Mmmmmm...lollipops! ^_^
At last, the two-day flashback continues...
Chapter Seven
THE NEXT MORNING...
When the first rays of sunlight began to poke their way through the morning sky, Zee was the first to get out of bed. He had stayed awake to watch over Ro, in case she felt uneasy again. He carefully moved off the bed, and went straight to the bathroom's medicine cabinet. He remembered when he was posing as Eugene Dolan one morning, the daughter Becca woke up with a headache. The night before, she was crying over nightmares. He watched her mother give her some aspirin with a glass of water. Becca felt better a short while later.
He found a small bottle of aspirin in the medicine cabinet, but he could not find any glasses. So while Ro was still sleeping, he mad a quick dash downstairs to fetch a glass of water.
Ro woke up a moment later with a throbbing headache. When she was finally able to open her eyes, the first thing she saw was Zee sitting on the bed with a glass of water in one hand, and a pair of aspirin in the other. She couldn't help but smile as she accepted the gifts, and seeing her smile filled Zee with a sigh of relief knowing she was going to be fine.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Ro? Zee? Are you guys up?"
Zee was halfway to the door when Ro zoomed past him at lightning speed. She barricaded the door with her back and motioned with her hands for Zee to stay behind the door and to be silent. The slightly startled Zee obeyed.
Confident that Zee would stay where he was, Ro tightened her bathrobe, cleared her throat, took a deep breath and slightly opened the door. "Morning, Casey."
A fully-dressed, ready-for-work Casey asked, "Ro, are you okay? You're sounding a little hoarse."
Ro cleared her throat again. "Yeah, I'm okay. I've just gotten out of bed. Another early shift?"
"Yeah, old Mr. Jensen thinks a few more of these will make me crack. But he can't stop me from having a lunch hour. I thought maybe you and Zee could join me later."
"Sounds great! Perhaps we could go for Italian?"
"Okay, then. I'll call you later." As he headed down the stairs, he added, "I've fixed some breakfast for you. It's in the fridge." He grabbed his briefcase from the kitchen table and headed off to work.
Ro closed the bedroom door and sighed deeply. She then turned to Zee, and couldn't believe he was looking so confused. "Zee, you do realize you're still naked, don't you?"
He looked down and saw that Ro was right. Zee was in this nude form the entire time. That meant when he went to get the glass of water, he ran through the apartment naked...again. "Ro, I didn't mean to..."
"Don't worry about it. It was quite a night for both of us. And it really wasn't your fault. I saw you sleeping, and the urge to kiss you was beyond my control. But, I'm okay now, thanks to you. Well, let's get ready, shall we? While I'm having breakfast, you should get dressed." She then went downstairs.
Zee couldn't understand why his holomorphs were activating while he slept, but he would have to worry about that later. He pictured his military shirt and gray trousers in his mind, and used that image to activate his holomorph program. Seconds later, he went over to the bed to smooth out the sheets. He had almost finished when he noticed his reflection in the mirror.
He couldn't believe it...He was still naked!
He took a moment to relax himself and tried again...but still, no change. His holomorphs were not responding. "No...This can't be right. It has to work. I must make it work!" He then tried to turn it off... Nothing happened. He just couldn't change his form.
Minutes later, Ro returned from the kitchen to find Zee standing before the mirror with his fists clenched and his eyes shut tight. And he was still naked. "Zee... What's wrong?"
Zee opened his eyes to see his image had still not changed. Finally he sighed and said, "I'm... I'm stuck."
"Stuck?"
"My holomorphs...won't respond. I can't change my hologram. I'm stuck, Ro!"
Ro could see this was bothering him. She had to act fast. "Don't panic, Zee. Maybe Casey has... No, wait. His clothes are too small for you. Wait a minute!" She hurried to her backpack and searched for the holomorph device Dr. Edmunds gave her. She hasn't used it since the Nosis exploded, so it should do the trick. "Yes! Here it is! Put this on. This should do until we buy some real clothes."
