Your Iron Heart
The young girl at the driver's seat of the old Cadillac floored the
accelerator after the traffic light changed. It was an odd view to
watch a teenager driving a century old car at such high speeds through
the streets. Stranger was the way the other vehicles acted, moving out
of her way smoothly even before she could be seen on their rear view
screens or mirrors.
If she were in a less urgent situation, she would have been amused by
the surprised and exasperated faces of the other drivers, expecting an
ambulance or some other sort of official vehicle to be the cause of the
activation of their car's automatic systems, only to see a VERY old
automobile guided by a VERY young girl pass them by. On their info
screens, they would only see the message: "Technical support vehicle on
assignment. Clearing."
Of course that was just the truth, as strange as it seemed. The girl
was actually dressed in a dark-blue overall sporting multiple stains
from various sources. That and the blue cap over her head were the only
visual trademarks of her occupation. So hastily had she left for this
assignment, she hadn't had the time to tidy herself in the least. She
looked at herself in the rear view mirror. Her face was just partly
visible; hazel eyes looked back behind red, almost orange, bangs. She
throw her cap on the back seat and arranged her fiery strands in a
ponytail with a small rubber band. There. Now at least she was
presentable. She was grateful right now for all those automatic systems
on the other cars, that way she just had to concentrate on reaching her
destiny as fast as she could.
After a while, she screeched to a halt at the gates of some residential
area. In front of the driver's window a retinal scanner and a
holographic image of a man in uniform appeared. The girl let her eyes
be scanned and started to speak to the image.
"Katherine Ledi from Svenson's Electronics, tech unit number 14780. The
Tunner family is waiting for me!"
The image flickered a bit, the system confirming the inorganic nature
of the eye just scanned and crosschecking it with the given unit's
number. The hologram then responded in a flat, emotionless tone.
"I don't have you scheduled. Do you have an appointment?"
"No, I don't. Listen, it's sort of an emergency! Contact Mrs. Tunner,
Osmond Road number 405, she'll tell you!"
The image flickered again, as impassive as always. "Just a moment."
Katherine started to tap impatiently on the wheel with her fingers.
"You are clear to proceed. Mrs. Tunner has been informed of your
arrival." With that, the gates opened letting Katherine and her car
enter.
"Thanks a lot."
"You're welcome, unit 14780."
If Katherine had more time, she would had argued with the holographic
system that she visited so regularly the Tunner's house that it should
have remembered her by now and let her pass. 'It must do it on
purpose', figured Katherine as she passed the gate to the residential
area, choosing to ignore for a moment the fact that surveillance units
had imprinted never to take anything for granted, specially when it
comes to the visit of any outsider. Anyway, she had more important
things to process right now.
She quickly parked on the Tunner's driveway and got out of the car.
Unloading a tool bag from the back seat, she hurriedly run to the front
door. As soon as she was there the door opened and Mrs. Tunner met her.
She had the appearance of a middle aged woman, shoulder-length wavy
blonde hair (with just some hints of white here and there for effect),
blue eyes and a slightly rounded figure that was currently covered with
an apron.
"Hello Rose! I'm here to check on Andrea," stated an anxious Katherine
to her old friend.
"Good afternoon dear Kat, thanks for coming." answered a happy Rose
Tunner. She noticed the worried look on the young tech girl and let her
in. "Don't worry too much, it's nothing critical. We could have visited
you at the workshop but Roger is out of town and he took the car.
Andrea is at her room right now. She has disconnected her lower legs'
functions to avoid discomfort."
"Her room? She should have avoided any kind of efforts." Katherine
directed a chastising look to her host.
"I know," answered the middle aged woman with a sigh. "I told her to
wait for you before she tried to climb stairs but you know how kids
are."
"Mm hmm, I should know, shouldn't I?" Katherine got a serious
expression from that last remark.
Rose laughed a bit looking at Katherine's face, catching her meaning.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. You could surely pass as a daughter
of mine but I know your stored memory surpasses mine by thousands of
Terabytes."
