Chapter 17 — Don't Change For Me
"Danse?"
"Yes Haylen?" He replied wearily.
"I think I hear someone coming."
Sure enough, a pair of heavy footsteps crossed overhead making the ancient boards above them groan and squeak in protest. The footsteps descended the ancient spiral staircase at the opposite end of the hallway and they both jumped to their feet.
Danse slipped a rusted nail into his pocket that he pulled out of a rotted piece of wood. The metal was about two and a half inches long, and now that he had filed it down to a sharp point, he could use it as an improvised weapon. And that's precisely what he planned to do if given the opportunity.
Mayor Hancock stepped off the stairs with MacCready close behind. The sniper's eyes were constantly moving, ready to sense danger. Although a bit malnourished and weak-looking, his clear skill with a gun and his unwavering focus would've been an asset had he been a Brotherhood soldier.
"Mayor!" A pitiful voice cried out. "C'mon man, let me out. I shouldn't have stolen from you, alright? I didn't even know those chems were yours! Honest I didn't! I wasn't gonna use them. I just needed the money to pay off my debts at the Combat Zone."
Haylen expected the terrifying ghoul to shoot down the guy's excuses … or rather … literally shoot the guy, but instead the ghoul took a large ring of keys off a nearby hook and unlocked the cell door.
"Get outta here Jimmy." The ghoul growled. "And don't let me catch you stealing from me again. Cuz next time I won't be as nice."
"Oh thank you! Thank you! You won't regret this Hancock! I swear I ain't gonna cross you again." The urchin extolled.
"Here." The ghoul growled. He handed the thief a tin box of caps and then stared him down. "This is a loan, ya feel me? When I find ya again I want this paid back in full. This will be enough to get Tommy off yer back. He treats his debtors far worse than I do. Remember that."
"Yes! I will Mayor Hancock. Thank you!"
The man emphatically shook the ghoul's hand and then nearly tripped over his own feet to get up the stairs. Thinking that the ghoul would've just gone back upstairs, Haylen settled back against the cell wall in defeated exhaustion, but then he looked at her. His onyx eyes bore into hers and like a prey animal caught in a trap, she couldn't escape his gaze.
Mayor Hancock smirked and then sauntered down the corridor towards their cell. Danse made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat and then took a step in front of Haylen.
"At ease soldier," The ghoul rasped, "I'm here to talk to the lady."
"Yeah well the 'the lady' is telling you to go fuck yourself." Haylen spat.
The ghoul's eyes seemed to take on a whole new luster which made his stark, ravaged features look even more inhuman in the low light.
He cackled, "Sister, you've got fire and I like that but you better watch your tongue. Other people won't be as kind to you as I'm going to be."
"Oh you're so kind." She drawled, her voice thick with sarcasm. "I feel like we're already BFFs."
His dark eyes glinted and his reply was colored with clear heat in his tone, "Oh sister, I treat my friends real well. If you come upstairs and give me a few hours of your time, I'll help you see several things from all new perspectives."
"Go. Fuck. Yourself. Ghoul. I would rather die." Haylen hissed.
"Haylen…" Danse's voice held a clear warning.
Hancock turned to Danse and rested his ruined hand on his flag belt and defiantly cocked his hip out. He pulled out a jet canister, took a long huff off of it, and leaned in towards the bars and exhaled the slightly green vapor into Danse's face. Hancock grinned when the larger man sputtered and coughed.
"And what about you, crew cut?" The ghoul rasped, "I ain't picky with my friends. I like the strong, silent types just as much as the spitfires. Wanna come up to my office so we can have us a little talk?"
"No." Danse growled.
"That's too bad." Hancock drawled in a tone that said he really didn't give a fuck either way.
"Dammit! Just let us go!" Haylen pleaded. "We'll get out of your town. We won't say anything to anyone. You can't just leave us locked up here. We didn't do anything wrong!"
Hancock leveled a hard gaze at Haylen. "I detained you both because I got a reputation to uphold, ya feel me? If I just let two Brotherhood tin cans walk around my town without at least reading you the riot act first, the rest of my citizens would all try to take their ounce of flesh for all of the shit you Brotherhood types have done to us ghouls since arriving here. Sticking you down here was doing you a favor."
"A favor? Really?" Haylen asked incredulously. "So you were just doing this out of the kindness of your rotten little heart?"
