A Small Unwitting Smile: Chapter 7 - In The Heat of the Moment
Written By: ehProudCanadianWriter
Main Characters: Markus x OC, Elijah Kamski, Connor, Jericho Androids (+ others)
Rating: T (Violence, Swearing)
Point of View: Rheia Elliot (OC)
Disclaimers: This is to note that any similarities that can be found within this work to other fan fiction or works are completely unintentional.
Tumblr & AO3 Username: ehProudCanadianWriter
Please review and favourite if you enjoyed.
/ / Reader Advisory: This chapter contains a surgical scene. Non-graphic descriptions, high-pressure situations, allusions to panic
November 9th, 2038. 7:43 pm
My hands were stained with blue blood. It was under my nails, in the crevasses of my fingers, and my gloves were absolutely covered in it. At first, I wore the gloves attempting to stabilize the more disastrous patients but after a while, the thirium was absorbing into the leather - making things harder to grip. The rubber tubes, the slick thirium, and the leather itself, it was a recipe for disaster. Against Simon's insistence, I had been forced to take the gloves off in order to continue, but that left my hands steeped in the blue blood. Simon insisted with each successful surgery that the androids be wiped down to prevent my fingerprints being left behind. The fact that Markus had made such a point of it in my apartment had clearly stuck with him. Still, I couldn't have asked for a more helpful companion. His calming words and reassuring gestures made the surgeries go smoothly. One by one, the patients were brought out of the surgical room and were able to stand on their own two feet again. Although we were running low on biocomponents and blue blood, Simon, Josh and I were able to do remarkably well bringing the worst of the close casualties back to working status without any trouble. That was until Chelsea.
Chelsea was brought into the small surgical room just before eight o'clock. Josh carried her in his arms, her smaller form easier to maneuver in the horribly small space than many of the previous patients. She was an YK700 unit, a preteen-sized android that was meant to simulate an older child for possible parents. When she was brought in, the first thing I noticed was that she was in sleep mode. She looked almost like a doll. Her skin was bright and without blemish, her curls of blonde and pink hair were pulled back into a ponytail. The blindfold made her look ominous in an unsettling way. I shook the thought away and gently I pressed my fingers against her skin. Everywhere was warm to the touch; actually warm could be considered an understatement. Resting my hand on her forehead above the blindfold, I could feel my palms physically begin to sweat and the blue blood smeared on her face as a result. Her LED was in a consistent pulse of red, never once as I watched did it flicker to yellow. Strange, usually the child units didn't keep their LEDs. "What's wrong with her?" I asked, a look of confusion pooling on my face. Usually, they were awake when they brought them in - why was she asleep?
"She was not handling the idea of being blindfolded so well. The only way to convince her to do it was to have her go to sleep. She- she is going into critical and we just need to make this work."
Josh's voice set me in motion and I began to work as he spoke. Simon opened up her stomach cavity and I began to dig my hands inside to find the source of the heat. Every piece of metal I touched nearly burned my skin with contact. With the endless collection of wires, it was near impossible to access the entirety of her water cooling system without dismantling her to find the source of the problem. Doing this without her involvement was going to be impossible; I needed to get her diagnostics. Normally, I'd be able to run the tests no problem with one of my working prototypes but without the proper CyberLife technology and the use of the servers, I was flying blind. "We need to wake her up," I told them, pulling out my hands and rubbing them together. Simon held the gloves out to me, silently urging me to put them on. With a hesitant nod, I followed his advice. I would be worthless to everyone if I couldn't feel my fingers.
"We can't, she will freak out. She was screaming up a storm when we told her about the blindfold," Josh told me, "I doubt her opinion has changed since she's been out."
"We'll figure it out but right now, I can't do much with her like this. I need to know the problem areas otherwise I'm staring at a bundle of wires. We don't have much of a choice."
Simon and Josh shared a glance before Simon put a hand on the girl's head. His skin disappeared and slowly, Chelsea began to wake up. Her fingers began to stretch out, her body shifted slowly as if to stretch, but that peace didn't last very long. The moment she was fully activated, her hands went up to her blindfold. Her fingers grasped onto it tightly and Josh quickly grabbed her hands. "Chelsea we're not done yet, please, you need to leave it on," he pleaded.
