start walking into the living room. No peeking." Given Tiffany's history, he would know if she would peek. Slowly they inched their way along into the living room. She was grinning from ear to ear. What oh what could it be? Butterflies erupted in her tummy. Gigi followed them in. Finally they stopped in the living room, Tiffany still blinded by Spooners hands. A single nod from Spooner, told Gigi her to call for Sonny.
She nodded. "You can come down now." Gigi called up to him. He smiled, and slowly made his way down the staircase. His robot joints were making a bit of noise, as it seemed. It was slowly thinning down the surprise, as Tiffany started having ideas of what it could be. The wide grin that was once there, was replaced by a confused look that seemed like she was not happy. Sonny stopped coming down, and stood infront of her, with enough space as to not crowd her. Spooner pulled his hands away.
"Hello, miss Tiffany." Sonny smiled happily to her.
Everything seemd to suddenly go cold. Tiffany's already pale face, got whiter. Her pupils enlarged, and her breathing hitched. "Tiffany, don't be frightened. This is Sonny. The robot I told you about." Spooner said quietly. Her fear didn't wear off. Sonny feeling as though he had made a mistake took a cautious step closer to Tiffany. That was a mistake, as she fell backwards. She landed on her back, and her metal feet kicked fiercely as she tried to fumble away from the tall robot. Sonny had backed away as he figured out that she did not like him. Spooner helped her up.
She hugged him closely not letting the robot out of her sight. Fear was written on her face clearer than any fear he could imagine. He knew that it was not just the revoulution of his kind that caused this fear. Her fear was beyond Detectives Spooner's past prejudice. Her knuckles turned white as she stared at him. Fingers dug deep into Detctive Spooner's jacket. "Is he the one that you said killed Dr. Lanning?" Spooner nodded holding her close for comfort. Sonny looked down at the shortest person in the room. His insides felt heavy, as she looked at him terrified. As far as she was concerned, Sonny was no more than a monster to her. He now knew it was a bad idea coming here. As if on cue, Tiffany ran from the house, out the door. Spooner chased after her.
By the time he had caught up with her, she was already in her car. An old purse looped around her shoulder. Her eyes glittered with tears. She pushed a button, and the wheel came out. In less than a second she was about to take off. Spooner jumped out infront of the car, restricting her escape. "Tiffany, stop!" He said holding his hands up. A short beep of the horn erupted, as she laid her head on the wheels horn. "Please. I know what the robots did to you was unforgetable. I know. I've been there." Her eyes were crystals shinig from wettness. "Trust me, Tiffany. This one was the one that didn't loose control."
She got out of her car, and slammed the door shut. "Why would you put that thing in my presence?" She barked. "You know I'm scared of their kind." She laid her body against the roof of her car. Apparently just being in the room with a robot scared the hell out of her. "They ruined my life." She sobbed. When she turned around, she delve into his chest. She apparently had a deep sibling like connection to Detective Spooner. "You only want to give me a robot with emotions, because you know it will make me look bad to turn him down."
Spooner knelt down, to look her in the eyes. "Tiffany look at me." He whispered. "This is not the robot you met thirteen years ago. He is a very good one. A custom job. He has feelings, so he will always watch out for you. He also has dreams, so in the middle of the night, if you have severe nightmares, he'll know what's going on." He said very calmly. "Made with denser aloy, so he'll break less easily, plus he asked to be of assistance. Besides, I know how tired you get walking. Especially walking Theodore. You can have Sonny walk the dog for you as many times as you need." She looked inside at the robot that seemed to be crying in a way. She looked down, without a word. "Listen, Tiffany. If you don't learn to stop being afraid of them, this fear of robots will haunt you for the rest of your life."
A loud huff escaped her throat. "Alright. I'll let him in my house. I'll keep him for a week. If he doesn't prove to be safe, can you take him back?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. He nodded.
"Yep. If you don't adjust to him in a week I'll take Sonny right back." She shook his hand, and walked back in with him. "Trust me. You'll thank me for Sonny by week's end." He laughed.