Remember how I said I was going to post one chapter a week starting 2 weeks ago? Clearly, that didn't happen. Sorry about that. I think I'm going to go with slightly shorter chapters to try and update more often. I'm excited to see what you think of where I'm going with this :) Please don't hesitate to comment!
Leo exposes his plan, and as expected, it leaves three stunned, very similar expressions on the faces before him. Laura is the one who recovers first, and he has to say her reaction surprises him.
Just a quiet, final, "Alright."
He is getting used to her doing everything she can to help, but he thought she would be a little more reluctant given what he's asking of her daughter. When he gives her a confused look, Laura just shrugs, and he knows that he's not going to get more of an explanation. Though, looking at the way Mattie's lips are set in a hard line, he thinks that maybe it has something to do with the fact that Laura knows her daughter's mind is made up, and nothing will change it. She probably figures it's best to have her do it with her blessing and help than go behind her back, as they all know she would if she had to.
"So, how do we do this?" Mattie asks, deliberately ignoring her father's less than pleased glare.
Leo starts to answer, but Laura beats him to it, once again saying something unexpected.
"First things first, we're going to find you a hotel room." Both Leo and Joe open their mouths to protest, but she holds up a hand to get them to shut up. "This might take days, and I am not having my daughter stay in this place any longer than necessary."
"But Laur'…"
"This is not negotiable," is her reply to her husband's intervention.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
Laura gives a long suffering sigh, but stands up and follows him to the farthest corner of the room, leaving Toby to look awkwardly between them and Leo and Mattie, standing next to their chairs because there was no way they were going to stay seated after the time they spent tied to them.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mattie asks Leo quietly.
"Yes."
"Are you sure you want me to do this?"
It's only then that he understands the real reason behind her question, and he tears his attention away from her parents to look at her, seeing the self-doubt mixed with the determination. He can feel his expression softening, and he makes sure she's looking right at him so that she knows how much he means his next words.
"There is no one else I'd trust with this."
She gives him a small smile in thanks, but still shakes her head.
"Still, it's risky, and…"
"I know you can do it."
"That makes one of us."
"At some point, you're gonna have to stop with the modesty, Mats," Toby chimes in, taking them both by surprise, partly because of his words, partly because they'd half-forgotten he was there. "Everyone here knows how good you are. You're the only one who ever doubts it. He's not trusting you because he doesn't have a choice, he's trusting you because you're the most qualified person for the job in the country."
She gapes at her brother, clearly taken aback, and Leo gives a half smile at the interaction that he knows is unusual for them. The Hawkins all love each other, there is no doubt about that, but until the Elsters came into their lives, they had never found themselves in a life or death situation. They'd never had their bounds tested so harshly, never had need for such a strong show of faith. Their affection was mostly expressed through banter and quiet evenings together, sometimes even antagonistic conversations, not through heartfelt confessions and unconditional support. He's seen enough of the relationship between Toby and Matilda to know that while they would do just about anything for each other, neither of them has ever said so in so many words. There was never any reason to.
The dynamic is pretty much the opposite of his own family's, where everyone is quick to verbally express how much they all mean to each other, but it certainly doesn't make it any less significant.
It does explains Mattie's priceless impression of a fish out of the water right now.
"I… huh… Okay."
Toby and Leo share a knowing smile but refrain from commenting on her uncharacteristic lack of comeback, just as Laura and Joe start walking back towards them, the latter wearing a look that can really only be described as sulking, which is enough to break through Matilda's astonishment and concern and bring a smirk to her lips.
"So, we passed a hotel on our way here. Didn't look like the kind of place where they'd ask for ID. You can get settled there," Laura says, handing them enough money to take a taxi and book a room for a few nights. "We'll go get the code and bring it to you so you can do your thing."
"Thanks Mum."
For the first time since she freed them, Laura seems hesitant, the danger that is still lurking around them finally registering with her, and when Mattie approaches her, she brings her into a fierce hug.
"Just be careful, okay?"