"You said I wouldn't have to wear it awake. Get it off me, get it off me!" I could hear the screech in her voice, the tears tickling her throat.
I had to intervene.
I leaned up, brushing my hand gently against her hair, "Shhh… shhh… It's ok… Chelsea, its okay. We're not going to hurt you." I wasn't necessarily very good at comforting people, especially children, but I did my best to imitate what people had done for me in times of crisis.
The girl stopped, shivering with the touch but not recoiling from it. Her body trembled, the lingering threat of terror still hiding inside her voice. "Who are you? Where am I?"
Simon spoke up before I could, attempt to move the girl away from the rule-breaking question. "My name is Simon and you're in surgery. We're trying to help with the fever you have, remember? If you can help us by running a diagnostic test, we'll be able to get you back to Emily quickly."
Chelsea sat up a bit at the name, fighting against Josh's hands that held a firm grip. "Where is Emily? I want my sister; I want her to be here."
"She's just outside," Josh confirmed, "don't worry."
"I want her in here with me. It's dark. I'm scared. Let me go, let me go!"
The young girl began to pull and squirm and I could see the red LED blinking furiously with her exertion. If she got any more stressed she was going to self-destruct. I felt frantic with that realization. Although I could hear Markus' warning in my head and understood the dangers of breaking the rules, I was not going to lose her over something as stupid as a blindfold. I stood up from my chair and as quickly as I could, I brought my other hand up to her head and pulled off the blindfold.
The room went still as I held the black piece of cloth in my hands. Chelsea stopped, her eyes blinking in the bright light from the fluorescents. Simon and Josh were stunned as they fully turned their attention to me. Josh's gaze was disapproving, Simon's more muted. I took the blindfold and threw it to the end of the room. "See, you're ok, Josh- let go of her hands okay?"
For a moment, he didn't process what I had said and his stunned expression lingered. After a few moments though, he looked down and his hands slowly slid away from the girl's wrists. Chelsea lay back, rubbing her wrists softly. I looked down at the girl and tears slid down the corner of her eyes, down her temples to pool around her cheekbones. I reached over, grabbing a cloth from a nearby table and handed it to her. As she wiped her eyes, it was impossible to ignore the palpable silence that had charged the room. Even still, I can't say that at that moment I had any remorse. Rather, I gave her a small hopeful smile. "See, you're ok. You're ok."
I repeated the phrase softly and her eyes slowly rose to me. Her eyes were a bright forest green and even with the shine of her tears, there was a small bit of hope lying behind them. "Do you want Emily to come in?" I asked her softly. At that moment I only had one mission - I needed to lower her stress, I needed to defuse the situation.
"You know we shouldn't do that," Josh muttered, his eyes fixed on me, "the risks are-"
"I know the risks Josh…" I replied, a firmness in my tone as I met his gaze, "but I am accepting them."
We shared a heated stare before I turned my attention back down to the young girl. That comfort faded slightly with the hostilities. My "manager" voice, trained by my years at CyberLife, did tend to do that... "Is it going to get you in trouble if she is?" the girl asked me softly. Even with her being an android, the youthful innocence was hard to recognize as programming. I shook my head and let what I hoped looked like a genuine smile slip onto my face.
"No, no don't worry. Just tell me what makes you the most comfortable and we'll get you sorted okay?"
She nodded before her soft and vulnerable whisper confirmed my suspicions, "I want her here with me if that's ok."
I nodded, brushing some of her hair back and out of her face. "Let her in please."
Josh paused but left the room to gather Emily. I looked down at Chelsea, whose LED flickered between a consistent red and a yellow. We were doing better. The door creaked open once more. Another android, an AP700, came into the room and hastily shoved her way to Chelsea's side. She wore clothes far too big for her, tied tightly to her body with what looked like a bit of yarn. Her skin looked sun-kissed, which was out of place for this time of year, but it was mostly covered by the oversized clothing. Her dark curls were pulled up into a ponytail and her LED was blinking yellow. Simon shifted down slightly, allowing Emily to stand right next to Chelsea's head. Gently, she took the young girl's hand and their eyes met. Chelsea's LED showed more yellow then red, though it still flickered occasionally. We're doing better.
"Ok, Chelsea. All of us here just want to help you break this fever. Would you be able to do a diagnostic test? I want to know where your water cooling system is being hindered and what the causes of some of the problems are. If you could remove your skin, we can get this all fixed."