Rose's overall calm demeanor made Katherine calm a little in return.
She noticed she was being obnoxious without reason. Well, she was
worried, that was the reason. As soon as she had received notice that
Andrea was injured, she practically flew to her Cadillac with a bag of
tools and run for the Tunner's house. She took a deep breath, restarted
her emotional buffers and tried to act more like her normal self.
"No problem, Rose" she answered, trying to smile. "I'm sorry, it's just
that your call left me a little jumpy."
"I'm sorry if I made you worry, dear. But you hung up in such a hurry
that you didn't let me explain the details."
"Sorry, I just... wanted to be here as soon as possible."
"There you are, apologizing again. You are sounding more like a
daughter of mine than my technician, and that appearance of yours
doesn't help a bit. Oh, but if you don't want me to refer to that topic
again I'll mark it as 'undesirable' for future references."
"Don't do that. It's not really that a big deal to me. I was the one
who decided to keep this outer shell. It may look young but we have
been through a lot together. It may also get me in curious situations
sometimes but I wouldn't think of changing it for any other in the
world."
Rose smiled at that. "I think I know how you feel. Raising a young unit
like Andrea may be tough sometimes, but I wouldn't change the
experience for anything either. Even if she is so stubborn at times."
"Don't say those things of me in front of Kat!" they heard someone yell
from upstairs. "Kat! Please come to my room! I'm stuck here!"
Both Mrs. Tunner and Katherine laughed a bit at this. "Your patient is
calling you, it seems," the former said.
"Yeah, but if she has the power to yell like that, she can't be that
ill!"
Rose laughed again. "Well, she's all yours, Doctor." The apparently
older android waved and turned to a side door. "I'll be in the kitchen
if you need anything. I hope you can join us for dinner."
"Certainly, Rose. Thanks a lot. I'll see you in a bit." With that
Katherine climbed up the stairs to Andrea's room.
'I swear...,' thought Rose. 'The way she worries about Andrea, she
behaves more like a mother than a technician. Or even...' She resumed
making dinner, a little smile on her lips.
The Tunners were old acquaintances, so Katherine was very familiar with
the house and the room dispositions. She entered without announcement
to a room frilly decorated to the tastes of a teenager. With pop stars
posters on the walls and the occasional stuffed animal here and there.
But scattered among those common things were not so common books of
sciences, math, computers and artificial intelligence, and also some
drawings of technical designs and schematics. At the opposite side of
the room the bed could be found, and on top of the bed, the owner of
such room was grudgingly seated. Her back at the headboard and her legs
straight in front of her right in the middle of the mattress.
Andrea was still using her cheerleading uniform from school, which
consisted right now of a plaid blue skirt, white socks and a yellow
pullover with the school logo on it. She wasn't using shoes right now,
and Katherine could see them resting oddly at the wall in front of the
bed, surely hastily removed by their owner before shutting down her
legs' functions. Andrea looked like a beautiful girl in her late teens,
with dirty blonde hair that went past her shoulders, green eyes, a cute
little nose and the hint of some freckles over her rosy cheeks.
Andrea's semblance brightened quite a bit when she caught Katherine's
entrance.
"Kat! So good to see you!" she said eagerly. With a wave of her arms
she motioned for Katherine to come closer and give her a hug.
"How's my best patient doing?" asked Katherine while complying. Andrea
sighed a little and let her go after a moment, smiling all the while.
"Not so bad, but mom insisted in me not moving from here... Specially
after a crack she heard while I was trying to climb the stairs," she
continued sheepishly.
Katherine's voice took a serious tone while she seated at the side of
the bed. "Andrea, you should take better care of yourself. If not for
you then for your family, and for myself. I was really worried when
your mom called. I dropped everything I was doing and came here as fast
as I could."
Andrea lowered her gaze and blushed, feeling really bad about it. She
could act defiant with her parents, but not with Katherine. Her respect
for the other android was the strongest she had for any conscious
being.