Zee clasped the device on his right wrist and used it to morph into the purple trench coat outfit. It was the only casual outfit he was wearing when the device was given to her. He was so relieved, and so grateful, he lifted her off the floor, and hugged and kissed her for what seemed like minutes.
When she finally had a chance to breathe she asked, "Feeling better, Zee?"
He nodded happily. Then he carefully put her down so she could get dressed in the bathroom. A few minutes later, Ro appeared in her green jumpsuit. And with her backpack on her shoulder, they headed to the mall.
Shopping became a whole new experience for Zee. For the first time ever, he was in the store, with Ro asking his opinion about clothing; something he knows very little about. The feel of different materials, 'machine wash', 'hand wash', 'dry clean', size measurements, matching colours... He felt lost without Ro's guidance. He began to wonder... (Is this how Ro feels when I talk about robotics?)
Just outside the store, Agent Jack looks through the window with eyes wide open. Here they were shopping in a men's store...for the robot?! He just couldn't believe it... And neither would his boss. He took a deep breath and braced himself as he made the call.
With each ring, he felt more nervous. And he almost lost his breath when he heard the click. He had just barely found the strength to speak when he heard a woman's voice say, "Commander's desk."
Agent Jack cleared his throat. "The Commander, please."
"I'm sorry. The Commander is away from his desk, but should be back later today. Is there a message?"
"Uh... No, that's okay. I'll call back later. Thank you." He hung up with a sigh of relief. B.D. Commander gave him strict orders that he was to report to him directly, and he was not going to divulge this information to anyone else, not even his private secretary. He didn't even want to tell the Commander, who was not going to like this one bit.
So the B.D. agent did the only thing he could do: he continued his surveillance. He would call again later...much later.
About two hours later, Zee and Ro returned to the apartment with a week's supply of men's clothing. And then a thought came to Ro. "Zee, your holomorphs... Ever since you discovered you can feel, I've noticed your hologram feels more solid. Last night, your body felt very solid. And now, you can't change your form. I don't know how else to say this, but... You really are evolving, Zee. You're becoming human. What other explanation is there?"
(I'm...becoming human?) The more Zee thought about it, the more it made sense. Zee has always wanted to live like a human, and lately he's been feeling less and less like a robot. Is it really possible? Can he really be turning into a human?
Then someone knocked at the door. Ro opened it to find... "Bucky?"
She couldn't believe it, but there he is... Bucky Buenaventura. His black backpack undoubtedly contained his equipment. He stood there like a young doctor making a house-call. Even Zee was surprised by his arrival.
"Why are you so surprised? You called me, remember? You said Zee's holomorphs was acting up, so I came as fast as I could. So, shall we get started?"
Ro was in no mood to argue. "Sure, come on in."
As Bucky entered, the phone rang. Ro picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Ro, it's me, Casey. Still feel like having some Italian for lunch?"
She suddenly remembered agreeing to join Casey for lunch. "Oh, sure. Where can I meet you?"
"I can meet you at Tony's. It's just two blocks down the street from you, heading toward the bridge. I'm on the trolley now, so I should be there in about ten minutes.
"Okay. See you there." She hung up to find Bucky and Zee were nowhere in sight. She goes upstairs to the bedroom and found them scattering all kinds of gadgets and gizmos from Bucky's backpack onto the floor. (He may be a kid genius, but he's still a kid first.) As she carefully walked around the items to get to her own backpack, she said, "That was Casey. He's meeting me at a place called Tony's. It's not far from here. So I'll check on you two later, okay?"
Zee, with his loving gaze on Ro as she carefully side-stepped out of the room, simply nodded. Bucky, however, kept his gaze on the laptop as he said, "Sure thing. Later."
A few minutes later, Bucky's laptop was ready. "Okay, Zee. Now, if you'll just turn off your hologram... What the...?" Bucky turned around to see Zee taking off clothing like a normal person. Bucky grabbed hold of Zee's jacket, and much to his surprise the fabric was real. "Since when did you start to wear real clothing?"