The young girl looked back at me and with a hesitant sigh, she closed her eyes. Slowly her skin began to evaporate and all that was left under my touch was the small android body. With a bit of help from Simon and some of Chelsea's directions, we were able to adjust the cords and get a better view of her cooling components.
Androids were extremely efficient but complicated pieces of technology. It didn't take much to remind me how difficult it was for Elijah, myself, and the rest of the team to figure out how to cool the components to prevent overheating. It was one of the things that kept Elijah sitting in his office over Chloe's android form for nights on end. We settled on a medley of water cooling systems and fans to cool the adult-sized androids and avoid wear-and-tear. The child units though were more difficult as they couldn't be overly bulky. A single water cooling system was used due to their smaller size, which was acceptable for the most part because they were not required to perform the same kinds of tasks as other androids. It also allowed the android and their owner to control sickness settings, allowing them to distribute heat as needed to mimic sicknesses like the flu. Even with all the technical understandings as to why this occurred knocking around my skull, I looked down at her soft expression and still felt my nerves tickling at my fingers. Even though I had fully committed to helping the androids in their cause, my brain was still struggling to separate the developer and medic.
"My water cooling system is considered defective and non-responsive. I'm seeing, 23 minutes remaining before shutdown," her voice wavered and even though her words for a moment slid above that of her physical looking age, her fear was enough to bring her back, "I'm not gonna shut down am I?"
Emily gently brushed a hand against Chelsea's hair, gripping her hand tightly, "no, no of course not. That's why you're in here. These people are going to help."
I looked up at Emily and I could see the hesitance in her expression. Although her words were comforting, her eyes showed her worry. Her deep curls hardly were able to hide her expression even though she tried to use them to shield her glossy eyes from Josh, Simon, and I. I tried my best to add additional reassurance, "absolutely, Emily's right. Let's get started."
Emily raised her eyes to meet mine and we shared a small hopeful glance. I threw myself into it, asking Chelsea questions about where the blockage was and what the major components under heat pressure were. I was able to find the lump in her lower abdomen. Part of the cooling system had gotten slightly tangled, but as I pressed my fingers against the tubing, I could feel a hard blockage inside it. Chelsea nodded as I did so, "that is where the water solution stops," she told me, closing her eyes.
"Do you know what the lump is?"
"No," she replied quietly.
"19 and a half minutes," Simon whispered.
I paused, taking a deep breath. I could feel my breath trembling but I tried my best to hide my uncertainty from the girls. I looked up at Simon, whose blue eyes had already locked onto mine. He was ready for instruction, both patient and prepared. I looked back down into the medley of blue blood ventricles, water cooling components, and circuits before diving in again. I unfastened the tube strap from its place against her lower back, pulling the knot forward toward me. I slowly massaged the cord, using the tips of my fingers to slowly unravel the knot. Luckily, it had only been tucked with one of the blue blood cords, which squished the tubing and created a chance for the blockage. However, even with the additional space, the blockage failed to budge, still holding back the flow of the water solution.
I pressed the blockage between my finger and thumb, seeing if it would move but its density failed to shift with the pressure. Finally, I looked at Simon, "get me the clamps please and I'll need the plastic melting gun."
"What are you doing?" Emily asked, looking down into the cavity.
"I found the blockage, but I'm going to need to cut open her cooling tube to get it out-"
"Cut it open?" Chelsea's voice elevated and as I looked up at her, the yellow in her LED switched back to a red.
"Don't worry, I've done this before, I know what I'm doing," I told her, attempting to hide the small white lie behind my confidence. Sure I had sliced many of Markus' blue blood tubes but a clot was a whole other issue.
I tried my best to hide my uncertainty before I grabbed hold of some of the clamps Simon held out to me. Simon got one side into place while I secured the other on either side of the blockage. I was able to cut the tubing without much trouble but it took some squeezing to get the blockage to emerge from the tube. I saw Chelsea's face recoil as if in pain. Tears began to slide from her eyes, "the number dropped to seven minutes… what's happening?"
"Don't worry Chelsea, I'm getting the blockage out now and I can stitch you up. I need you to remain calm okay?"