"I'm sorry," she softly spoke. "I didn't want to make you or mom worry
about me. It's just that I didn't think it was that bad. I thought mom
was exaggerating. After all, I didn't sense anything serious while I
got home."
"Mother knows best, didn't you know?" Katherine let a little smile
crept to her voice, to avoid sounding angry. "And she worries because
she loves you. And I worry because... well because I like your family a
lot. And I wouldn't feel good for having to charge your parents with an
outrageous repairing bill!"
Katherine's soft words made Andrea chuckle and feel a little better. At
least Katherine wasn't mad at her. Still, she felt a little
disappointed for some reason from that last statement, but decided not
to dwell on it. After having lightened the mood a little, Katherine
decided to get down to business.
"Now let me check how serious it is before you shut yourself down from
ignoring internal warnings."
"Yes ma'am!" Andrea smiled some at that and then adopted a mock serious
attitude. Katherine kneeled at the left side of the bed and carefully
took one of Andrea's legs.
"Hmmm... Now tell me, how did it happened?" Katherine began activating
scanners inside her hands and directing them at Andrea's left foot.
"Well, it was during practice. I think I strained myself more than it
was worth it, specially since we already knew the routine perfectly.
The problem is, we're going against Alfa High next week and we need to
be flawless against them. You know how they're almost all expensive,
high tech units around there."
Although Katherine was concentrated on her job she was also listening
attentively to Andrea's story. Just one of the advantages of
multifunctionality. She commented on that point with what she knew.
"Well, I certainly have never serviced one of them, so they must be
really well manufactured or have a private contract for maintenance."
Katherine approached Andrea's left ankle with her hand and winced in
sympathy at what her sensors told her.
"Anyway," Andrea continued, trying to distract herself from Katherine's
expression, "I was making some flips and jumps ground level, just to
see if I could do them all in a row at maximum speed. I had calculated
everything: distance, speed, momentum, even wind resistance!" Andrea
tried to make herself sound impressive in front of her idol. She had a
great respect for Katherine and didn't want the older android to think
of her as clumsy or impulsive. She wanted to be someday like that wise
and beautiful android that resembled so much her own age but was so
much more mature.
"The problem was that I hadn't noticed the ground surface!" she
continued apologetically. "Apparently they had polished the back of the
gym floor for a special ceremony or something and it was more slippery
than I had recorded. The result was that I lost my balance and tried to
compensate by stretching my legs and dig my feet hard, but I think I
got the android equivalent of a strained ankle."
"I can sense that," said Katherine while holding Andrea's foot. "Girl,
I think you smashed your dermal feet sensors. And I see a bump here
that must be the result of the crack your mother heard before."
The tech turned her head around and looked at Andrea's sneakers. She
zoomed on them to have a better look.
"Good thing you were wearing those. They absorbed most of the impact.
If you had used normal footwear the damage would have been worse, even
for the parquet."
Katherine seemed to remember something and asked with concern: "You
didn't smash the parquet, did you?"
Andrea smiled a bit, "Don't worry, it's reinforced for android's usage.
I don't think it's even real wood."
Katherine nodded and turned around, continuing her scanning. "So far it
looks like a dislocated junction, let me check further."
Katherine raised her hand up Andrea's shin to her knee, checking
diligently for any fragmentation in her structure or other dislocation.
She continued up and went past her knee till mid thigh, just to be
sure, checking the other leg in the same fashion from thigh to foot. To
say that Andrea was enjoying the procedure at this point was an
understatement. Past her knees her sensors were fully operational, and
they received an overflow of sensations from Katherine's ministrations.
Andrea tried hard not to show it, though, afraid that the tech might
stop her skillful treatment. Katherine appeared oblivious to all of
this though, acting professional all the time. Her determination and
focus were some of the many qualities Andrea so much admired of her.