Hancock smiled. It was the kind of smile that skeletons wore: perversely joyful and yet somehow merciless. "Oh no sunshine. See, when you kidnapped Nora you made an enemy of me. But because she's alive, despite your guys shooting her out of the fucking sky, I ain't gonna kill you…yet. But I also ain't gonna let you go free either. Not until you answer some questions for me first."
"Who the hell is Nora?" Danse asked.
"The. Vault. Dweller." The ghoul punctuated each word with venom.
A wave of realization washed over both of them. The Vault Dweller and this ghoul were allies?Which meant that this ghoul was somehow connected to The Institute. Which meant that Haylen and Danse were in way more trouble than they thought.
Hancock growled and huffed impatiently, "C'mon Mac. Let's see if a little more time freezing their asses off down here will loosen their tongues."
The sniper and the ghoul walked back towards the staircase but Haylen yelled out, "Hey zombie!"
The ghoul mayor stopped and growled, "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that, sister, and I'm gonna walk away."
"What are you doing?" Danse hissed but she ignored him.
"You heard me!" She yelled. "Since when did the Institute start recruiting ghouls? Do the people here really hate the Brotherhood as much as you claim? It seems to me like are you just trying to protect your own interests. I heard about the coup that happened here a few weeks ago. Did the town finally realize that their Mayor is secretly the Institute's bitch?"
That made Hancock turn around. Pure fury and animalistic rage contorted his body into something truly ghoulish. Haylen knew she should've stopped but after the things she had just been through, she had a lot of anger to unleash and she just let all her pain flow out in a vitriolic rant.
"Were you a science project gone wrong?" Haylen needled. "Is that why you look different from the rest of the ghoul's I've seen? God, I hope there's not a synth copy of you somewhere out there. Dealing with one pompous, egomaniacal Mayor is already too much for me."
"Haylen." Danse said sharply. "Enough!"
Hancock walked up to the cell, grabbed Haylen by her Brotherhood uniform, and pulled her forward so her face was pressed uncomfortably between the jail bars. "You've said more than enough for one day. It's time you know just who you're fucking talking to."
The ghoul gestured at Danse with a nod of his head. "Watch him."
"Right boss." MaCready replied and he leveled his rifle at Danse.
Hancock dragged Haylen to the cell door, unlocked it, stepped inside. His rough and mottled hand closed painfully around Haylen's bicep and while he went to grab something from his coat, she jerked out of his grasp.
"Don't you fucking touch me!" She snarled.
Just then, Danse struck out like a viper and jabbed the sharpened nail right beneath Hancock's left armpit. He angled his strike downward so it would slip between the ghoul's ribs and puncture a lung. Or that would've been the plan had MacCready's gun not gone off and shot Danse through both calf muscles. He fell to his knees as though a battering ram had taken both of his legs out from beneath him and Hancock caught his thick wrist and twisted ever so slightly that something popped and he dropped the weapon.
"You son of a bitch!" Haylen snarled and she launched herself at the ghoul.
Hancock caught her around the waist and maneuvered her against the stone wall like it was a well-rehearsed dance. His hand closed around her throat in a firm hold. He could easily crush her throat just like he had done to that bitch Bobbi No-Nose, but instead he growled at MacCready.
"Get in here and watch her kid."
The sniper holstered his rifle so he could maneuver in the small cell and pulled out an impressive pistol. He grabbed Haylen and wrapped a thin, wiry arm around her neck and placed his gun against her head.
Once Hancock was satisfied that she was properly subdued, he snatched the nail from the dirt and held it up to a dim light bulb. "Impressive. Must've taken you a few hours to file this down so precisely. And you're fast for a big guy…but you're never gonna be faster than Mac, brother."
He walked behind Danse rolling the nail between his ruined fingers. "See I've been in my fair share of jail cells and the key to using a shiv —" He grabbed Danse by his hair and hauled him up onto his knees, "— is to do it in a way that keeps you in control."
Hancock snarled like a beast as he pressed the nail up against Danse's thick neck. A thin rivulet of blood flowed from the small wound as Danse's Adams apple bobbed in his throat.
"NO!" Haylen screamed.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't give your boyfriend here a new windpipe." Hancock snarled at Haylen.
"It's not his fault. I was the one who insulted you, not him." She said quickly. "If you leave Danse alone, I'll do whatever you want. I'll follow you upstairs. I won't fight back. I'll…have sex with you if that's what you want."