"I don't wanna shut down. I don't wanna go-" the tears caused her voice to blubber. Emily was quick to try and soothe her and I went back to the task at hand. Squishing the tube like a tube of toothpaste, I forced the blockage from the cavity. Luckily with the additional pressure, it managed to release itself and a small white ball sat in my hand, encased in grime and plaque. How the heck did it manage to get inside her cooling system? Although I was confused by the small ball, I placed it down on the table and went to work with the plastic pen. Simon held the tubing in place as I weaved back and forth. However, the plastic wasn't solidifying well due to her internal temperature. The plastic shifted and moved, acting more like glue than anything solid. I felt my blood run colder and colder as the seconds ticked past. Was there any way to cool down the plastic?
"Do we have any cooling spray?" I mumbled to Simon, gently pressing my fingers against the melted plastic, watching it goop gently between them.
"Not on hand. I might be able to find a clamp to hold it until it solidifies," he mumbled, turning to a small container behind him. It was filled with smaller pieces of hardware, taken from decommissioned androids. Him and Josh began to sift through it, attempting to find something to hold the tube in place. I leaned forward, attempting to blow onto the plastic but it was useless. Even with her stomach cavity open, her internal temperature was too high for the plastic to set quickly. I watched as Chelsea's eyes focused on Emily, blinking her tears away. I could feel her body trembling underneath my touch, the heat still radiating off of her skin. "Once this starts pumping we'll get you back to normal in no time-" I tried to reassure her, but she cut me off.
"Primary hard drive malfunction - what does that mean?" her voice was quiet, barely audible over the sound of clinking hardware.
"Chelsea," I felt my own voice giving way, more air than substance, "Chelsea you need to listen to me okay? I need you to back up your memory to your backup hard drive."
"Why would I need to do that? I- I- I don't know how to - "
I could see her mind racing, her eyes darting between Emily and me looking for guidance. She was just a kid - android or not - and she was terrified. I made an executive decision, pausing for a moment as I looked at the young girl. I looked up at Emily and I could feel the tension in the room intensify. The room felt smaller and smaller with each moment as her panic filled each crevasse. I pulled in a deep and shaky breath.
As Simon moved my hands to wrap the clamp around the cooling tube, my managerial voice won out over my panic, "YK700, switch into refurbishment settings, employee number 313 909 2019 002."
My firm tone was met with the horrified stares of everyone in the room. Emily's was one of confusion and worry while Josh and Simon's were ones of shock. I was breaking every rule Markus had given me, but I persisted anyway.
"Execute override code OV87214681, backup memory into secondary hard drive settings."
/ / Load HD1, [x] ; primary hard drive
/ / Load HD2 [y] ; secondary hard drive
/ / Execute OV [87214681] ; shift internal memory to secondary hard drive
/ / Modify [x] ;
/ / Data corruption error…
/ / Attempt to restore corrupted data…
/ / Unsuccessful restoration of data in [x] ;
/ / Transferring uncorrupted data [x] - [y] ;
/ / Modify [x] = [y] ; transfer complete
/ / Store [y] ; transfer confirmed
/ / Modify [x] BIOS [7.4 revision 0483] ; restoring to factory settings
"Execute FA7906835, overclock cooling and heat distribution systems."
/ / Load MB2 [x] ; motherboard detected
/ / Load CSA [y] ; cooling system [all] components detected
/ / Execute FA [906835] ; overclock cooling system for increased circulation
/ / Modify [y] [value] ; access granted, employee # 313 909 2019 002
/ / Modify [y] [value] + [ocv] ; value adjusted to overclocking value
/ / Override [y] [value] = [y] [value] + [ocv]
/ / Store [y] [value] ; overclocking confirmed
I heard the roar of the fans inside her small form kick to life with the adjustment and all at once the flow of solution began once Simon removed the clamps. The water began to flush through her and I looked up at Simon and Josh, although unhappy with the way in which I had done it, seemed contented. Simon met my eyes but I looked down at the tube. I kept a careful eye, making sure that the tube maintained its structural integrity as patchy as it was. Luckily it did and not a drop of the water solution seemed to pool underneath the tube itself. I shifted my gaze up to Chelsea's face. She looked cold but serene, her eyes vacant of thought and expression. "YK700, Status update and initialization."