"When I e-mailed you, I said my holomorphs were acting up, but I couldn't go into details because Ro feared the message might be intercepted by the NSA. It seems... I'm turning into a human."
Bucky could not believe what he was hearing. "What did you say?"
"I'm evolving into a human. It's like this..."
Meanwhile, Ro's short walk to Tony's Italian restaurant was a long journey in her mind. The further she walked from the apartment - the further she was from Zee, the more vivid last night became in her mind. She could still feel him against her body. He was so warm, so solid and so real ...
"Rosalie...? Ro? Over here!"
Ro's train of thought was abruptly interrupted by her brother's approach. She was surprised to see Tony's Restaurant right in front of her. She had no memory of ever crossing the streets.
"Ro," Casey said. "Are you okay?"
Ro took a moment to breathe and said, "Yeah, I'm okay. If anything, I'm famished. Shall we go in?"
Casey smiled reassuringly as he escorted his sister into the restaurant, where the waiter guided them to a secluded corner table. After looking through the menus, they ordered two spaghetti plates, a ginger ale and a root-beer-cherry-cola.
After the waiter had left the table, Casey asked, "Where's Zee? I thought he'd be joining us."
"Oh, he's back at the apartment with Bucky."
"Bucky?! You never said he was coming over."
"We weren't expecting him to drop by either. But I guess we should've, since we told him that Zee's holomorphs were acting up. He's examining him even as we speak."
And that was when Casey found himself whispering, "Is that why Zee was walking through the apartment naked this morning?"
Truth be told, Casey did not want to bring the subject up right then and there, but he knew if he didn't talk to her about it soon, he'd go nuts. And so he continued, "Ro, it's no secret that you and Zee have been through a lot together, and it's no surprise to me that you two have become quite close. So I'm letting you know right now that the night before, I saw how you two were snuggled together in bed. I can't deny that was a shock for me. And last night, I woke to hear the shower running at two o'clock in the morning. I stopped outside your room to hear Zee say that the never meant to hurt you, and that it was his fault. I opened the door just wide enough to see Zee - nude as a newborn - carrying you to the bed. I didn't get much sleep after that. And then this morning, I woke up just in time to see Zee heading for the kitchen without so much a fig leaf. Ro... I know how much you want to protect Zee, but even though we did not have much time growing up together, I'm still your brother and I want to protect you, too. So please tell me... Did Zee...?"
Ro could not believe this was happening. She had hoped this lunch date would help her forget about last night, but now it seems her brother had lured her into another trap. She half-expected to see his boss sitting at one of the other tables, listening in to the entire conversation. Once again, she struggled to hold back tears.
"Ro...? Ro, I'm sorry...but..."
"No..." Ro had barely found the strength to speak. "He didn't... It wasn't like that." After a few deep breaths, she cleared her throat and said, "He didn't...make the first move. I saw him sleeping...and I couldn't resist the urge to kiss him, so I did. That's how it happened."
Casey gave her his napkin to dry her eyes, and after that she said, "For so long, I never thought I could feel this way about anyone. But I love him, Casey, I really do. I know...where he came from...and what he was supposed to do, but...he's not like that anymore... He's so sweet and loving..." She buried her face in the napkin. She could not hold back the tears any longer.
Casey was sorry he opened his mouth. It finally occurred to him that his sister has been living on the short end of the stick ever since they were separated, and now she's finally found some happiness, only to have her brother ruin it. "I'm sorry, Ro," he said, "but I was worried. When I first looked at that disc you gave me, all I could see was you getting in one dangerous situation after another. I couldn't understand it at first, but after seeing what I saw the past two nights, I began to see how far you two would go to protect each other. If that's not proof enough that you love each other, then what is? Let's face it...you'll always be Grandpa's 'little bulldozer'."
(Grandpa...) Ro still could not put a face to that name, and that made her want to cry even more.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Don't worry, Folks! There's more to come. I should have Chapter Eight set up real soon, so stay tuned! ^_^
At last, the two-day flashback continues...