"H-Haylen…NO!" Danse choked out behind gritted teeth. "Don't debase yourself t-to protect…me."
Hancock looked at Danse with complete abhorrence, growled in disgust, and threw him aside.
"Follow me, sister." Hancock commanded. "Let her go Mac."
The sniper did as he was ordered and pushed Haylen towards Hancock with such force that she would've crashed into him had her knees not given way beneath her.
"W-what?"
The ghoul leveled a venomous gaze at her. "You told me I could do what I want to you, and I want you to follow me. I asked you nicely before, and now this is me not being so damn nice."
Haylen struggled to her feet. Danse pressed his hands to the gunshot wounds and pleaded, "Dammit … don't…Haylen."
"You're a fucking monster." She spat at Hancock as she walked out of the cell. MacCready followed her wordlessly and kept his weapon trained at her head.
"Bring her up to my office and lock her in there." Hancock ordered. "Then send Reno down to watch this one so he doesn't do any other stupid shit."
"Got it boss." MacCready replied.
Hancock looked at Danse. This beast of a man looked defeated. His dark eyes were hollow and showed no signs of life. He looked like a beaten dog or like a starving kid trying to eek out a living in the Boston ruins, and the ghoul mayor actually felt sorry for him.
"God motherfucking dammit." He grumbled in annoyance.
He fished through his voluminous coat pockets and tossed the man two stimpaks and a syringe of Med-X.
"The bullet passed through both of the muscles so you won't need to go digging for it." He growled. "Patch yourself up so you don't bleed out in my cell. And you best tend to your wounds soon, this cell ain't the cleanest place around and I'd be all heart broken if you died of blood poisoning or some shit."
Danse looked at the aid and met the ghoul's eyes. There was so much emotion swirling beneath his stoic exterior that it was a wonder the soldier didn't self-destruct.
"Don't…hurt Haylen. Please." Danse groaned, half-blinded by pain. "She's young and impulsive. She shouldn't have run her mouth like that but…"
He swallowed and Hancock already knew what the man was trying to say. There was a subtext in Danse's unspoken question. Hancock was many things, but he absolutely wasn't a rapist.
"Relax crew cut. I ain't gonna hurt her. I get it. I'm a disgusting ghoul and you think I'm gonna corrupt your girl's purity because I'm some fucking beast, but believe it or not, I respect a woman's boundaries. We're just gonna have a talk. If she ain't ready to play ball, then I'm sending her back down here to freeze her ass off right along with you. But if you tell me what I need to know, you both can go free. Easy and breezy."
"What do you need to know?" Danse whispered.
"For starters, what would be the best way to ground the Brotherhood's fancy airship. It's a giant blimp so my caps are on an explosion some kind…"
Danse blanched. He looked like he was about to be sick but he pushed it down. "We aren't gonna tell you anything about the Prydwen. I'd rather die than help you kill the only family I've ever known."
A smaller ghoul came up to Hancock. Although shorter and stockier than the mayor, he held a combat rifle with confidence and Danse knew that he had no other choice than to endure continued capture and wait for Haylen to be brought back.
"Anything I should know about the prisoner, mayor?" The smaller ghoul rasped.
Hancock grinned. "He should be pretty subdued now. Just make sure he doesn't try to kill himself in my cell. I need him alive."
"Yes sir."
Danse clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw ached. A raw, burning pain radiated up both his legs and he needed to apply the stimpaks soon. Hurry up and wait, he thought grimly to himself as he tore at his pants leg to get to the bullet wound.
Hurry up and fucking wait.
Nora awoke disoriented and confused in the dark. She reached back for Nick but felt nothing but air. Oh God! Nick was gone? She rolled over and felt around the bedroll blindly but came up empty.
"Nick?" She called out.
She tried to calm herself. Nick was probably fine. He was probably with DiMA. But the asshole voice in her head whispered lies to her. Maybe he was getting back at her for leaving him in much the same fashion back at Sanctuary Hills. Maybe he wasn't even here and she was going insane. Maybe Dr. Secord hurt him to get back at her. Maybe he was dead.
Nora's thoughts spun uncontrollably but she still needed to do something, so she flicked on the table lamp and pulled herself to her feet. She shook the fatigue and grogginess from her head and went to the communication panel on the wall. Just as she was about to contact Dr. Binet as that would've been the most likely place for Nick to go, both of them walked into her living quarters as though summoned.