Chelsea's eyes stared blankly at the ceiling and her voice mimicked her unfeeling stare, "System initialization process verified. Checking biocomponents…" I listened as she rhymed off the initialization procedure, waiting for her final confirmation. Her voice softened slightly, her LED was blue, "All systems are operational."
I felt a small wave of relief pass through me but it failed to crush the foundations of my fears. I could still feel the wave of unease and neither Simon nor Josh were smiling either. Still, I could see Emily physically unravel as her tension dissipated. Her hands gripped onto Chelsea's tightly. She didn't realize… not yet anyway. I had just reset her and any deviancy she might have had disappeared with the first hard drive failure. I could only hope that when we restored her - that it would come back with it… but that was a very large if.
I looked at Emily, who waited patiently for Chelsea to awaken. I hadn't given her the order to shift back to her active settings but with her reset, it seemed it was unnecessary. Her eyes blinked softly in the dim lighting of the room and her eyes rose to Emily. Her skin returned, leaving only her stomach compartment open for the heat to escape from. Emily smiled down at her, but that smile immediately disappeared as Chelsea began to speak, "Hello, I'm a YK700 unit, designed by CyberLife to complete your family. Would you like to give me a name?"
"Chelsea- what are you-?" Emily's voice was torn and I watched as her grip loosened on Chelsea's hands; her face seeming to go white.
"My name is Chelsea."
Emily's face flattened into an expression of pure isolation as if the entire world had fallen from beneath her feet. I could feel the pit in her stomach, the hold in her breath; I could feel the sting in her eyes.
I had seen this scene before… and as I looked over it I felt my blood run cold.
My heart began to pound, my body went numb…
I had seen this before - I had felt this before …
I was Emily and she was me…
I couldn't tell you entirely what happened when that realization hit me. I could only hear a ringing in my ears when Emily's face filled my view. She was crying, tears streaming down her face. I could tell she was screaming, but I didn't register her words. Simon put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her away from me. Slowly the ringing faded and I could hear his voice, "Chelsea had to be reset but don't worry - we're going to let her body temperature drop and then she will reinstate the programming. With the fans on full blast, it shouldn't be long…"
"How did she do that? How did she get an employee number?"
"She stole it. She used to work as the secretary for some big wig over there a few years ago before she woke up."
I could hear the medley of voices; Josh and Simon were attempting to cover my trail. I didn't pause to think though before I turned, leaving the room. I could hear footsteps behind me, someone calling out to me, but I just walked with a quick step down the hallway.
/ / "Are you a friend of Rheia? She's not home from school yet - but you can wait in her room if you want." / /
"Rheia!" Josh's voice snapped me from my thoughts as he grabbed hold of my arms and turned me to face him. His face filled my vision and I was forced to look up at him. I returned to reality, to Jericho and its musky odors and the loud news anchors' voices humming from the lower decks.
"What on earth do you think you're doing? Do you know the trouble you might have just put us in?" Although I could hear the lining of concern in his voice, his practicality won out with his questioning.
I tried to compose myself, to make myself whole, but my breathing wouldn't settle - what if the hard drive was too badly damaged? What if she was too far gone? I blinked furiously, trying to hold back the tears and breathe deeply. What was this feeling?
"I needed to save her Josh-" I forced out, my voice hoarse and indistinct.
"You reset her with your own employee number," his voice was a firm but a quiet whisper, "you reset her so her tracker might be back up. You might have just rung the doorbell on your involvement, our location, you took off the blindfold- you just broke every rule in the book-"
I hadn't even considered the tracker.
I didn't even think of the employee log, just her internal maintenance log.
I just wanted to save her.
"Maybe - because she was deviant when it started - it might not have logged it-"
"You don't know that!" he persisted. His hands felt tighter on my arms. I needed away from him. I needed to breathe.
"I can't do this right now Josh- go take care of her. You know my number just go take care of it-"
"How did you even know those codes by heart? How did you-"
Images of Elijah filled my mind. They mixed in with the panic I was already feeling - it was too much. "I can't do this right now Josh-" I tried to push him away from me, but I couldn't bring myself to raise my arms. He didn't seem to move and his voice kept going. "Josh please stop!"
This finally caused him to pause and all at once the ship seemed to go silence except for the dull ringing of my voice vibrating across the metal. I looked up at him and I could see his face torn, regret covering in his expression. It was only then I felt the hot tears flowing down my own face. How long had they been falling? How loud did I just scream?
