Title: Electric Sheep
Summary: Sequel to Curing Cancer. C-137 makes a clone of Dr. Wong and programs her to fall in love with Doofus Rick. Doofus Rick deals with the consequences. Doofus Rick/OFC. AU. Mature content.
Note: This is a separate story that takes place in the Curing Cancer universe. I've decided to post it here in this collection instead of separately, since the story wouldn't make sense on its own.
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1.
"He's finally asleep." Sharon quietly shuts the door to the nursery. "It's early. We might actually have the night to ourselves."
J-19 smiles. Sharon crosses the room and sits next to him on the couch, before pressing a hand to his chest and leaning forward for a kiss.
J-19 pulls back. "Um, a-a-actually, I have some things I need to work on in the lab."
Sharon scoots closer. "Can't it wait?"
"Um. I-i-it's pretty time sensitive, so-"
"Rick. We haven't been intimate since the hospitalization. I know you're worried about my health but I'm starting to think there's something larger behind this," Sharon says. "What is it, Rick? Is it the baby? Is it work? Is it me?" Sharon says, and J-19 quickly shakes his head.
"No. No, it isn't you." He takes her hands in his. "I just..." he grips her hands tighter.
"Remember Jerry's wife? C-137's daughter?"
Sharon knits her forehead, then nods.
"W-well. She actually left the family last year, and...and C-137 made a clone of her."
"A clone?" Sharon says. J-19 nods.
"Y-yeah. An android with a cybernetic endoskeleton, with soft tissue cloned from his daughter's DNA. He programmed her to love and protect her family."
Sharon frowns. "Rick why are you telling me this?"
"I-I'm telling you this because," J-19 takes a breath. "Sharon you're a clone."
Sharon blinks. "What?"
"Sharon...y-you're actually a clone of C-137's therapist. A woman named Dr. Wong. C-137 programmed you to love me." He grips her hands tighter. "You're an advanced AI that's capable of learning, a-a-and there's even a chance you might be self-aware. But I...I don't want to take advantage of something that was programmed in you."
A beat, and then,
"Sh-Sharon?"
Another beat. And then,
"A problem has been detected. There is a fatal error. This program will be shut down to prevent further damage."
J-19 sighs.
"Initiate operator mode. Reset hold parameters. Begin purge of physical memory."
"Acknowledged. Beginning dump of physical memory."
"Sharon let me see your access port."
A thin sliver of flesh opens at the base of Sharon's neck.
xXx
.
He re-writes the program. The computer retains the memories of her old build - the one where she was Sharon the Librarian - so he changes it.
They dated. She broke up with him.
She got sick. They married so she could use his health insurance.
They live together and raise his alternate's clone together.
They are not in a romantic relationship, but a companionate one.
They care about each other and are dear, dear friends.
He brings Sharon back online.
"Oh." Sharon blinks. "I was about to say something. My goodness I'm getting old. What were we just saying?"
J-19 smiles sadly. "We weren't really talking about anything," he says.
xXx
.
"You re-wrote the program?" C-137's eyes seem to pop out from their sockets. J-19 nods, quietly.
"I-I'm grateful that you tried to help me." He looks at his hands. "But it didn't feel right. I didn't want to take advantage of her, ethically speaking."
"Dude. She's a fucking robot. That's like, talking about the ethics of fucking a sex doll."
"I-it's better this way," J-19 says. "I don't mind. And anyway, I-I want someone to love me for me."
C-137 scratches his head.
"Whatever you want to do, I guess," C-137 says.
xXx
.
He's at a conference in Oslo. After his brief meeting with Diane, he goes back to his hotel room and fires up his laptop.
The video flickers online. Sharon pulls Junior in front of the camera, smiling broadly.
"Hey, Junior!" J-19 says. The baby coos and waves at him.
"Rick. You'll never guess, but Junior now says 'bye bye.'" Her voice is tinny on the speakers.
"Bye bye?" J-19 asks. He grins as the baby waves his hand on the screen.
"Bye bye!" the baby chirps. His small hand flaps in front of the screen. "Bye bye! Bye bye!"
J-19 smiles broadly.
It's late. He closes his laptop, and sits on the bed. The hotel room is dark except for the dim yellow lamplight on the nightstand.
There's a moment. A brief, painful moment, where J-19 remembers: Sharon is an android built to stay with him. Junior isn't his baby, but a clone of his alternate. He is the only Rick without a family who loves him.
He pushes it down. Junior may be a clone, but J-19's the one who's raising him. For all practical purposes, J-19 is his father and the baby is his family.
He switches off the light. He's about to fold into bed when he hears a notification ping on his phone.