The problem was that among the feelings of respect and admiration that
she felt, there were other feelings brewing that Andrea had just
recently discovered. However, what to do about them was something she
was not sure she was ready for, not even in simulations.
When Katherine passed from one thigh to the other, Andrea couldn't
contain a giggle.
"What?" Asked an apparently distracted Katherine.
"Oh, nothing. Sensory input overload, that's all," answered Andrea,
trying to minimize the issue. Katherine raised an eyebrow.
"You may want to shut down your upper legs' sensors too, then."
"No, no. It's okay. I have always been a little ticklish."
Katherine chuckled a little at that and continued her analysis of her
other leg with a smile. Andrea tried to say something to change the
issue, feeling a little childish at her previous statement. "It's
funny, before you arrived I was thinking of how fortunate I am for
having a female android teenager as my technician. I mean, I know not
everyone can say the same. The Browns next door, for example, have a
male human tech that checks on them."
Satisfied that the other leg appeared to be in better shape, Katherine
started maneuvering her hands on Andrea's left ankle in order to
straighten her joint again. While doing this she looked directly at
Andrea and continued the conversation, trying to distract her from what
she thought was an upsetting view. She didn't need her eyes on the
operation either, her hands' sensors gave her all the information she
needed.
"I can guarantee that all my human colleagues are as capable and
discrete as myself, Andrea."
"Yeah, I know. But I feel that you can relate more to an android than a
human in checking your problems. I wouldn't like for just anyone to
look at my data files, for example. I think it's like for the female
humans to have a female gynecologist or something. I think the
relationship is more... empathic that way. And as for you being a girl
that resembles my age, well, that makes it like three times the
better!"
Andrea hoped she wasn't sounding like a fan girl as she boasted her
admiration to Katherine. For her part, Katherine just smiled at her and
looked tenderly at her eyes, acknowledging the other android's
admiration.
"Thanks, but I'm not as young as I look. You know I have been with this
body more years than your mother with hers."
"Yeah, but you don't state your real age to make me feel inferior or
inadequate. You're always charming and respectful of my feelings
whenever I tell you everything that happens to me."
Katherine suddenly got worried. "Are your parents disrespectful? Do
they make you feel inferior?"
Andrea quickly tried to clarify. "No, no. They are wonderful parents.
The problem is that, well... they're... parents. I know it shouldn't be
a difference and that they are as capable as you are of hearing my
troubles or worries, but, I think it comes with most personality
packages of any son or daughter. The authority inherent in the role of
a parent makes it difficult to classify them in my same class. At least
in my case, I don't feel quite at ease in telling them all my problems.
I don't know, maybe it was just the particular base programming that my
mother chose for me when she passed the design schematics."
Katherine laughed at that. "Wow, girl! You really sounded like a
scholar just there! I'm starting to think that maybe your personality
module should be upgraded to adult level soon, or you will not take
complete advantage of that logic unit of yours."
By then, Katherine had finished repositioning Andrea's joints in place.
With precise and powerful magnetic boosts from her fingers, she ensured
the parts were correctly placed and well adjusted. She then started a
final scan of Andrea's skeletal structure just to be sure there were no
odd edges remaining from the accident or her own procedure.
Andrea felt really flattered from Katherine's last statement, and let
the glee flow over her mood and words. "Don't tell my mom just yet! She
still wants her little girl running around the house for a while."
Katherine joined her joyful mood and continued to joke with her. "And
she's so considerate, ladies and gentlemen! Brains and heart in a whole
package!"
"With a heart that beats for you!" 'Oops', thought Andrea. 'Did I sent
that to my vocal output unit? I hope she thinks I'm just kidding.'
Andrea blushed after saying that, unable to take the words back. But
also expectant to see if her declaration had been taken seriously or
was just dismissed as another joke of the moment.