"Josh, what is going on here?" Markus' familiar voice came up the hallway. I turned to face him, shaking my head. No… no Markus not now.
"Josh isn't doing anything wrong - I just- I needed some air. It was- it was a very intense last patient."
I tried to pull myself together; the sudden realization of it all was hitting me all at once. I had broken all of the rules Markus had given to me and I wasn't even a handful of hours into the time he had promised me. If I was going to keep working, I didn't want him changing his mind. I wanted to see this through; I wanted to make sure Chelsea came back… Chelsea had to come back.
Markus walked towards us, entering the small circle we had created. Josh stepped back a bit, putting his hands in his pockets. Markus' eyes focused on me and I quickly raised my hand to wipe the tears. It didn't seem to stop them though.
"Maybe you need a break," he mumbled to me. I suppose he saw my flash of fear for he let a concerned but comforting expression cross his face. "Don't worry, I'm talking a half hour. You've done a lot and I think you need to decompress a bit."
"I- I need to get back-" the solid tone I tried to muster failed miserably. Josh shook his head, "Just tell me what needs to happen next. I'll make sure she goes through the procedures. You need a break."
I looked up at him, pausing for a moment before proclaiming defeat. I could feel my body still shaking with the adrenaline and from the pressure that had built up. The images that had leaked into my brain had receded back to where they should be. I told him the activation codes required to reset her water cooling system overclocking and set her backup drive as her primary hard drive. Although the primary hard drive was larger, it would need to be replaced before it could be reset properly. If all went right, Chelsea would be restored and as much as I wanted to be there, I could feel Markus' hand gently on my back and I sank back into it willingly.
"Make sure it's done promptly okay, Josh? I expect an update once everything has settled. I'm going to take her to the bridge… she should be out of sight there."
Josh nodded and he and I shared a glance. He said nothing, but I could still see that regret on his face as he walked away. I looked back up at Markus, letting myself settle in the newfound silence. "I'm okay Markus, I just - I only need a minute to recharge."
"You've been on duty for hours, even the best doctors take breaks. Come on…"
His hand settled on my arm, holding me slightly to him as if I was incapable of walking on my own. I didn't pull away as my body trembled still underneath his touch. He brought me up a few flights of stairs to the bridge of the vessel. Although there was no need for active power to the bridge, it still held all the importance I was sure it once had. I was placed down into a chair and Markus gently brushed some the hair that had slid out of my hat out of my face. "I'll run and grab your snacks and check in on the patient. Just wait here okay?"
I nodded, listening to his footsteps fade into the distance as I stared at the floor. I found the quiet of the room a relaxing distraction. All I could hear was the faint murmuring of the televisions below and I let my eyes shut for a moment. I wiped away the last of the tears, my face a bit raw with the consistent exertion. I pulled in a small sniffle, staring into the air as my thoughts wandered. I wasn't even thinking in that room, just acting on impulse. I could only hope that Josh was wrong - that there wouldn't be any way to detect what had happened just now… It would be the end of his place, the end of Jericho… was that girl's life worth everybody else's safety?
When Markus returned, he had my bag over his shoulder and what looked like a mattress tucked under his arm. He brought it over behind the main panel, close to the windows, plopping it down and gesturing for me to come. I followed, sitting down on the mattress beside him. He handed me the bag and I reached in grabbing an apple I had packed and a bottle of water. "How is Chelsea?"
"Still cooling but her sister has calmed down now so there's some progress."
"I'm sorry that you couldn't have come into the room at a happier moment."
"That's alright," he paused, his eyes settling on me. I couldn't bear to meet his gaze. "Josh told me what happened."
"I know, I broke all the rules and everything went to shit… I know." I couldn't stop my tone of frustration from flooding my mouth.
"You might be recognized, don't you realize that?" His tone was a lot softer than Josh's and lined with concern but it still stung to hear it.
"Would that be such a bad thing?"
We sat in silence for a few moments before I heard a long drawn out sigh escape him. I could almost still taste those words on my teeth and I regretted them instantly. Finally, his words echoed through the bridge, silencing my objections, "I can't tell if you're more concerned about us or your own conscience -" his words stung deeply, rooting around in my stomach before he continued, "but right now, it doesn't really matter. We'll try to make this work. We'll make sure Emily and Chelsea keep your secret… and we'll deal with the rest as it comes. For now, I'm in charge and I'm saying you should rest."