"I'm sorry for the intrusion Nora." Dr. Binet said. "I was escorting Nick back. He and DiMA had more questions about their respective beginnings; our conversation went long and we lost track of time."
She let out an audible sigh of relief.
"You were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you." Nick said apologetically. "You need your rest."
God she was being stupid. Nick was his own man. He could go where he pleased. Anyone in the Institute would have to answer to her if they even laid a finger on him. She didn't know why she was being so paranoid.
"It's fine." She smiled. Fatigue settled back in her mind now that the panic had left. "Thank you for watching out for him, Dr. Binet."
"My pleasure." He inclined his head to both of them in respect. "Goodnight."
When the door closed, Nora allowed herself to relax a little more. "God Nick. I don't know why I'm so keyed up right now."
"Sit with me and have a drink, doll." Nick said. "When was the last time you just took time out for yourself."
She snorted, "Well…I woke up in a hellish post-apocalyptic world, nearly died several times, and now I'm planning a war where nobody wants to get along long enough to fight the enemy. So I'd say it's been a while."
"Then let's fix that." He replied.
Nora plopped down onto the couch and leaned up against Nick's side. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small silver flask and passed it to her.
"What's this?"
"A local specialty from a little bar in Far Harbor. DiMA had me look in on a couple of things and I kept getting pulled back into town. The bar keep was one of the few people who didn't hate me on account of what I am. I ended up clearing him of an attempted rape charge which saved him from being executed and he repaid me with some of his specialty spiced tarberry wine."
Nora unscrewed the cap and took a drink. The wine was a little tart and sour but had a sweet finish.
"Are people always paying you with alcohol?" She gently teased. "It's a wonder that you aren't evicted from your agency. I don't think I've ever seen you get paid for your services."
"You paid me." Nick pointed out.
"No, actually I didn't. I tried to pay you but you wouldn't accept my money."
"I don't do this job for the money." He replied. "And it didn't seem right asking for money from the town. They have it bad up there. What with the radioactive fog, the mutated amphibious life, the half-insane raiders, the Children of the Atom, and the wolves, it's a wonder anyone can successfully live on the island."
"Somehow DiMA does." Nora pointed out.
Nick nodded, "Yes. Acadia is … unique. It's no Diamond City but it's safe and comfortable. Chase and Faraday run a tight ship but they both genuinely care about those who find themselves needing a place to lie low and recuperate."
"But…?"
Nick sighed, "But DiMA believes Acadia should be a refuge for synths and synths alone. He believes that Gen-3 synths shouldn't try to assimilate into the Commonwealth, at least not if they have to pretend to be human, and he wants Acadia to be some utopian place where synths don't have to hide what they are."
"And you don't agree?" Nora asked.
Nick shrugged, "This whole segregation thing might protect synths in the short-term, but hiding away from the world because we are different is proving to everyone else that being something other than human is shameful. I'd rather deal with the uncomfortable xenophobic moments in Diamond City than hide away in some colony because of what I am."
Nora nodded. "There's nothing to be ashamed of about being what you are."
"I know that, doll." He replied quickly and then he sighed. "But…look…uh…can I ask your advice on something?"
She sat up and turned to look at Nick. His expression looked thoughtful but the polymer over his eyes furrowed which gave him a grave look.
"Of course Nick."
"So…Dr. Binet and DiMA have been talking through whether either of could upgrade to a Gen-3 body if we wanted to. Dr. Binet said it would be impossible for DiMA as his mind, his consciousness, is completely organic and is constantly developing and learning. Replicating that type of advanced consciousness into a Gen-3's body is impossible. But my mind, my personality hasn't changed all that much in the past century and a half. If Dr. Binet could scan my current memories, he could hypothetically upload my mind into a Gen-3 body."
Nora sat up and looked at the synth. "What are you saying Nick?"
He held up his skeletal hand and flexed the digits in front of Nora's face. "Doll, although I don't agree with DiMA's desire to segregate synths, I can't help but wonder how things would be different, maybe even better, if I retired this old body of mine. My hand, for example, gives me nothing but trouble. It's hard to maintain and clean, it doesn't have any feeling or sensation to temperature or pressure, and it's unsettling on a good day and downright freaky on other days. Parts scavenged from other Gen-2 synths are not compatible with my body, yet Gen-3 synths are too advanced to be of any use to me either."