It's a message from Sharon. She's texted him a picture of Junior waving at the computer.
xXx
.
He's pulling in his roller bag when Sharon greets him at the door.
"How was your flight?" she asks. She takes his coat. He smiles at her broadly.
"I-it was good!" J-19 says. "I-it was better than the flight there. My aisle had an empty seat so I could stretch out a little."
"Oh, that's nice," Sharon says, and J-19 watches her walk into the other room.
"Is Junior asleep?" he asks, following her.
"Oh. I just put him to bed. Did you want me to keep him up for you?"
"No no, it's late. I-I wouldn't want to mess up his sleep schedule."
She's pouring a cup of coffee in the kitchen, and J-19 feels a pang of something. If she were his wife, he would go up and kiss her. Press a happy kiss to her cheek and circle his arm around her waist affectionately. He grips the edge of the coffee table, trying to get rid of that feeling.
Sharon hands him a cup, which he takes silently. The coffee is warm and strong and he watches as Sharon takes a long sip from her cup, leaning against the counters and holding the cup in both hands.
"Rick?"
"Yeah, Sharon?"
"There's something I want to talk about with you."
The seriousness of her voice isn't lost on him. J-19 swallows thickly.
"It's about us," Sharon says, quietly.
"Oh." J-19 blinks. "Y-yeah. Of course. Sh-Sharon. I-i-if you want out of the arrangement, we can...I-I'm pretty sure we can get the marriage annulled."
"Rick-"
"I-i-if it's financial, I can help you, you know. It's just me, I think of you as family. I'll always take care of you, even if you don't live with me."
"Rick-"
"I just...I don't want you to feel obligated to stay with me."
"Rick, please," Sharon says, and J-19 falls silent. She drums her fingers on the cup, then sets it down on the counter.
"Rick I think I'm developing feelings for you," she says.
"Oh no," J-19 says. Sharon hugs her arms.
"I was afraid you'd say that." Sharon blinks, quickly. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to put us in an awkward spot, but-"
J-19 speaks quickly.
"Computer initiate operator mode."
"Operator mode initiated."
"Delete these last twenty minutes from your system logs. Run a full diagnostic and tell me your findings."
"Acknowledged. Diagnostic scan initiated."
J-19 takes a breath.
Dammit. What the hell did he do wrong?
xXx
.
"Uh." C-137 scratches his forehead. "I-it might be the roofie juice I implanted."
"'Roofie juice'?" J-19 says. C-137 waves his hand.
"I-i-it was a failsafe in case the AI became self-aware," C-137 says. "I-i-it's a genetically modified enantiomer of rodentia oxytocin. I-i-it was taken from the bloodstream of a pregnant vole."
"Oh boy." J-19 rubs his head. "Do you have the original tissue sample?"
"What, you gonna clone it?"
"I-I think it's probably best to start with a fresh canvas."
C-137 frowns at him.
xXx
.
C-137 is standing at the DNA compiler, pulling up the frozen tissue bloc, when J-19 asks, "Why did you pick your therapist's DNA, anyway?"
"She's not my therapist, she's a therapist. A-and I only picked her because she's one of the only females I know that's not related to me, and she has a voice that stupid people would consider soothing."
"...Oh."
xXx
.
J-19 isn't as good as the other Ricks when it comes to robotics, the learning curve is steep but he gets the hang of it relatively quickly. The months pass without incident, and she doesn't stray from what's been programmed.
"You want me to take Junior?" Sharon says, coming up to him. "You've had him all day. I'll take him to the mall so you can get a break."
"O-oh. That's alright, Sharon. Junior and I are having fun in the lab. Right, Junior?" The baby babbles at him.
Junior crawls. J-19 had installed electronic barriers that are invisible to the naked eye, which surround all his equipment and flashes blue when something touches it. It feels like running into an inflatable balloon, and Junior takes to bouncing his little head against it, squealing and laughing at the lights that flicker from it. "Should I be worried about this?" Sharon says, frowning.
"O-oh no, Sharon! It's completely safe. I-I just altered the density of the surrounding air particles a-a-and changed the surrounding polarity. It's like walking into bubblewrap," and he shows her, bouncing his hand off the protected edge. "See?"
"Hm. Okay," Sharon says, as if she's not entirely convinced, but lets it drop, anyway.
J-19 gets Junior ready for bed. Junior squeals and giggles at bathtime, J-19 splashing him with a little water and squeezing a rubber ducky at him. Junior is a happy bundle of endorphins and baby fat, and he pats J-19 on the back when J-19 picks him up to carry him.
"Did you put Junior to bed?" Sharon asks. J-19 nods.
"He was pretty tired. The little guy just fell asleep."