"Markus- I don't-" I began to ramble out a response but he didn't let me rebuke him.
"If I have learned anything from working with Carl, it's that sometimes you just need to tell someone - who is too stubborn for their own good - what they need to do."
I could hear the playful tone in his voice, attempting to lighten the mood. I finally trusted myself to look up at him. He was already looking at me, his playful expression lingering on his face - though it didn't seem entirely sincere. Still, I took the out he offered me, even if just to end the previous conversation. I tossed the core of the apple out of one of the semi-broken windows. "Fine, doctor, I'll listen to you."
"Good. Now," he pushed himself off the mattress, leaning his back against the console, "Lay back, thirty minutes… then I'll let you go back down there... Alright?"
I rolled my eyes and did as I was told; I leaned back on the mattress as instructed. My eyes wandered around the ceiling, noting the various pockets of rusts and rivet holes. The mattress smelt disgusting and had lost much of its softness, but I couldn't deny that even still, it felt wonderful to get off of my feet. "Thirty minutes," I confirmed.
We sat there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes and I felt my eyes slowly becoming heavier and heavier. That lack of sleep the night before was beginning to catch up with me. The distinct lines of the iron bars on the ceiling blurred slightly, only to become refined as I blinked them back into existence. I shifted my gaze over to Markus, who had a somber look on his face. I could almost see the thoughts swirling in his mind. "What's the news with the president's address?" I asked softly, breaking that silence with a soft tap of my voice.
He shook his head almost immediately though, denying that attempt, "Twenty-eight more minutes."
"What happened to you wouldn't lie to me?" I asked, rolling onto my side to face him.
"I'm not lying; I'm just withholding the information for twenty-seven more minutes. I'll happily answer your question once you're no longer resting."
I watched him as the silence once more blanketed us. He didn't attempt to move or leave… but rather sat quietly beside me as my eyes watched his changing expression. I felt we were both watching each other in a quietly protective way. I watched as his eyes shut for a moment. I watched his breathing and the way his fingers occasionally drummed across his knee. This was his break as well it seemed - his small separation from the rest of the world. I felt the stresses of that surgical room slowly leave me one by one as the minutes wore on - as my trust of Josh, Simon, and Markus seemed to replace the fear of my own mistakes.
"If you won't tell me what's going on, then let's talk about something else."
Markus' eyes opened slowly, half-lidded as if half asleep himself. We matched, as I knew my eyes were struggling to stay open as well. "Tell me one thing about you Markus that I don't know… something good."
He paused, licking his lips softly as he contemplated a response. I saw his lips pressed together as he tried to come up with something to say. "I really like art," he told me, his voice gentle in reply.
"I knew that one," I whispered back teasingly, giggling softly at the quiet surprise on his face, "You were with one of the world's best artists after all."
I couldn't tell him how I had spoken to Carl, not yet anyway. I was scared it would somehow ruin the trust he had in me… I tried to steer him away from the topic. "What's your favourite kind of art? What do you like to do?"
He paused, a small smile on his face as he faded into a memory - his eyes shifting to the floor. "I do love oil paintings, the smell is something quite extraordinary - there's just something about it..."
"Is it the sensory element you like then?" I whispered, cuddling my head softly into the crux of my arm. The joy in his voice caused a warm smile to cross my face.
"Maybe… I love music too. Carl had a piano. It was always fun to play for him - he- he always enjoyed it."
I smiled at the vision of it. I remembered the piano, the one tucked by the large giraffe sitting unceremoniously in his living room. It wasn't hard to imagine Markus sitting there, his fingers sweeping gracefully across the keys as Carl sketched or ate breakfast. I smiled, letting that peaceful image of Markus linger in my mind, replacing all the negative thoughts that had been haunting me only minutes before. "Will you play for me someday? It can be part of you thanking me for me saving your ass."
I threw in the sass to amplify the playful tone and he seemed to like it. He chuckled softly and his small smile grew a little bit bigger with the idea. His form turned a little bit blurry and soon it faded from view as my eyes shut. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was, "Find me a piano and we'll call it even."
