Jeanine was standing behind us with arms crossed. Her hair was blowing gently in the wind and her gray eyes were looking at the sky.
- Jean ... - I called her. My face was hot and probably red.
Christina was mortified. Her mouth was open and her face was deep red.
- Well ... I think it's time to go. - She took off her glasses and disappeared.
Once she was gone, Jeanine looked back at me.
- You were saying to your friend how I am in the bed?
I realized that I was fool to think there was nothing worse than Christina asking me embarrassing questions. Jeanine asking me questions was much worse.
- No! - I responded immediately - Not exactly ... She was just wondering about ...
At this point, Jeanine started laughing. A sharp and musical laughter. A real laughter, coming from the depths of her soul.
And I was torn between staying relieved that she was not disgusted or angry because she was having fun at the expense of my embarrassment.
- I do not care. - she shrugged - It's not like people don't know what two persons who are together do ...
She smirked.
- Oh, please Jean! - I covered my face with my hands - Please! You also want to dedicate your day to embarrass me?
Jeanine shook her head, smiling, and walked the rest of the way to me.
She put both hands on my shoulders and kissed me.
- My poor Beatrice. Abnegation will never leave you, right?
- With regard to this kind of subject? I do not think so.
We kissed again.
My lips went down to her neck, kissing and biting gently. Her smell ... By God, it maddened me.
- Not that I do not like the place you have created. - She said - But today I want spend our time in a particular place.
I raised my head from her neck.
- What?
She looked around, then looked down at her hands.
- This really works, right?
- Yeah. - I said - Anything do you want, when and the way you want. I love it.
- Right. - she grabbed both my hands in hers - Then come with me.
We both closed our eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, we were in a bedroom.
Not in any bedroom, but in her bedroom.
Above us, we could see the stars twinkling over the ceiling glass under which was her bed.
The bed was unmade, just as we had left the last time we slept there.
And we were on the same bed, embraced under the sheets in which we made love for the first time.
It was like I was coming home.
- Oh my god ... - I muttered unable to complete my sentence.
Jeanine was looking around, haunted.
- That's really fascinating. - she thought for a moment - Let's see ... A melon. I want a melon.
Immediately, the fruit arose into her hands, entire and closed. Jeanine rolled her eyes.
- From what I see, I must be very specific. I want a sliced melon. On a tray.
The entire melon disappeared, and in its place came up a tray with several slices of melon cut into small pieces.
She took a slice and bit it.
- Perfect.
- Sorry, but you seem a bit childish. You know, a child playing with a new toy.
Jeanine shrugged.
- That's exactly what I thought the first time I saw you using these "powers".
I just laughed, without a smart answer to give her.
- Okay, you're right. I believe it is impossible to act like a mature adult with this thing. It's too much fun.
- Indeed. - Jeanine takes another slice of melon and put it in my mouth.
I can't say it's my favorite fruit in the world, but is relatively tasty.
There, looking at her quiet face, I imagine how she must have been as child. Then her cries of pain coming back to my mind, and I shudder.
-What is wrong?
The tranquility left her face. It was as if a wind had destroyed a house of cards.
We were in a deadly silence. At that time I tried to change my facial expressions, trying to pretend that did not happen me something terrible. But Jeanine is too intelligent.
She just looked at me in silence while I decided what to do.
I recomposed as I could.
-Today David called me into his office. -I said in a calm voice. -He tried to test me. He began to talk about the shortcomings of the impure, but then... showed me that audio ... I... I did hear a torture.
Jeanine's face remained hard and unchanged, except for her eyes, all she was unable to keep expressionless. They turned dark as the ashes of a fire.
-I understand. - She finally said. Then she looked a bit lost, as if she unsure what to say. -I know it's hard, dear. Something dies inside of you when that happens. But why you? Perhaps he suspected.
-When what happens? - I interrupted.
Jeanine didn't see me.
- When your presence torture or when you were tortured?
She finally looked me in the eyes, with a mixture of confusion, worry, and deep down, perhaps premonition.
- Both of them. - she whispered.