Katherine certainly knew the complete intention of that statement. Not
only she was more experienced treating androids, but she also knew the
basics for many emotional subroutines Andrea had, and therefore, what
caused most of her reactions. She had helped her parents in activating
her all those years ago. The technician was indeed very fond of Andrea,
and knew that her base program had a lot of potential to do great
things in the future. So yes, she had perceived lately that Andrea's
heart was beating for her, so to speak, even though she didn't make any
conscious attempt for winning that admiration. But she had to admit to
herself that in front of Andrea she felt quite relieved of every
problem in her life. Even though she almost always came for working
matters, every time spent on Andrea was as pleasurable as a moment on
the global net gathering information of the world. That easiness and
peace reflected in her reactions to Andrea, and Andrea perceived and
responded to them in kind. Stored memory sizes didn't matter to the
older android when building relationships, and apparently they didn't
matter to Andrea either. The younger android always had a fresh
approach to things that was very well received by the tech. Her ideas
were innovative and the designs and programs that she created on her
free time almost always got a reaction of awe from Katherine. To think
that such a young unit could learn so much and approach problems so
differently was mind blowing. And her feelings. Andrea could be at
times the most sensitive creature Katherine had ever met. Even when she
was being whimsical or proud about something (like any other teenager),
she knew when to stop before hurting the sensibilities of others and
opted to look for a solution that worked for everyone. Katherine
admired so much that quality of hers.
So yeah, maybe in an old fashioned way she could admit to herself that
she was attracted to Andrea too. But Katherine was prudence
impersonated, at least in her own eyes, and had decided that if Andrea
didn't feel ready for starting anything resembling a formal
relationship, she wouldn't push it or act on their mutual feelings.
But maybe this slip of the tongue was an unconscious sign provoked by
Andrea's neural pathways to signal that she was ready for taking the
relationship a step further?
It was a possibility, Katherine decided. Maybe Andrea was unconsciously
giving the go sign for Katherine to ask how Andrea felt about her
directly. So, the question was, could she really ask? Did she really
want to ask?
Katherine was now injecting Andrea with some restoring nanite compound
to her conductive and motor membranes via her fingers. The original
internal conductive tissue had been completely damaged with the force
of the hit. Both androids had remained silent for a while after
Andrea's outburst, not quite knowing how to react to each other.
However, Andrea noticed a small blush on Katherine's face after her
statement. That and her silence signaled that she hadn't taken it quite
as a joke. Uncertainty started to fill Andrea's memory banks, so she
decided to do something in order to purge it from her system. Katherine
started to talk at that point.
"We're almost finished here. Just a little massage to your feet in
order to evenly spread the compound I've just injected and stimulate
your sensors. I'll have to apply some patches to your dermic coating
too in order to make them recover their sensibility." Katherine decided
to let the comment slide. If Andrea pursued the issue further, then
she'll deal with it, till then, she was going to make sure her patient
was the healthiest android on the block. She started looking in her
tool bag for the patches.
"The lack of sensibility is not an issue," Andrea said suddenly,
looking away from Katherine. "I'm feeling oversensitive right now."
Katherine turned around, looking worried. "Oh, my! Did you turned on
your legs' sensors? They may not be ready yet to operate properly."
Andrea spoke calmly. "They're still off... My mind is feeling sensible.
My... 'heart', as we put it, is feeling sensible, every time I look at
you."
Okay. This was more than an unconscious sign now.
"Andrea, are you trying to tell me something?" asked Katherine with a
small blush and not so small anticipation. The patches now on
Katherine's hands were temporarily forgotten by all of her processors.
Andrea decided then that this was it. All or nothing. She was sure that
if Katherine didn't share her feelings, at least she wouldn't feel
repulsed by them. And if she did share them... Andrea couldn't believe
the output of happiness she calculated she would feel if that happened.
"Well, Katherine. The truth is that... for some time now... I have felt
the utmost attraction for you in all levels. Mentally, emotionally,
logically, (gasp) even physically." Andrea was blushing profusely, and
she couldn't, for her life, manage to look Katherine at the eyes. It
was as if her neck servomotors were locked while she was looking
downwards. Anyways, now that she had started confessing she had to
finish.