"I promise."
"And you," Laura adds firmly, turning to Leo. "Take care of her, or I swear Hobb will be the least of your problems."
Given the way she's been handling herself since this whole thing started, he doesn't think Mattie needs him or anyone to look after her, but he nods anyway, both to appease her mother and because he does intend to make sure she's safe.
They make it to the hotel without any trouble. With Mattie posing as his synth, they book a room for three nights. Since the receptionist probably thinks he's here to have his way with his doll and they can't blow their cover, they get a room with a double bed, but neither of them cares enough to make it awkward. They've slept in each other's arms already, and they both know that had they had two beds, they would probably have ended up sharing anyway. Mattie briefly wonders if things will escalate past sleeping, but the prospect of a shower erases all other thoughts, her mind blissfully blank for the twenty minutes she spends under the hot spray. Deciding to give her eyes a break, she doesn't bother putting on her coloured contact lenses afterwards. She can just fake energy saving mode if the hotel staff pays them a visit for some reason. She does however need to straighten her hair again in order to keep up appearances.
With a scowl at the thought, she gets out of the bathroom, leaving it open for Leo to use, and sets to work in front of the mirror near the bed. He watches her at first, clearly amused at her annoyance with the task.
"Are you sure you're supposed to do this with wet hair?" he asks, warily eyeing the small swirl of smoke coming up from the strand she's working on.
She shrugs, not looking at him because she might burn herself if she takes her eyes off of her reflection.
"The notice said either wet or dry hair."
"Okay… Well, good luck with that," he says before disappearing in the bathroom.
When he emerges again, she does risk a glance at him, taking a pause in her mission, and she bites back a smile at his relaxed attire. She found him attractive from the moment she met him – well, maybe from the second time she met him – but she has to say the simple white t-shirt and loose pants look is particularly appealing on him, as she already knew. It's as if peeling off a few of the layers of clothes somehow helps with the layers of suspicion and bad temper as well.
Catching her looking at him, he just rolls his eyes almost playfully at the comments she's holding back, easily reading her mind, and he sets about setting up his laptop on the desk.
"What are you doing?" she asks because she thought there was not much he could do for now.
"Checking the line of communication we set up a few days ago with Mia. Just in case."
"Oh. And?"
He's silent for a few minutes, his fingers flying on the keyboard the only sound in the room as he first secures the connection and then checks his messages.
"Nothing."
She can tell from his tone that he wasn't really hoping, so she doesn't comment, just keeps working on her hair for a while. Then she remembers something that she meant to ask when he asked her mother if she still had her copy of the consciousness code.
"There's one thing I don't get. Why do you need the code? You saw it once already. Perfect memory and all, I thought you knew it."
He answers her distractedly, still focused on his laptop, probably busy putting his plan into words for Mia to read once they manage to get her out.
"I saw bits and pieces before Niska deleted it from the computer. I only saw all of it from the inside. It was more about… Emotions and connection than pure coding. It's hard to describe."
She nods, though he can't see it.
"No, I get it. You know what the code feels like, not what it looks like."
He turns to her then, giving her a small smile at her translation of his less than clear explanation.
"Exactly. And for this to work, I need to know what it looks like. We'd probably be able to extract the actual code from my current memories, but it would take time. It will be easier with the original."
"Alright. And in the meantime?"
"As soon as you're done, we'll work on you accessing my memories. A bit of practice before…"
He trails off, but he doesn't need to say it out loud for her to feel the same dread she did when he first explained his plan. Just like the first time, she stomps down on it. If he believes that she can do it, she'll trust him. Hell, even Toby's little pep talk helps, she thinks with a shake of her head. Her brother's support came as a surprise, not so much his blind faith in her itself as the fact that he expressed it the way he did. The shy, awkward boy is turning into a young, self-assured man much quicker than she had ever expected.