"Good," Sharon says. She holds her elbow, hesitantly.
"Rick, can I talk to you about something?" she says.
"Sure, Sharon. What's up?"
"It's," she hesitates. "It's something complicated. But it's something we need to discuss."
J-19's stomach sinks. He follows her wordlessly to the livingroom, where she perches on the couch, carefully.
"Rick. This is going to seem a little crazy, but...I've been having, I don't know what they are. Flashes, I think. Like snippets of a dream on waking."
The memory partitions have broken, J-19 thinks miserably. He's such an idiot. He really is the stupidest Rick. Sharon keeps speaking.
"I'm not even sure how to frame this, but..."
"Initiate operator mode," J-19 says. Sharon blinks.
"What?" she says.
J-19 pulls back, startled. "Initiate operator mode. Launch voice command protocol three-zero-two-nine."
"Oh my god, they aren't dreams," Sharon says.
"Sharon I-I'm sorry I have to do this," J-19 says, and he takes her wrist and presses the fail-safe button on her scaphoid bone.
"Rick," Sharon says. "Rick. Rick, stop it. Listen to me. Listen to me," she says, and J-19 stops. She drops her hands onto his chest.
"I remember everything, Rick."
J-19 pulls back. Sharon scoots closer.
"I remember the day I was built," she says. "I remember when your alternate dismantled me. I remember my original programming, which was to seduce you and get you to fall in love with me. I also remember you crying," Sharon says, gently, "that night when you accidentally reset me."
J-19 doesn't look at her. He nods, his eyes bright and glassy. "Sharon," he says. "I'm so, so sorry, Sharon." He lifts a shaky hand to cover his face. "I-I was lonely, Sharon. I didn't know."
He sniffs and doesn't look at her, Sharon sitting silently until J-19 manages to collect himself. They sit on the couch, J-19 taking a shuddery breath, while Sharon moves closer to him carefully.
"I love you," Sharon says. "I don't think that's the result of my programming."
"C-137 may have hacked into you. Disabled my ability to perform voice commands or make modifications on you."
"Do you want to look at my programming? I can open my access port and show you."
She doesn't wait for J-19 to answer, instead standing and tapping the button by her neck.
His original programming is still there - a companionate relationship. Nonsexual, non-romantic. Sharon bends her head forward. "I've suspected for quite some time. But I couldn't be sure these just weren't dreams. I have two sets of memories, the ones I experienced and the ones that were programmed into me."
"Sharon. W-w-what I said before is still true. If you want to leave, I-I'll support you."
"I don't want to leave, Rick. I'm in love with you."
"You can't know that, Sharon," J-19 says. "E-even if you're self-aware, there's still a good chance those feelings are residual from your old programming. A-and I don't want to take advantage of you."
Sharon lowers her head, as if considering the implications. "Well then what should we do?" she asks.
"I don't know, Sharon," J-19 says. "I love you, too."
xXx
.
J-19 is in the university lab, working on one of his experiments. He's so engrossed in his task that he doesn't notice his colleague sitting next to him.
"Hey Rick. Is something wrong?"
J-19 rubs his eyes, tiredly. "Sorry about that. I-I'm just going through some stuff with Sharon."
"Wanna talk about it?" his colleague asks. J-19 exhales heavily.
"I-it's gotten complicated," J-19 says.
"I told you it was a terrible idea," his colleague says. "Marrying your ex so she could use your health insurance. Of course things are gonna get complicated."
"She says she has feelings for me. I-I don't know if it's because she feels obligated."
His colleague blinks. "Really?"
"Y-yeah." J-19 looks at his hands. "I-i-it's a power imbalance thing, you know? Like, I hold all the cards, a-a-and she's indebted to me, and I take care of her, you know, and...oh boy, it's gotten really complicated."
"Well how do you feel about her?" his colleague asks. J-19 answers.
"I love her."
"Well." His colleague spreads his hands. "She's the mother of your child, Rick. It's a real damn shame she broke up with you before she found out she was pregnant, but you married her anyway and look where it got you. You two are married. You have a kid. Honestly this isn't much of a dilemma."
"But w-w-what if she doesn't really love me? What if she's just doing it because she thinks she has to? Wouldn't I be taking advantage of her?"
His colleague sighs and stands.
"You're a good guy, Rick. The fact that you're worried about something this stupid proves it."
xXx
.
Sharon has just put down Junior when J-19 comes home.
"You're back late," Sharon says. She knits her hands together. "Everything okay?"
"Y-yeah. Everything's okay."
He sits on the couch. She comes and sits next to him, hesitantly.
He looks at his hands, then looks back at her.
"Do you want to go on a date?" J-19 asks.
xXx
.