Nick sighed and gently took Nora's hand into his skeletal one. "And that's not to mention the holes in my neck and my — ahem — lack of some key components. Who knows what else is wrong with my internal components. I just…this body wasn't meant to last as long as it has. I've needed repairs and upgrades on a fair amount of my drives, internal mechanisms, and diagnostic software capabilities, but Dr. Amari lacks the mechanical know-how to do much with my internal components. She's a fantastic brain doc, but she's not a robotic engineer. At least not someone who is as knowledgeable as Dr. Binet."
He cleared his throat and then added, "I think these changes would help me see myself as less of a machine and more as a human. It's something I realized since I met DiMA. He knows that he is an advanced machine with a brilliant mind and an organic personality, and he's okay being seen as other or alien. But I see myself as human — or as close to human as I possibly can — and I'd like to take some steps to help the outside match how I see myself on the inside."
Nora blinked a few times as she processed everything that Nick had said. "Nick — wow, this is uh — wow."
"Mind you, this isn't going to happen any time soon but I just wanted to pick your brain and hear what you thought." Nick replied.
Nora leaned back against Nick and brought his skeletal hand up to her lips. She kissed his rusted knuckles and reassuringly squeezed his intact hand.
"I love the person you are, not how you look. If doing this will make you happy, then I'm all for it. But I want you to do this because it's something you want, not because you think you need to change for me."
He smiled and then nodded. "Thanks, doll."
Nick wrapped both of his arms around Nora, and he gently pulled her against him so she could sit between his splayed legs. Then he placed a gentle, chaste kiss on her shoulder. She took another drink of the tarberry wine and sighed contently. They sat in silence for a long while, long enough for Nora to have finished the wine and passed the empty flask back to Nick. There wasn't enough wine to get her drunk, but the potent homemade brew pulled pleasant flush to her cheeks.
While the alcohol was a welcome distraction, it did relax her guard just enough for one of her more nagging fears to fight its way to the surface.
"Nick…can I ask you something?"
"Of course, doll." He murmured.
"I — uh. I don't exactly know how to ask this and I feel foolish for worrying so much but…" Nora swallowed and grabbed Nick's arms and wrapped them around her like a security blanket. "Would you consider going back to Far Harbor with DiMA? At least until after this whole conflict with The Brotherhood is over?"
Nick chortled, "No doll. I'll be right by your side until the bitter end."
Nora turned to him. "See, that's what I'm afraid of Nick. I — I've lost so much already. I can't lose you too."
The synth sighed and wrapped Nora up in a hug. He kissed her temple and then her cheek and finally lips. "I'm not going anywhere." He said firmly.
Nora buried her face in his chest and squeezed her eyes together so tightly to suppress her tears that she was starting to get a headache.
"Hey." Nick whispered and he pulled her off him and cupped her cheek in his polymer hand. "You don't have to worry about me Nora. I've survived a century and a half in this world. I've been in more gunfights than I can count. I've been shot, stabbed, thrown off a three-story building, and mauled, and yet I'm still here."
"Wait…you were mauled?"
Nick gestured to the tears in his neck. "A client of mine disappeared and I tracked him down. Found the poor bastard torn limb from limb right outside a yao guai den. Unfortunately for me, momma bear was still home and she wasn't too happy to see me there. Arturo found me while he was out scavenging the ruins and patched me up as best he could but my neck was torn up pretty good."
"What I'm getting at Nora is I'm not gonna run away from this fight just because it is dangerous. I'm by your side. Always."
Nora nodded once. Thin tears slid down her cheeks and she bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from totally breaking down. Truthfully, she expected Nick's answer but that didn't remove the core of what bothered her. Synth Nate's death marked the second time that Mama Murphy's prophecy had come true. Of the three who love you, one will forget you, one will cease to exist, and one will perish with your name last on his lips.
Synth Nate's last words echoed in her head: I love you Nora. Me. Not Him. His last words solidified that although he was a clone of her late husband, Synth Nate was his own person. Just like Nick. And that person died in her arms on that cold and rocky shoreline with Nora's name one of the last things he ever said.
Nora looked at Nick. His golden eyes glowed with vitality and life. His thin lips pursed in concern and he opened his mouth to say something but must've thought better of it. He watched her just as intently and they sat together, entwined together, like one complete unit. Nick's resolve bolstered Nora's strength and guided her through the depressive thoughts that weighed her down. Likewise, Nora's love and unconditional acceptance pushed Nick past his own insecurities and feelings of inadequacy. Nora needed Nick just like he needed her.