"At first I thought it was just a crush, you know? A teenager
infatuation for a more mature figure." They both smiled at this, then
Andrea continued. "Later, at feeling the intensity of it, I thought it
was a bug in my program. Some subroutine that was stuck on a loop or
something. But endless scans and debugging sessions showed nothing
wrong with me. So I decided, what I felt must be real." Andrea
swallowed noisily. A conditioned response learned from humans
naturally, but completely adequate for her current state of mind. At
this moment, she managed to look up, straight to Katherine's eyes, and
spoke.
"My biggest revelation occurred one day while making a mental list of
priorities. It was then when I shocked myself realizing that, if given
the situation, I would gladly give my life or my memory in order to
save yours. Anytime, anywhere. That's when I realized that I loved
you."
Katherine was pretty much locked herself looking at Andrea. It was one
thing to run a simulation in her head of what she would do if Andrea
decided to talk to her about love. But it was quite different to
actually hear her talk about it.
Katherine had heard her lot of proposals and love declarations in her
times and even now, by humans and androids alike. Almost all of them
had been politely rejected. There was something that just didn't click
with any being she had met until now. Most of the humans were deceived
by her appearance and expected something different from her, a big
mistake when dealing with an android. But even her android friends
lacked something she was looking for, something she had rarely found in
a conscious being, except for her original owner all those years ago.
Back in the old times, when androids were still considered property,
her owner had proposed to her one day. The fact that the legal and
moral situation of androids was so different back then made the
proposal much more significant. For some reason, Andrea's declaration
just now was as heartfelt as that first one so many years ago.
Katherine was feeling the same jitters she felt when she was just an
inexperienced unit, way before her first upgrade. The similarity of the
situation was what made Katherine take her decision. She realized that
the real reason she hadn't acted in accordance to her feelings for
Andrea was that she hadn't been sure if that was what she wanted...
until now. With great effort she started talking.
"Andrea... I don't know what to say." Katherine realized that wasn't
the smartest thing to say by watching Andrea's face. She mentally hit
herself. Talk about feeling young and inexperienced again. She forced
herself to focus and tried again.
"Please, don't think that I don't understand your feelings or that I
don't reciprocate them. Because what you don't know is that I have felt
something too. I just want to say this right." Andrea was expectant.
Katherine took a deep breath and continued. "Every time I come here,
and every time I know your family's monthly checkup is coming, I feel
happy and relieved of all my troubles and worries." She chuckled a bit.
"Right now, I feel as young as my outer shell is supposed to be, just
from hearing you."
Andrea's mood improved considerably from hearing those words, but she
remained silent, not wanting to interrupt her love in the minimum.
Katherine continued. "When I'm around you I feel so at ease, as if the
rest of the world shuts down when I pass your doorway. And every time I
talk with you, I'm more and more in awe of what you're becoming. Your
ideas, they are just so new, so unpredictable. Your mind, your
feelings. They are both so pure and charming."
"That's not true." Andrea couldn't help objecting. She didn't feel she
deserved that kind of praise. "Most of the times I'm like a little
brat. Capricious, even selfish at times."
"Those are just your age modules at work. They come with being a
teenager, you can't avoid them right now. But even when they're acting,
your main module filters them and downsize their output a lot. Believe
me, I have seen my share of teenage androids and I can say, without a
doubt, there's no one else like you out there."
Andrea was flabbergasted. She never expected Katherine to have her in
such high esteem. That happiness output was steadily raising inside
Andrea's processors right now.
"Not only you are the most wonderful android teenager I have ever met.
In your short life you have become one of the most charming conscious
beings I have ever treated. And I have treated a lot." Katherine waited
a bit, giving time for Andrea to assimilate what she had heard so far.
"Why didn't you tell me anything of this before?" her tone wasn't
recriminatory, just curious.