Chapter Seven
THE NEXT MORNING...
When the first rays of sunlight began to poke their way through the morning sky, Zee was the first to get out of bed. He had stayed awake to watch over Ro, in case she felt uneasy again. He carefully moved off the bed, and went straight to the bathroom's medicine cabinet. He remembered when he was posing as Eugene Dolan one morning, the daughter Becca woke up with a headache. The night before, she was crying over nightmares. He watched her mother give her some aspirin with a glass of water. Becca felt better a short while later.
He found a small bottle of aspirin in the medicine cabinet, but he could not find any glasses. So while Ro was still sleeping, he mad a quick dash downstairs to fetch a glass of water.
Ro woke up a moment later with a throbbing headache. When she was finally able to open her eyes, the first thing she saw was Zee sitting on the bed with a glass of water in one hand, and a pair of aspirin in the other. She couldn't help but smile as she accepted the gifts, and seeing her smile filled Zee with a sigh of relief knowing she was going to be fine.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Ro? Zee? Are you guys up?"
Zee was halfway to the door when Ro zoomed past him at lightning speed. She barricaded the door with her back and motioned with her hands for Zee to stay behind the door and to be silent. The slightly startled Zee obeyed.
Confident that Zee would stay where he was, Ro tightened her bathrobe, cleared her throat, took a deep breath and slightly opened the door. "Morning, Casey."
A fully-dressed, ready-for-work Casey asked, "Ro, are you okay? You're sounding a little hoarse."
Ro cleared her throat again. "Yeah, I'm okay. I've just gotten out of bed. Another early shift?"
"Yeah, old Mr. Jensen thinks a few more of these will make me crack. But he can't stop me from having a lunch hour. I thought maybe you and Zee could join me later."
"Sounds great! Perhaps we could go for Italian?"
"Okay, then. I'll call you later." As he headed down the stairs, he added, "I've fixed some breakfast for you. It's in the fridge." He grabbed his briefcase from the kitchen table and headed off to work.
Ro closed the bedroom door and sighed deeply. She then turned to Zee, and couldn't believe he was looking so confused. "Zee, you do realize you're still naked, don't you?"
He looked down and saw that Ro was right. Zee was in this nude form the entire time. That meant when he went to get the glass of water, he ran through the apartment naked...again. "Ro, I didn't mean to..."
"Don't worry about it. It was quite a night for both of us. And it really wasn't your fault. I saw you sleeping, and the urge to kiss you was beyond my control. But, I'm okay now, thanks to you. Well, let's get ready, shall we? While I'm having breakfast, you should get dressed." She then went downstairs.
Zee couldn't understand why his holomorphs were activating while he slept, but he would have to worry about that later. He pictured his military shirt and gray trousers in his mind, and used that image to activate his holomorph program. Seconds later, he went over to the bed to smooth out the sheets. He had almost finished when he noticed his reflection in the mirror.
He couldn't believe it...He was still naked!
He took a moment to relax himself and tried again...but still, no change. His holomorphs were not responding. "No...This can't be right. It has to work. I must make it work!" He then tried to turn it off... Nothing happened. He just couldn't change his form.
Minutes later, Ro returned from the kitchen to find Zee standing before the mirror with his fists clenched and his eyes shut tight. And he was still naked. "Zee... What's wrong?"
Zee opened his eyes to see his image had still not changed. Finally he sighed and said, "I'm... I'm stuck."
"Stuck?"
"My holomorphs...won't respond. I can't change my hologram. I'm stuck, Ro!"
Ro could see this was bothering him. She had to act fast. "Don't panic, Zee. Maybe Casey has... No, wait. His clothes are too small for you. Wait a minute!" She hurried to her backpack and searched for the holomorph device Dr. Edmunds gave her. She hasn't used it since the Nosis exploded, so it should do the trick. "Yes! Here it is! Put this on. This should do until we buy some real clothes."