At that time I didn't want say it. I could say nothing and ignore the ghost, but I could not and would not ignore a stone well.
-Listen - I took her hand. -In the audio they not tortured a stranger. It was a little girl. And she was you.
Jeanine didn't react immediately. We had five seconds of intense, long, until confused look. I didn't know whether to apologize or comfort her or be angry or anything. It was an eternity of silence in five seconds.
-Oh ... - she broke eye contact. - I see.
And then her hand began to tremble.
The tremor ran up her arm. I looked fascinated the phenomenon before look her eyes, searching for an explanation. But Jeanine looked at her arm with an emotion, finally, in her face: terror.
-Damn. - she mumbled.
With the other hand made a desperate effort to keep her arm still, but it don't worked. After the initial moment of fear I reacted.
-What is this? What happens to you?
-My personal version of crying. -hse said with her voice a little broken. -I can not mourn, so my body reacts other way to extreme sadness. It will stop, just give me a moment.
She said without looking at me, embarrassed. Stupid woman.
Following an idea, rather it was a reaction, brought her to me and hugged her with all my strength.
Not knowing where I got the words, I began to murmur soothing words in her ear, not knowing if those words were lies or not. Before thinking more she stopped shaking as quickly as it had begun.
I didn't let her go immediately, unsure that it had not finished. But it was the same Jeanine who broke the embrace, quietly and without looking at me, sad, but not a tear in her eyes.
- Nevertheless, I do not hate him. I can not hate him.
I didn't need to ask who she meant. It was obvious that she spoke of her father.
- I don't understand. I don't understand how you don't hate him. Just listen the audio that made me hate him. And yet you, that felt all that ...
She set her damp and gray eyes on me.
- He did what he believed was right - she answered quietly. - A sacrifice for the greater good, just like me. I also did horrible things, even worse than the things he did. Yet, you hate me?
I could not find an answer, and I don't really care about that. I looked her and her broken figure, the horror and the complexity of the situation.
For years, some people had decided to change human nature. When the modifications did not give the expected result, they decided to discard these same human beings and treat them as if they were nothing, taking other people to do horrible things with the goal of repair and repel this injustice.
Humans as Jeanine.
No. I had to stop as soon as possible.
But now I had a more important task to do. I needed to fix it. Needed to make her heart stop bleeding.
Using her left shoulder as support, I leaned over to kiss her. I pressed my mouth to her's with strength and determination, wanting to shed in that kiss, all the love I felt, wanting it to be enough. Her hands found their way to my waist, molding itself perfectly into my curves. When she touched me, I noticed that her hands trembled in a different way, a way I had learned to recognize. It was not anger, nor sorrow, nor discomfort. It was desire. Slowly, my lips down to her neck, lingering on every centimeter of exposed skin. I wanted her to forget all the pain she felt, all the hurt and all the blame. I wanted her to feel pleasure. Much pleasure as I was able to give her.
- You know ... - I whispered in her ear. - I don't believe a word of what David told me. You're not damaged, and I'm not 100% pure. You and I are so pure and impure as anyone else. All human beings are good and bad things, and all they can be good and bad. I would not love you if I don't believe it. And yet I'm here, and I love you. Very much.
I turned to see her eyes, and they were clouded. She seemed lost and feverish, and looked at me hungry.
- I love you. - She replied, and then captured my lips in a deep kiss.
That place was very familiar, like that scene. Both of us under that glass ceiling, our bodies together, our thirsty lips, our breathing and our moans. The smell of the sheets.
I pushed her back on the bed, and my hands gripped her hips. Her hands were immediately to the bottom of my shirt, and I raised my arms, so it slipped out of my body. She touched the place of my tattoos, and the feel of her fingers caused me a thrill, and an unbearable heat in my belly.
Fortunately, the clothes she wore were now easier to deal with than Erudite's clothes she used to wear. A happy change, because my patience at that point, was in a very low level.
Jeanine also was quick to get rid of the rest of my clothes.
I did not mind that it was only a simulation. At that point I just wanted to touch her as if there was nothing else. As if the world besides the two of us didn't exist.