"MOM."

"Yes, XJ9?"

"Mom."

Her mother rolled her eyes at her and kept typing away. Since that morning, when XJ9 had spoken her first word, she hadn't been quiet at all. The minute Wakeman stepped too far away; the robot would begin shouting at the top of her lungs for her. At the moment, though, the little robot kicked her legs back and forth, giddy as she sat in her chair and watched her mom walk around. The earlier events of the day still weighed on her, but it was shoved to the back of her mind for now. She couldn't believe that she could talk now, but she could. She could say the word "mom," and that little accomplishment made a giddy little squeal slip out from her lips.

"I'm glad to see that you've cheered up a bit."

Oh, of course, she was happy! Why wouldn't she be?! She could talk! She could say-

"Mom."

Her mother laughed at her, to which she let out a happy little chirp. Wakeman finished up whatever it was she was typing and grabbed some papers off her desk before walking over to XJ9. Noticing her mom coming towards her, she held her arms out and excitedly yelled-

"Mom!"

"I swear you have already changed so much today."

She tilted her head in confusion at her mother's words. She hadn't changed that much, had she? As if sensing her confusion, her mother began to explain.

"You would only nod or shake your head when I talked to you, and the only time you ever made a peep was when you were crying and screaming."

A little blue blush spread across her cheeks at her mom's words.

"Now, you're making so many noises to match those expressions of yours."

The little blush on her face grew darker as she sheepishly looked at her mom with a smile.

"Mom."

"Hi, XJ9."

Even though she had been calling for her all day, Wakeman didn't seem to be upset with her about it. So, XJ9 wasn't going to be stopping anytime soon. Her mom patted her head, and she happily enjoyed the attention.

"Now that you are talking, though, let's try to keep that ball rolling."

Wakeman pulled out some cards with pictures on them. The first one was of a dog, then a tree, then a house, and it kept ongoing. She knew what they were and shook her head whenever asked if she knew them. However, she couldn't quite force the vowels and letters to connect just right and spent most of the test spitting out gibberish mixed in with the word 'mom'.

Eventually, the test ended, and Wakeman went to put up the cards while XJ9 had finally got tired of sitting and slid off the table. She stumbled a little when she dropped off the edge but kept herself from falling on her face. Her mother wrote some things down as she stretched her servos and walked around the room once more. There were many monitors in the lab, and all of them reminded her of the ones in her room. Although, if she was comparing them, she liked hers much better.

XJ9's were nicer and showed her pretty places and people. The ones down here mainly displayed numbers and calculations. The few that display pictures were running a mile a minute it seems as constantly changing words and numbers flew across the screen. She rolled her eyes at it all. All of it reminded her too much of her own head, and now she couldn't seem to do anything without her brain over complicating it. She let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes a little. She really could go for a nap about now.

"My word, Are you tired already?"

Her mom had stopped typing away and was looking over at her.

"I guess that battery issue is bigger than I thought it was."

She rubbed her chin as she thought about it, and XJ9 suddenly felt a bit nervous.

"I'll have to move it up higher on the list and get on it as soon as possible."

As Wakeman went back to typing, she let out a little breath she didn't even know she was holding. She knew that she probably stayed up later than she should have, but she couldn't help it. The little monitor showed such exciting things, and there didn't seem to be any other time she could watch it. Still, with how her battery was, she'd have to stop watching so much of it. Not that she wanted to, though. She crossed her arms and huffed.

XJ9 quickly uncrossed them as she felt her mom's eyes on her. When her typing resumed, she relaxed. She didn't know why she didn't want her mom to know about the monitor. It wouldn't be a big deal, right? She thought about the light gun, though, and how much she enjoyed it. She hadn't gotten to play with it for what seemed like forever now. Would it be the same with the monitor? Her mom seemed to like to fix things, so would she fix it as soon as she found out. If she did, it would be like the others, and although she loved them too, she liked being able to watch stuff.

It was becoming her favorite one, no doubt, and the thought of losing it made something in her chest tighten up. She hadn't lost it yet, though, so she should be happy, right? Maybe when her battery was fixed, she could watch it more. The thought made her smile for now though she would have to tone down watching it for a bit. She looked over her shoulder back at her mom. Surely one little monitor wasn't a big deal, right? After all, she had so many of them in the first place.

Author's Note- Happy Halloween! In order to celebrate have a chapter and get some candy for yourself. Thanks to the loyal fans who were kind enough to leave a review. You guys are great and each review really means a lot to me. Please leave a review if you can, and thanks for reading!