Zee clasped the device on his right wrist and used it to morph into the purple trench coat outfit. It was the only casual outfit he was wearing when the device was given to her. He was so relieved, and so grateful, he lifted her off the floor, and hugged and kissed her for what seemed like minutes.
When she finally had a chance to breathe she asked, "Feeling better, Zee?"
He nodded happily. Then he carefully put her down so she could get dressed in the bathroom. A few minutes later, Ro appeared in her green jumpsuit. And with her backpack on her shoulder, they headed to the mall.
Shopping became a whole new experience for Zee. For the first time ever, he was in the store, with Ro asking his opinion about clothing; something he knows very little about. The feel of different materials, 'machine wash', 'hand wash', 'dry clean', size measurements, matching colours... He felt lost without Ro's guidance. He began to wonder... (Is this how Ro feels when I talk about robotics?)
Just outside the store, Agent Jack looks through the window with eyes wide open. Here they were shopping in a men's store...for the robot?! He just couldn't believe it... And neither would his boss. He took a deep breath and braced himself as he made the call.
With each ring, he felt more nervous. And he almost lost his breath when he heard the click. He had just barely found the strength to speak when he heard a woman's voice say, "Commander's desk."
Agent Jack cleared his throat. "The Commander, please."
"I'm sorry. The Commander is away from his desk, but should be back later today. Is there a message?"
"Uh... No, that's okay. I'll call back later. Thank you." He hung up with a sigh of relief. B.D. Commander gave him strict orders that he was to report to him directly, and he was not going to divulge this information to anyone else, not even his private secretary. He didn't even want to tell the Commander, who was not going to like this one bit.
So the B.D. agent did the only thing he could do: he continued his surveillance. He would call again later...much later.
About two hours later, Zee and Ro returned to the apartment with a week's supply of men's clothing. And then a thought came to Ro. "Zee, your holomorphs... Ever since you discovered you can feel, I've noticed your hologram feels more solid. Last night, your body felt very solid. And now, you can't change your form. I don't know how else to say this, but... You really are evolving, Zee. You're becoming human. What other explanation is there?"
(I'm...becoming human?) The more Zee thought about it, the more it made sense. Zee has always wanted to live like a human, and lately he's been feeling less and less like a robot. Is it really possible? Can he really be turning into a human?
Then someone knocked at the door. Ro opened it to find... "Bucky?"
She couldn't believe it, but there he is... Bucky Buenaventura. His black backpack undoubtedly contained his equipment. He stood there like a young doctor making a house-call. Even Zee was surprised by his arrival.
"Why are you so surprised? You called me, remember? You said Zee's holomorphs was acting up, so I came as fast as I could. So, shall we get started?"
Ro was in no mood to argue. "Sure, come on in."
As Bucky entered, the phone rang. Ro picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Ro, it's me, Casey. Still feel like having some Italian for lunch?"
She suddenly remembered agreeing to join Casey for lunch. "Oh, sure. Where can I meet you?"
"I can meet you at Tony's. It's just two blocks down the street from you, heading toward the bridge. I'm on the trolley now, so I should be there in about ten minutes.
"Okay. See you there." She hung up to find Bucky and Zee were nowhere in sight. She goes upstairs to the bedroom and found them scattering all kinds of gadgets and gizmos from Bucky's backpack onto the floor. (He may be a kid genius, but he's still a kid first.) As she carefully walked around the items to get to her own backpack, she said, "That was Casey. He's meeting me at a place called Tony's. It's not far from here. So I'll check on you two later, okay?"
Zee, with his loving gaze on Ro as she carefully side-stepped out of the room, simply nodded. Bucky, however, kept his gaze on the laptop as he said, "Sure thing. Later."
A few minutes later, Bucky's laptop was ready. "Okay, Zee. Now, if you'll just turn off your hologram... What the...?" Bucky turned around to see Zee taking off clothing like a normal person. Bucky grabbed hold of Zee's jacket, and much to his surprise the fabric was real. "Since when did you start to wear real clothing?"
