Jack's people didn't waste any time.

I arrived home to find out they'd popped in and gotten my stuff already and my mother was waiting outside with a stormy look on her face.

"Arabella!" she shouts. And it…

Jars me. It's arresting. I'd almost thought my name was Babydoll. It's actually kind of upsetting. I like 'Babydoll' better.

"Mom?" I say as she approaches me. "I didn't think they'd move me out so fast-"

"What do you think you're doing?" she asks, in an imperious tone. "Shacking up with a man you've only known through a few chance meetings?"

If I was a mother and my daughter had posited that she was moving in with a guy after one 'actual kind of not a date' I might also be a bit skeptical, so… "I'm not actually living with him. He's just helping me get an apartment so we can date without any weird… inter-office politics getting in the way."

She huffs. "Putting you in a Hyperion building, no doubt!"

I mean, I think he'd suggested that, yeah. But still even if he hadn't, I likely would've. The whole possessive urge to have his name everywhere and all over the people he likes, thing- that'd come in handy. As long as he feels totally possessive, he's still interested and will still consider me worthy of protection.

"Yeah, I'd guess so," I reply. "I don't mind that. If we break up, I can come home, and he can hand that apartment over to someone else. Not really a big deal."

"Not-" she looks like she's about to have an apoplectic fit, the way she stutters and her eyes twitch and her face goes red. "Not a- a big deal? It's Handsome Jack. Darling, I know you don't remember-"

"He saved Elpis, you know," I see fit to remind her. "Before he became Hyperions' CEO, even. He did that. So if he's ruthless or whatever, I think it's only as much as it needs to be."

Complete lie. At least I think so. I still don't know the 'real' Jack enough yet to be able to say.

Funny how that little story was true, though. He definitely did those things, went into the vault and save Elpis and everything. I found out about that after taking a day trip over there to ask Janey Springs.

She sighs explosively. "Is that the story he told you, to make you think this is a good idea?"

"Jack didn't tell me shit," I reply. A little more caustic than usual. "I got that story from the source, which I'm sure you already know. Though you are a bit slow on the uptake, so let me lead you there."

I step forward and point up, toward Elpis. "That trip I took up there before I went to the party, what did you think I was doing?"

She is incredibly displeased, but part of her expression says 'okay that's fair' which honestly surprises me.

Wait. Is this just how people communicate here? Oh god that's weird and awful.

"I see," she replies tersely. "So you have given this consideration. I simply do not understand why."

I could tell her the 'survival' argument, but she'd probably argue I could've chosen anyone. Anyone from within their company, even.

"Have you seen him?" is what I choose to say. "Or heard him talk? I mean I know you did that one day at the party, but have you actually spent any time at all with him without being a hostile ass? He's charming. He's quick-witted, he knows how to meet you blow-for-blow. I know I don't come off as an intellectual to you, but I kind of require a little bit of challenge in my relationships to be happy. Or so I've found. And nobody else… has what I need."

I've talked to very few people since getting here, but… I've noticed a demonstrable lack of ability in the whole 'conversation' area. They're 'technical' geniuses in some cases, but not… emotionally intelligent.

Jack is both. It's… fascinating.

"I see," she says. Echoing herself. "And if he becomes a danger to you?"

"He won't," I reply. "He's got plenty of exes who are all alive. They might not like him, for whatever reason, but they haven't been killed, which means the women he dates are probably pretty off-limits for the usual shenanigans he gets into."

My 'mother' blinks and her expression suddenly clears. "And so you are the 'pet' of one of the most powerful and bloodthirsty men on Pandora."

Taking a deep breath, she seems to finally accept what's happening. It's weird. But the fact that she sees the point of it, not only for my happiness but also tactically…

"You can see what I mean about needing to be challenged," I say to her. "You've been mentally engaging me since the day I woke up. If I can't find someone who can at least keep up with my mother, exactly how useful are they even going to be?"

She titters as if flattered and cups my jaw in her hands, pressing a kiss to my forehead before I can react. "You'll do fine, my dear."

And isn't that just the most shocking thing to happen to me, all day?

Jack POV

You know, I'm not often wrong about a person, but it's always kinda… what's the word? It's eh… surprising? When a person has managed to gain my confidence and then like.

Validates it.

That's different.

I mean, you know, I never trust anybody, no matter how sweet the ass or how big the eyes- but to a certain point, I figure I can be sure they won't try and kill me without a good reason.

Arabella Mainstream. Wow, isn't she a trip.

Her entire past is totally irrelevant, because amnesia has its hooks in her brain. And I verified that. I verified the hell out of it. See, cause I knew, Arabella Mainstream.