It takes her another half hour to finish, and once she does, she drags a chair next to Leo's. Taking this for a sign that she's ready, he plugs himself in and settles on an unremarkable memory, a quiet scene of waiting for sleep to come in his tent after they left the Hawkins. When she sees the images start playing, Mattie takes a deep breath.
"Okay. What do I do?"
He instructs her on how to get from the images to the lines of code that make up the digitalized memory. When the text appears on the screen, she feels her eyes go wide. She knew how complicated it had to be, but it's still a shock to find out that such simple images, a couple of minutes of a memory at most, take up dozens of pages of code. Then again, it's not just the facts, images and sounds that are stored there, but also the feelings associated with them. It makes sense that it would be this comprehensive.
"Your dad really was a genius," she comments absentmindedly, mostly to herself.
"He was," is Leo's bitter, succinct answer.
She winces a little at his tone, knowing that there is too much history there for her to make complete sense of it, even though she's already gathered quite a lot of information from what he's told her and what she's deduced.
"Sorry."
"Don't be," he sighs, and that's the end of that conversation, if you can even call it that. "Now, delete the memory."
"Wait what?" she asks, alarmed. "You mean like… Actually do it? You're not just going to show me how?"
"I need to stay focused to keep the memory at the forefront of my mind," he explains, his eyes still closed. "That's why I don't think I could do this myself."
"But what if…"
"We've been over this, Mattie. You're not going to damage anything as long as you define the perimeter correctly."
It sounds easy when he says it like that. She was prepared to do it in the grand scheme of things because they don't have a choice, but taking the risk just for practice seems a bit extreme. Although, maybe it's better to take a risk with something he won't miss. This way, they'll have some time to think of another plan if she proves unable to do it.
"Fine."
"Remember to erase all traces of the file. It can't look like there's something missing."
"Right. Just like formatting a flash drive. Only without damaging the other files on it."
"Preferably," he confirms cheekily, and she can't help herself, she has to smack his shoulder at that, earning a growl of protest from him.
"Alright," she mutters as an encouragement to herself, selecting the right lines and typing in a command.
It doesn't take long – they always knew that this wouldn't be the most time consuming part of this crazy plan of his – and soon she's ready to hit enter. She hesitates, fingers stilling over the keyboard, and Leo opens half an eye to peer at her from beneath his lashes. He doesn't say a word, neither in support nor to impatiently tell her to do it already, and she's thankful for the small moment to work through this by herself.
It's a lot of responsibility. Playing with someone's – with his – memory like this is not something she ever expected she would have to do, and even if she did everything right and doesn't hurt him, it's still… Uncomfortable. She can only imagine how she would feel if she had someone poking around in her brain like this, someone would could do whatever they wanted to her, alter her memory, or even her personality.
The fact that he's trusting her with this is… a lot to wrap her head around.
She abruptly shakes herself out of her thoughts and hits enter without further consideration. Then she carefully unplugs Leo and looks at him expectantly, holding her breath as he opens his eyes. When he finally focuses on her, he just watches her for a few seconds, and then…
"Who are you?"
Her eyes widen in horror. Though it probably lasts only half a second before she notices the playful glint in his eyes, it feels like an entire lifetime. When she does notice, her jaw falls open in indignation and she moves to smack him again, but he easily dodges the hit, having seen it coming as he's getting well acquainted with her violent streak, and he has the audacity to laugh.
"It's not funny!"
"You should have seen your face."
"Shut up!"
He just laughs again, and though it's a beautiful sound, she would probably appreciate it more if it wasn't at her expense.
"So, what did you delete?"
"You really don't know?"
"No idea," he confirms.
Which means that it worked and she managed to erase both the memory and the memory of them talking about which memory to erase. God, she's getting a headache.
"You were trying to fall asleep in your tent."
His eyes subconsciously dart to the side as he tries to recall it, but comes up empty.
"Nice job."
"Thanks. Though I have a feeling the next time I do this will be way more complicated."
He nods in agreement.
"Yes, but the idea is the same. You'll do just fine."
She may just be starting to believe it.
TBC…