For a Genius . . . Chapter 2 - Another Woman
Disclaimer: Still don't own them = italicized dialogue is direct from the televised script and used without permission as is this entire fanfic
He can still remember his own amazement that the next woman he saw would have such an opposite effect on him.
She had sashayed up to him, sucking a lollipop. Her hair was blonde, but it didn't look real and she had a British accent that wasn't real either. In fact, she presented as a piece of plastic. He can remember feeling uneasy around her as though instinctively aware that she was artificial in every way possible.
"Hello, Luv," she said taking the red lollipop out from between red lips. All that red looked coarse and even now he grimaced slightly at the memory. The way she had looked at him had confused him for years until he had seen a horse sale one day while wandering at a fair with his father. He had recognized that appraising look instantly. That is how the blonde had viewed him, as a piece of meat, something to be bought or sold. He shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself for comfort. Luckily, she hadn't stayed long but her visit had only further brought home how terribly lonely he was.
They had placed him in another cell, similar to where he had always lived. Stark white blended with depressing grey until his whole world was monochromatic. Analytically he had always wondered if that wasn't part of Miss Parker's appeal, that she dressed in such strong colors when he saw her, bold reds and, of course, the cobalt blue of her eyes.
He had been hiding, feeling desolate and abandoned. Those hated and dreaded tears slowly moving down his cheeks. He couldn't stop them, so he had hid. As he hunkered down in the corner, escaping the prying eyes of the cameras, he heard the door open and smelled that faint scent that he recognized as belonging to woman he now knew as Miss Parker. He had peered up, over the cabinet, surprised and elated all at once to see her standing in the doorway, alone and obviously looking for him.
"I'm over here," he had volunteered, his palms damp.
"I'm sorry I didn't hear you come in." He stood up and moved toward the bed in order to see her, hoping she was really there to see him.
"Do you want me to do something for you?" he had offered her his services, anything she wanted if she would just stay in the room.
She was watching him, her eyes kind and unsure. "No. I just came to talk."
He sat down on the bed, his knees shaking too hard to fully support him, tucking his hands under his thighs so that she wouldn't see them trembling.
"Talk? You don't want anything?" He had felt disappointed. If she had wanted something from him, something he could give her, than he would have felt important, wanted, wanted by her.
She sighed at his question, making him wonder what he had said wrong and with dismay he watched her shoulders slump. "Just to see . . . " she paused and slightly shook her head. He heard her huff. "You all right?"
He heard the curiosity in her voice and became painfully aware of the emotions he was displaying. He sat up a little straighter, remembering his lessons with painful clarity. "Yeah, I'm fine." He wiped the tears from his face. "Ready to work," he had assured her.
"You were crying."
"No, I wasn't, I just . . . just . . . don't tell Mr. Raines. He gets angry if I show any emotion, it won't happen again, I promise." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could reign them in. Would she tell on him? He didn't want to think so. He wanted to believe that someone who could make him feel so . . . so free, so warm, wouldn't be so cruel as to deliberately bring about punishment for him.
She moved further into the room, bringing her scent, her warmth and her softness. He could hear her softness in her voice. "It's okay to cry."
He felt his heart skip a beat. "No, it's not. Not for me." Didn't she understand? Didn't she believe the same things that Mr. Raines had pounded into him forever?
"I'm here to serve. To do what I'm told," he repeated the refrain he had heard all of his life, earnestly. She must not think he was hesitant to do his duty.
He can still remember the quiet look that had settled over her face at his words. She seemed to draw into herself and he immediately missed her even though she was still in the room. She sat down across from him and he couldn't help but notice the light shining on her necklace, a square of red twinkling at him, showcased by her pale skin and gleaming like a drop of rich, full-bodied blood.
"Is that what Raines taught you?"
"Yes," he remembered replying, entranced with the look of her, drinking in the sight with greedy gulps for his memories.
"That I've been gifted with the intelligence designed to help others. Mr. Raines said emotions get in the way." He had noticed the flicker of sorrow that had crossed her face at his pronouncement. Did she regret his words? The thoughts behind them? Did they sound familiar to her, perhaps? His mind raced with the possibilities, but even though Mr. Raines had taught him about females and what he called their 'convoluted' thought processes, he knew he would never be able to fully understand the magnificent creature across from him. How could he when he could barely think?
"If you don't want me to work, then why are you here?" What could he do for her? Suddenly, anything that Mr. Raines would ask him to do, would be done without hesitation, anything, if it were for her.
TBC