I didn't know her well, but uh. I knew she was as snooty as her ma and twice as vicious.

But the girl I met at that party was soft and naive. She got sharper and smarter with every meeting, but… something about it was blunted. At least in my direction.

I might've taken it as a sign that the past her had some kinda weird crush on me if I didn't know her type used to be girls like Nisha.

She fled from Nisha at the party, though. Didn't give her a backwards glance.

Watched her as she seemed even a little bit irritated at Nisha's attitude. There was this adorable little wrinkle her pretty forehead.

Everything about her personality was different. Even her sharp wit was tempered with something like fondness? It's like she looked at the world around her with no expectations.

'Isn't it cute how terrible people are?' her eyes seemed to say.

And when she looks at me, there's this weird, complicated thing. I can't even tell what it means.

But it makes her step closer and play the game with me, instead of stepping back. That almost always means that the person wants something from me.

The first time we met, she had no idea who I was. I could tell that was a genuine reaction. And later, she'd honestly had no intentions of seeking me out for any kinda sugar-anything situation, I could tell that, too.

But when she'd realized it was on the table? She jumped.

The thing is, I don't think she did it because I had her cornered, like I'd tried to make her believe. I could see that she knew better. She just realized the reason I wanted her to think so, was because I wanted her. That shit was apparently enough to kick everyone elses' ass down a notch on her priority list.

Hearing the audio feed, though…

"He saved Elpis, you know," her voice was tight and irritated. "Before he became Hyperions' CEO, even. He did that. So if he's ruthless or whatever, I think it's only as much as it needs to be."

That made me think she was as naive as she looked, most definitely. If she heard one thing about me that was good and she'd decided I was a nice guy… it was actually a little disappointing. Till I heard the rest.

And what a damn sight better it was, to know she'd already thought through all the angles and decided it was worth it anyway? Even if it did make my stomach feel cold and heavy. At least she knew I wasn't gonna kill her over a couple spat, I guess.

The thing about spying on everyone you come into contact with, to stay ahead of assassination attempts, is that you end up hearing shit you never wanted to hear.

When her mom walks away, she turns away and sighs, slumping in exhaustion.

She mutters to herself about 'masks within masks' and walks toward the workers loading the last of her shit onto the moving transport, asking for a ride over.

That's when I tune out, switching off the listening device and camera.

It's not like it's a shock that she puts on a persona and lies to people… but it is a little bit of a shock that I could tell what she was doing even before she revealed herself at the end.

Because of her whole amnesia thing, she was still learning shit. So the bits and pieces of her personality I'd seen and recognized, those were genuine. Because I could tell she was still finding her footing.

But it's weird. Really fucking batshit weird.

The parts of her that aren't real, are all the sharp parts.

She's learning to put up a front- not to hide her real 'ugly' nature under a veneer. No. She's putting up sharp bits to hide the soft bits. That's different. That's gonna get her killed.

It makes me feel a little twitch of relief up my spine that I'd snapped her up when I did.

Clearly the planet wasn't gonna 'corrupt' her, it was gonna kill her.

Glad to be right, but hell. I'm gonna have to get her in that bunker we talked about pretty soon or somebody was gonna get ideas and do something stupid. Maybe I could-

No, no- don't wanna go down that road. Girlfriends are different. It's like she said. Can't do the same shit in a relationship if you want it to last. I'm not technically dating her yet, so anything goes… but as soon as I am…

Well, there's cut off points. After you start dating, there's certain things you just can't do if you want the other person to genuinely like you and not just fear you.

It's not like I have a problem with people fearing me, but I happen to like it when my girlfriends… uh… like me.

And this is a weird relationship. It's starting out weird. Or at least, compared to the ones I had before. Usually, I just meet people and we date. That's it. No weird contracts or agreements.

But Babydoll's always been different. From the moment we met. The way she talked to me, even after she realized who I was… it was like something I didn't realize I'd missed. Just being two normal people talking to each other.

The way she equalized us every time she was around. The way she walked with presence and looked me right in my eye- the real one. Like she knew, somehow.

And there was also the fact that she stared at me like she couldn't get enough of my face, that too.

Turning toward the monitors, I flick 'em back on and wait until she walks into the apartment building and hit the controls. Shifting my view to the outside of the apartment building- the security cams.

I'll have to deactivate every tracker I had on her till now. The hardest part of all this is telling them about the trackers and the cameras and all the spying that went with it.

But I think maybe this time, it won't be so hard. She'll look me dead in the eye and say 'whatever Jack' and move on with her day.

Some part of me is almost upset about it, I dunno why.

Maybe I should go and see her…

Nah.

Later.