"I'm discrete in my evaluations of people, but more than that, I didn't
want to influence your judgment or push you by letting you know how I
felt about you."
"So, you knew."
"At some level, yes. But I didn't know how deep were your feelings for
me. And... I guess I wasn't really sure if I wanted to know how deep
were my feelings for you, so I chose inaction."
Andrea thought about that. "You're too rational for your own good, you
know that?"
Katherine smiled at her. "I have heard that many times before."
"Anyway, I love you. Just as you are," it was amazing for Andrea how
much easier it was to say that the second time around.
Katherine looked at her eyes, and at that moment something became
crystal clear to her. "And I... love you, my dearest Andrea."
Andrea's buffers overflowed with happiness. Sending caution to the air,
and with as much mobility as she could procure with the upper part of
her body, she threw herself at Katherine. Katherine, for her part,
dropped the patches she was carrying and caught Andrea in mid movement,
hugging her tightly to herself.
They both started crying, Katherine remembering and reliving that
indescribable sensation of loving and being loved at the same time,
Andrea rejoicing in that new and wonderful feeling.
For a long moment, countless clock cycles, they stayed just like that,
holding each other, caressing each other's backs and mumbling sweet
nothings to one another.
After a while, one secondary processor made Katherine notice that she
still had to apply the dermal patches on Andrea, so she proceeded to
slowly let her go. When they were eye to eye, Katherine answered
Andrea's questioning gaze with: "I still have to take care of your
injuries."
Andrea nodded, but she still had one request to ask from her beloved.
"Would you kiss me, like humans do?"
Katherine couldn't deny a thing to this wonderful creature, specially
not that. "Close your eyes," she smiled, "like humans do."
Andrea smiled and closed her eyes, waiting for her move.
Katherine slowly approached her and made careful contact to Andrea's
lips with her own. Once the target was in place she closed her eyes
too, enjoying the feeling that overrun most of her other sensors.
For Andrea it felt almost magical. She didn't know she was so sensitive
in that area, or that it could activate such powerful responses.
Needless to say, the kiss grew stronger, and it lasted more than the
previous hug, but of course, no android was checking her clock right
then.
After a while they separated, both with dazed looks on their eyes.
After a moment of looking at each other, Andrea talked first.
"Weren't you going to apply some patches?" she asked.
"Wh... What?"
"The patches..."
A mischievous smile appeared on Katherine's face. "Sorry, I think I
lost some bytes back there. I'll have to go look for them." With that
she hugged Andrea and took her lips again. Andrea managed to squeal
with delight before her mouth was trapped anew.
It was a while before they resumed the treatment.
---
Rose was about to call Andrea and Katherine to see if they could get
down for dinner when she saw them coming down the stairs. Andrea was
supporting herself on Katherine's arm which was interlaced with her
own. Katherine was leading her and murmuring some directions so Andrea
could place her feet correctly while climbing down the stairs.
"That's great girl!" exclaimed Katherine. "Keep it like this and by
tomorrow you'll be as good as new," exclaimed Katherine happily.
Rose was delighted at seeing her daughter out of her room and moving
again. "Andrea, that's wonderful! How do you feel?"
"I feel... great!" she directed a loving gaze at Katherine with that
last word. She kept her eyes on her while she continued. "I think I
only needed some loving attention."
Katherine blushed profusely, and directed Rose an apologetic grin.
Rose, for her part, saw the signs and understood. She may not have even
the half of Katherine's running time, but she knew her daughter. Even
more, she knew when her daughter was happy. Besides, Katherine was
really bad at hiding things.
"I see... Anything you want to tell me over dinner?" asked Rose with a
knowing grin.
"I suppose there's some little info we need to share. Right, dear?" at
this moment Andrea loved the mischievous strike that came with her age
module.
"Yeah. I guess..." Katherine answered, blushing a little more.
Rose Tunner just tittered while she guided them to the dining room.
'Kids just grow so fast!' she then looked at Katherine. 'Well, some of
them at least...'
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