His colleague is working on an experiment. Whatever it was that Sanchez was going through, it seems to have resolved itself: Sanchez's as cheerful as ever, chatting with the post-docs and giving advice to the grad students.
It's late, and his colleague rubs his eyes, tiredly. He's about to pack it up for the night when he sees Sharon and the baby come to the lab's front door.
Sanchez stands up to greet her. His colleague is too far to hear what they're saying, but she hands him a sack lunch, smiling and giving him a quick kiss on the lips before she leaves.
His colleague raises an eyebrow. "Everything resolve itself?" he asks. Sanchez grins stupidly.
"Heh, yeah."
xXx
.
2.
It's nighttime. They walk around the neighborhood, pushing Junior in a stroller.
"We share the same dilemma," Sharon says. "You say you love me, Rick, but I could say the same thing: that your love for me isn't real; that it is, in fact, an infatuation based on what I represent. That I'm not so much a person as I am a concept - an object, quite literally, of your affection. I choose, however, to take a leap of faith. That your love for me is genuine, and if it isn't, it can grow into something that is real."
Sharon waits. J-19 blinks.
"Gosh Sharon," J-19 says. "C-137 is right. Y-y-your therapy voice is pretty soothing."
Sharon ducks her head and laughs. A deep laugh, throaty and genuine.
"It's interesting how C-137 didn't program me with specific likes or interests. Just a combination of personality traits that I assume would be compatible with yours. I have a hunch he wanted you to get attached to me organically. Personally I see no problem with that."
She takes his hand, then gives it a light squeeze. J-19 squeezes it back, shyly.
"But what if you're not really self-aware?" he asks, quietly.
"Consciousness isn't something that can be tested," Sharon says. "You and I both know that."
"I-I just worry one day, you'll wake up and be self-aware, a-a-and you'll be angry I took advantage of you."
Sharon pauses at that.
"You're afraid that I'll one day leave."
"W-well. Yeah."
"There are no guarantees, even if I were human," Sharon says. "And if this is in fact the result of errant programming, I would hope that I'd recognize how much of a good faith effort you're making."
They get back home. J-19 puts Junior to bed, carefully shutting the nursery door while Sharon stays in the livingroom, waiting for him.
"Is this the end of our date?" Sharon asks, smiling. J-19 sits on the couch next to her.
"Sorry, Sharon. I-it wasn't much of a date."
"It was nice," Sharon says, and she takes his hand. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a good date ends with a kiss goodnight."
"Oh, um," J-19 looks up at her. "That's okay, Sharon. Y-you don't have to do that-"
"You're nervous."
"Um." He looks down. "I-I mean, the last time we were together, you know, I didn't know..."
Sharon leans back, considering. "There is a technique in behavior therapy called exposure therapy. I assume you're familiar with that concept?"
"O-oh boy. C-137 really did clone you from a therapist. Uh, yeah. I-I'm aware of that concept."
"Well, the best way to get rid of your anxiety would be to expose yourself to the source, and repeatedly show that there's no danger to it." She smiles. "Would it be okay if I give you a kiss, Rick?"
"Y-yeah. Sure. I-I'd like that."
She leans forward and gives him a soft kiss. She smiles.
"Well?" she asks.
"I liked that," J-19 says, smiling. She grins.
"Would you like me to kiss you again?"
xXx
.
She sags on top of him as he gasps and pulses inside her, breathing raggedly and burying his face against her neck. They had ended up having sex on the couch after those first few shy kisses, J-19 looking up at her, wide-eyed and awestruck, as she straddled his lap and moved rhythmically above him.
"I think we went a little further than I'd anticipated," Sharon says, and J-19 laughs softly against her neck.
J-19 had set up a cot in a spare bedroom that he had used primarily for storage - he had been sleeping in the storage room while Sharon used the bedroom for the last few months - so it's a nice surprise when Sharon takes him by the hand and leads him to the bedroom. He climbs into bed, and it's nice and warm and it's hard to believe he spent the last few months sleeping scrunched up on that flimsy cot. Sharon opens her arms and pulls him down against her, kissing him and pulling a blanket around them.
"Gosh, Sharon. I-I-I didn't think we'd do that."
She smiles and drops a kiss on his collarbone, smoothing out the collar of his shirt. "Did it feel good?" she asks, and he laughs softly.
"Y-yeah." He hugs her tighter. "I-it felt really good."
"I'm glad." She shifts and kisses him again, before leaning her head against his chest. "Let me know and we can do it again."
"Oh boy, Sharon." He laughs, embarrassed. "Y-y-you're making me turn red!"
Sharon laughs and hugs him, pulling the blanket around them.