Reception

Chapter 21 - Upgrade Eligibility

Surprise.

That was the word.

Surprise.

Alice's lips met his own. He noted that they felt like silk and had an unusual strength behind them. Damien couldn't believe how they felt, how they tasted. What am I doing?! He shouted inwardly. I'm not doing anything. He confirmed. Not a thing. I think I'm being taken advantage of? He couldn't be quite sure. However, one thing he did know was something primal, something inside of him, didn't want him to stop.

The kiss grew more intense as Alice leaned her small frame in, her lips pressed hard and hungrily against Damien's. She felt her self-control begin to slip. Her heart had packed its bags and moved to her throat, where it remained, throbbing at what seemed to be immeasurable speeds. She released their lip lock and pressed in once more, her hands finding their way to his shirt. She tugged and and pleaded with her fingers, worried that if she let go this moment would end.

She felt Damien's arms envelope her, his right hand cupping behind her head at the base of her skull, gently pressing her in harder. The warmth of his touch sent electricity through her body. Inwardly she was grinning, and quite stupidly at that. She heard and felt her kiss-drunk little mind striking up a fanfare. I've won! The idea teased her, ravished her. She loved the idea that she, Alice, had won the duel. He is as good as mine.

Before she knew it she had moved herself on top of him. She was straddling him! It was all so exciting for her. "I think I might die," she moaned through each kiss.

"Why's that?" he breathed heavily.

"Because, I'm pretty sure my heart's going to fail," she giggled.

"I hope it doesn't," came Damien's earnest reply. Before he could say anything sweeter, she pounced him again, her lips finding his.

*****

Sarah's mind was wrapped around each piece of the holoGRAM. Her finger tapped impatiently on the screen in front of her. Her desk allowed her immediate access to everything in her TED, the screen in the middle flickering every so often. She loved working with menus, equations, problems, code, pictures - everything. They all appeared so perfectly as they floated in front of her, free to be manipulated.

Sarah's fingers sifted through the broken character. She would idly move a damaged piece here, replace it with complete code there. Several times she would be stumped, as an immediate solution would wipe the character of all previous memories. It wasn't a difficult task, just one that had to be approached from another angle.

One that she hadn't quite thought of, yet.

She was stumped on one particular point when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," she called.

Michael's slender frame found its way through the door, "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Not at all," she weakly smiled.

"You realize it's very early in the morning? You've been at this nearly all night."

Sarah looked at the upper-right of the desk, where her TED sat; hooked in by cables that fed into the desk itself. The clock read 2:00AM.

"Wow, I've been at this how long?" she numbly queried.

"Around three hours now, give or take a little," Michael grinned.

"I need sleep. She can wait," she determined, yawning as she got up from her desk chair.

Michael nodded, still slightly smiling. He helped her change, picking out an appropriate set of clothes to sleep in, "Do you need anything while I'm here?"

She simply shook her head, "No. Just make sure everyone else has somewhere to sleep and something to sleep on." She giggled slightly as she found her way to her bed and favorite, oversized comforter.

Michael nodded, turning the light off in her room as he closed the door behind him, "Good night, Sarah. Hopefully tomorrow won't be full of bullets and guns."

"Let's hope," she yawned before falling into a deep, well-deserved sleep.

*****

Michael made his way down the stairs into the front room. He almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Alice and Damien. Should he yell at Damien? At Alice? Should he immediately go report this development to Sarah?

Probably better not to disturb her, he thought. I'm sure Damien's got a very good explanation for this.

However, no matter how Michael looked at it, Sarah was losing.

Big time.

Clapping his hands loudly he came into the room, "Well hasn't today been fun?"

Both stopped what they were doing and almost fell off the couch together. Damien felt his face turn red, and saw Alice's do the same.

"H-hey, Michael. What's going on?" asked Alice weakly.

"Oh, you know, just bullet holes and make-out sessions, Alice," came his cool reply. Michael had closed the distance between him and the two very easily in a few strides.

"Michael, it's not what it looks like-" began Damien.

"Then, tell me what it looks like," came the same cool demeanor.

Suddenly Alice seemed offended, "Yeah, Damien, tell us what it looked like." Her arms were folded -  frustrated - over her chest.

Damien sighed and relented, "Okay. It was exactly as it looked like."

This satiated Alice, but not Michael. His eyes burned their emerald color into Damien, "How do you plan to confront Sarah about this?"

Damien hadn't thought that far and now his heart raced for a different reason.

Fear.

"I don't know! It all happened so fast!" Damien gulped, "And - for the record - she kissed me!"

Alice nodded with a small grin, "It's true, and I'm not even sorry about it."

"I don't suppose you would be," Michael said, bending over until he leered over Alice, who had fallen to the floor during the surprise.

"What?! You said earlier that you'd help me win him over!" she pouted.

Damien's mouth fell open, "You said what?!"

Michael's even, cold tone suddenly vanished, "Guilty."

His sing-song answer came with no guilt, however. Not even a drop of it. With ease Michael sat down on the love seat near the couch, "I'm just here to make sure that you two get to bed," he paused, "Oh! And Joshua, too."

"I'll sleep on the couch," Damien volunteered, laying out after he removed his shoes.

"Come, Alice, I'll see you to a guest bedroom." Michael motioned to the hallway that led away from Sarah's end of the house. She nodded and followed his lead. After she was slightly out of earshot Michael's head veered around to look at Damien, "You and I? We are having a very big talk tomorrow."

Damien gulped.

He didn't like Michael's talks.