"When I e-mailed you, I said my holomorphs were acting up, but I couldn't go into details because Ro feared the message might be intercepted by the NSA. It seems... I'm turning into a human."
Bucky could not believe what he was hearing. "What did you say?"
"I'm evolving into a human. It's like this..."
Meanwhile, Ro's short walk to Tony's Italian restaurant was a long journey in her mind. The further she walked from the apartment - the further she was from Zee, the more vivid last night became in her mind. She could still feel him against her body. He was so warm, so solid and so real ...
"Rosalie...? Ro? Over here!"
Ro's train of thought was abruptly interrupted by her brother's approach. She was surprised to see Tony's Restaurant right in front of her. She had no memory of ever crossing the streets.
"Ro," Casey said. "Are you okay?"
Ro took a moment to breathe and said, "Yeah, I'm okay. If anything, I'm famished. Shall we go in?"
Casey smiled reassuringly as he escorted his sister into the restaurant, where the waiter guided them to a secluded corner table. After looking through the menus, they ordered two spaghetti plates, a ginger ale and a root-beer-cherry-cola.
After the waiter had left the table, Casey asked, "Where's Zee? I thought he'd be joining us."
"Oh, he's back at the apartment with Bucky."
"Bucky?! You never said he was coming over."
"We weren't expecting him to drop by either. But I guess we should've, since we told him that Zee's holomorphs were acting up. He's examining him even as we speak."
And that was when Casey found himself whispering, "Is that why Zee was walking through the apartment naked this morning?"
Truth be told, Casey did not want to bring the subject up right then and there, but he knew if he didn't talk to her about it soon, he'd go nuts. And so he continued, "Ro, it's no secret that you and Zee have been through a lot together, and it's no surprise to me that you two have become quite close. So I'm letting you know right now that the night before, I saw how you two were snuggled together in bed. I can't deny that was a shock for me. And last night, I woke to hear the shower running at two o'clock in the morning. I stopped outside your room to hear Zee say that the never meant to hurt you, and that it was his fault. I opened the door just wide enough to see Zee - nude as a newborn - carrying you to the bed. I didn't get much sleep after that. And then this morning, I woke up just in time to see Zee heading for the kitchen without so much a fig leaf. Ro... I know how much you want to protect Zee, but even though we did not have much time growing up together, I'm still your brother and I want to protect you, too. So please tell me... Did Zee...?"
Ro could not believe this was happening. She had hoped this lunch date would help her forget about last night, but now it seems her brother had lured her into another trap. She half-expected to see his boss sitting at one of the other tables, listening in to the entire conversation. Once again, she struggled to hold back tears.
"Ro...? Ro, I'm sorry...but..."
"No..." Ro had barely found the strength to speak. "He didn't... It wasn't like that." After a few deep breaths, she cleared her throat and said, "He didn't...make the first move. I saw him sleeping...and I couldn't resist the urge to kiss him, so I did. That's how it happened."
Casey gave her his napkin to dry her eyes, and after that she said, "For so long, I never thought I could feel this way about anyone. But I love him, Casey, I really do. I know...where he came from...and what he was supposed to do, but...he's not like that anymore... He's so sweet and loving..." She buried her face in the napkin. She could not hold back the tears any longer.
Casey was sorry he opened his mouth. It finally occurred to him that his sister has been living on the short end of the stick ever since they were separated, and now she's finally found some happiness, only to have her brother ruin it. "I'm sorry, Ro," he said, "but I was worried. When I first looked at that disc you gave me, all I could see was you getting in one dangerous situation after another. I couldn't understand it at first, but after seeing what I saw the past two nights, I began to see how far you two would go to protect each other. If that's not proof enough that you love each other, then what is? Let's face it...you'll always be Grandpa's 'little bulldozer'."
(Grandpa...) Ro still could not put a face to that name, and that made her want to cry even more.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Don't worry, Folks! There's more to come. I should have Chapter Eight set up real soon, so stay tuned! ^_^