"Doll —"
"— Don't upgrade to a Gen-3 body."
"What?"
Nora closed her eyes and she shook her head. God she was being foolish and selfish, but she knew no other way to avoid her worst fear.
"I'm sorry Nick. I just — uploading your mind into a Gen-3 synth is a big risk isn't it? It took several attempts to get Pre-War Nick's personality to stick. Who's to say that the process will even work? I can't lose you Nick. I can talk to someone in Advanced Systems or Robotics and see if they can patch up your hand and your neck with material that we have scavenged. Hell, I'll see if I can find you a strap-on dildo if you want a penis so badly…but don't change because you think it's what I want."
Nick frowned. "Doll, am I correct in assuming this sudden change-of-heart is because of the prophecy? Is that what's been eating at you? You think I'll cease to exist?"
Nora flushed. Now she felt like a childish schoolgirl who was putting too much stock into horoscopes and tarot card readings.
"Look I know it's stupid, but it came true with Hancock and Nate, and I can't take the chance that something bad would happen to you, even if you're changing for the right reasons. I stand by what I said. I love you Nick Valentine. I love your rough edges and your defects and the fact that you smoke like a chimney. But please…at least for now, stay exactly the way you are. You are perfect."
"Nora…" Nick sighed. "God — I — uh. I don't know what to say."
Nora cupped his tattered cheek. "Don't say anything Nick. Just kiss me. Please. I haven't seen you in weeks. Help me forget all of this other shit. I only need you."
Nick's lips were on hers milliseconds after she finished talking. He groaned and his hot breath tickled her nose. His tongue ran over hers dominant and self-assured as he cupped her face in his hands like she was the most precious yet fragile thing in the world. Nora's head spun and she held onto Nick's back melting against him like some dime-store novel dame. He broke off their kiss just long enough for Nora to take a breath before he took her again and picked her up. She wrapped her strong legs around his slim waist but it didn't matter; Nick let go of her face and cupped her ass and held her against him.'
"P—please Nick." she groaned against his lips. "I need you."
"You've got me, doll." He growled and set Nora on the bed. "Now lay back and let me take care of you."
He parted Nora's legs and slipped in between them with a gracefulness and self-assuredness that made Nora tremble in anticipation. They were both still fully clothed which added to the urgency of their mutual needs. Nora grabbed the hem of the Institute tunic she wore to pull it off but Nick shook his head.
"The top stay on, doll." He commanded. "The pants can go otherwise this will be a little more tricky."
Nora cocked an eyebrow at him but obeyed and shirked off her underwear and scrub-like pants and tossed them onto the floor with Nick's trench coat. She noticed that he was wearing a light grey and white pinstripe button-down shirt instead of his customary off-white business-formal affair. His dark blue suspenders were new and they accentuated the gold of Nick's eyes.
"You go shopping at the Far Harbor mall while you were away?" She teased and ran her finger down his chest in appreciation.
"Figured that after ten years of wearing the same old thing, I could use a wardrobe update. You know…clothes make the man and all that." His low voice sounded slightly tight and airy.
"That they do." Nora purred. "I like it. Especially these." She fingered the elastic on the suspenders and playfully snapped them against his chest. "It's a shame they're coming off."
"Oh they're not coming off, doll. Tonight is all about you."
"Then why do you want me to keep my shirt on?" She grumbled half-heartedly.
Nick crawled up her body like a predatory cat. "The shirt stays on because I've always had a thing for a woman in uniform, and because" — He settled his body over hers so his clothed pelvis was flush against Nora's bare vulva. "— I get a thrill out of the fact that I have the Institute Director completely and utterly at my mercy."
Nora's breath hitched. She shuddered and her hips ground against Nick's. The friction was nice but she desperately wanted to glide across his smooth, bare sex.
"Please…" She begged. "Don't tease me."
Nick's smile turned positively vulpine. "Oh Nora…that's all I have planned for you. Dr. Binet informed me that you have a 9 A.M. Directorate meeting to finalize the battle plans. That gives me six hours to have you all to myself."
"You must have quite the stamina." She teased.
"Synths typically do, doll. Care to find out just how much?"
Nora grabbed him by the suspenders and pulled him against her. She kissed him hungrily and hooked her foot behind his hips to keep him still.
"I think I'm up for the challenge."