"Where the heck have you been?" Stephanie snapped. "I've looked all over for you. Even Number Five was worried."
"Shhh!" Newton hissed.
The TV had been turned back up again, which was strange because it could not remember that happening. Not that the noise was bothering it in the slightest.
"Is he sleeping?"
Number Five almost opened its eyes but decided against. It felt too comfortable to move; the pain had dulled and had been replaced by another, entirely new feeling which was probably relaxation. It barely knew where it was, but the noise between Stephanie and Newton had roused it slightly and knowing they were there stopped it from worrying.
"Yup, he's been practically comatose for half an hour now." Newton sounded like he was grinning.
Nobody spoke for a minute or so. "Newton, why's he so filthy? Didn't you think to clean him up a bit? There's tread marks all over the floor."
He made a thoughtful humming sound. "I couldn't really."
"Why not?"
There was another humming noise from him. "He wasn't feeling too good so I took him inside before he fainted. Don't worry; he'll be fine once he's rested for a while."
"What's wrong with him?" Her voice was full of concern.
"He was overheating," he said simply.
Number Five wanted to go back to sleep, but it also wanted to listen in on what its human friends were saying about it.
"Doesn't he have a fan or some kind of cooling system?"
"He does, and it works fine, the only problem is that he wasn't exactly built to deal with the extra strain of having thoughts and emotions. I think we're going to have to encourage him to sleep more often."
Stephanie snorted. "Good luck with that. I mentioned sleep earlier to him and he growled at me. If he won't listen to me I doubt you've got much of a chance, Newton."
"And I suppose you know why he doesn't sleep much?"
Their voices did not rise, but Number Five could tell the pair was possibly on the verge of an argument.
"No I don't, but just because you're a roboticist with a PhD doesn't mean you know the right answer either. You can't analyse him with a screwdriver or a mathematical equation, Newton, so don't think you know him any better than I do."
There was a tense pause.
"It's nightmares," he eventually said. "I know because I asked him, with my mouth, not my screwdriver."
"Oh…I'm sorry." She sounded it and after a brief moment said: "I'm just mad that you ran off earlier."
Newton carefully lifted Five's head off of his knee and put it down on the sofa. It could hear the man stand up and then bend over again so he could stroke the sensors on its head. Its vents opened involuntarily from the sensation.
"Go back to sleep you little eavesdropper." He whispered so quietly that only it could hear. Still it did not bother to respond, though it did briefly wonder how Newton knew that it was listening to them speak.
"I just wanted to be on my own for a little while, but that didn't go to plan at all," he said, voice full of exasperation. The TV was then turned off.
"Oh, Newton." Stephanie sighed, but not in an irritated fashion. "Why won't you say what's wrong?"
"I guess it's because I feel guilty about it."
Number Five knew that was talking about not being there for his father, though it barely understood his situation. It was sure it heard them hugging and if it could have, it probably would have smiled. Satisfied that the pair weren't going to argue all night and keep it awake it stopped paying so much attention to its surroundings.