Author: Chippewa Livingston
Archive: Please ask
Disclaimer: I claim no affiliation or ownership of characters or material related to Dark Angel.
An Unauthorized Genetics Experiment: Donor. The dilemma.
I brushed my teeth in the sink, and tried not to let her damp white uniform stick to the back of my neck. "Tomorrow," I told myself, "I've got a job, and at the end of the week, a paycheck." I shut off the water, and the light, then closed the door so that the bugs playing in the shower stall wouldn't keep us awake.
She sat on the mattress in one of my T-shirts, and hugged her knees to her chest. I shut off the lights, and found her shoulder by touch. "Can you forget about it all for long enough to sleep, beautiful?"
"You should just go," she whispered. "I'll be fine. I don't need you to take care of me." The light from a patrolling hover drone picked out the painted blue stripes in the gold of her hair. Then it was dark again.
"You can take care of yourself. I know." As always, my feet hung off the end of the mattress. I made a mental note that one of us would have to wash the sheets in the next couple of days. "I like having you around."
"Why?" I could tell that she was frowning, even just by her silhouette against the sky outside the window.
I wished I could answer her question.
****
They designed her to be the perfect soldier. Somewhere in the design specifications, they decided that she should also be the perfect bait. She's supposed to make the male mind think about at least trying to get her pregnant. As far as I know, it works on everyone, me included.
The first thing you noticed about her is either the shape of her hips, or her chaotic mass of bronze colored hair. You would get closer, and decide that she was lucky enough to have perfect skin, and even teeth. Her eyes were blue, shading to gray. Her smile and her frown were equally painful, in different ways. I don't know how I kept my hands to myself for as long as I did.
They assigned us to work as a team. She looked soft and harmless, and I looked too young, and too tall, and harmless. People would flirt with her, and ignore me. They wouldn't realize the mistake until it was too late. Someone would be dead, and the two of us would be on our way out the door.
Maybe we were too close. I couldn't say.
****
"I shouldn't be pregnant," she whispered. "I should just end it." The traffic noise in the distance wasn't as loud at that time of night.
I didn't want to have that conversation again. "If that is how you feel about it, we should just call the pickup phone number, and wait for the black Humvees to drive up. The commander will come up with some really creative and nasty punishment for us. Oh, and we will never work together again."
"If you are trying to cheer me up, you need to know that it's not working."
"What I mean is, we've got options, but they all suck." The darkness in the apartment felt oppressive. "They know we're missing after that last mission, but I think we are ahead of the pursuit for a little while. Tell me what you want to do, and I'll back you."
She didn't answer for a long time.
I listened to the sounds from all the normal people in the building around us. Someone was watching television next door. On the other side, I could hear snatches of conversation that suggested a poker game. Upstairs, the shifting of springs in a mattress and the creak of the bed frame. Somewhere, further away, the high-pitched fussing of some child.
Archive: Please ask
Disclaimer: I claim no affiliation or ownership of characters or material related to Dark Angel.
An Unauthorized Genetics Experiment: Donor. The dilemma.
I brushed my teeth in the sink, and tried not to let her damp white uniform stick to the back of my neck. "Tomorrow," I told myself, "I've got a job, and at the end of the week, a paycheck." I shut off the water, and the light, then closed the door so that the bugs playing in the shower stall wouldn't keep us awake.
She sat on the mattress in one of my T-shirts, and hugged her knees to her chest. I shut off the lights, and found her shoulder by touch. "Can you forget about it all for long enough to sleep, beautiful?"
"You should just go," she whispered. "I'll be fine. I don't need you to take care of me." The light from a patrolling hover drone picked out the painted blue stripes in the gold of her hair. Then it was dark again.
"You can take care of yourself. I know." As always, my feet hung off the end of the mattress. I made a mental note that one of us would have to wash the sheets in the next couple of days. "I like having you around."
"Why?" I could tell that she was frowning, even just by her silhouette against the sky outside the window.
I wished I could answer her question.
****
They designed her to be the perfect soldier. Somewhere in the design specifications, they decided that she should also be the perfect bait. She's supposed to make the male mind think about at least trying to get her pregnant. As far as I know, it works on everyone, me included.
The first thing you noticed about her is either the shape of her hips, or her chaotic mass of bronze colored hair. You would get closer, and decide that she was lucky enough to have perfect skin, and even teeth. Her eyes were blue, shading to gray. Her smile and her frown were equally painful, in different ways. I don't know how I kept my hands to myself for as long as I did.
They assigned us to work as a team. She looked soft and harmless, and I looked too young, and too tall, and harmless. People would flirt with her, and ignore me. They wouldn't realize the mistake until it was too late. Someone would be dead, and the two of us would be on our way out the door.
Maybe we were too close. I couldn't say.
****
"I shouldn't be pregnant," she whispered. "I should just end it." The traffic noise in the distance wasn't as loud at that time of night.
I didn't want to have that conversation again. "If that is how you feel about it, we should just call the pickup phone number, and wait for the black Humvees to drive up. The commander will come up with some really creative and nasty punishment for us. Oh, and we will never work together again."
"If you are trying to cheer me up, you need to know that it's not working."
"What I mean is, we've got options, but they all suck." The darkness in the apartment felt oppressive. "They know we're missing after that last mission, but I think we are ahead of the pursuit for a little while. Tell me what you want to do, and I'll back you."
She didn't answer for a long time.
I listened to the sounds from all the normal people in the building around us. Someone was watching television next door. On the other side, I could hear snatches of conversation that suggested a poker game. Upstairs, the shifting of springs in a mattress and the creak of the bed frame. Somewhere, further away, the high-pitched fussing of some child.