Candice gave a salute, which Jack figured was probably mocking him. "Yessir! I'll work on something else. Like debugging my room. Seriously, that shit is creepy."
Candice left. Jack was in the doorway when he glanced back. "Spy, your detatched program is still running?"
Spy: As well as ever.
"Good, lock the door."
Soon, Jack as at his door. "Delphine, c'est moi, open seasame."
"Affirmed."
The door opened, and Jack found Katherine sleeping on his couch. A book had fallen on the floor. He slowed and smiled. He walked over and picked up the book, when suddenly Katherine awoke, screaming and crying. Jack quickly dropped the book and sat down, holding her tightly. "Easy, hey."
Katherine looked at him, slowly realizing she was in reality. "Th-th-the nightmare..."
"Hey, I'm here. It was just a dream."
"A couple more days," she whispered. "Just a couple more days..."
"Sh... I know."
She calmed down after awhile. "I'm good, Jack. I think I need some headache medicine..." She snuggled into his warmth.
"Alright," he said. He kissed the top of her head and held her for awhile.
"My Jack..." she whispered and smiled. "I love you."
Jack smiled. "I love you, too. Just don't tell coffee I said that."
She laughed and looked up at him. "I should take that medicine."
"Right," he said, and stood up. He walked into the kitchen and tapped the wall. A bottle slid out. He poured a couple pills into his hand and put the bottle back. He poured a glass of water and brought them to Katherine. "Here."
She popped the pills one by one, drinking after each. She set the glass on the table next to the couch. "So... About kids..."
Jack sighed. "I thought we talked about this..."
"I know, but... I really want kids."
Jack stared at her for a moment. "Well... if we did have kids... the MPF would probably be gone by the time they were born... if everything goes well."
"So you'll think about it?"
Jack smiled and kissed her foreheard. "Sure. But you need to go back to sleep, now."
"I don't want to sleep..." she mumbled, and then grinned as she stood up. "Let's dance!"
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Dance? Uh..."
She smiled. "Yes, dance!" She held out her hand for him to take.
He laughed. Sort of. "Ah, yes... Two years? I can't believe it's never come up... that I can't dance."
"Why, Mr. Richter, then I believe I should teach you the box step. It's all I know, anyway."
Jack sucked air in through his teeth and took her hand. "This should be interesting."
She smiled. "All we have to do is move in a box."
"Oh, so this is a conformist dance?" Jack laughed.
"I don't know, my first boyfriend taught it to me," she said, starting to step.
"Ah, well, that's a wonderful way to introduce it to me."
"You're a fast learner," she said with a smile, glancing at his feet.
"Well, I have a fantastic teacher."
They danced on. Apparently, Delphine had the piece of mind to start playing suitable music.
"So, could formula X ever fail?" Katherine asked.
Jack nodded. "I have noticed one major flaw, where if it isn't used it won't work."
"Jack, I'm serious."
I hesitated, but then nodded. "There have been test subjects where the dosage wasn't enough to neutralize all the semen. But even then, the likliehood that the sperm could survive the vaginal acids, travel in the correction direction, and impregnate the egg is miniscule."
Katherine smiled and kissed him. "Okay, thanks for telling me."
***
As the night wore on, Brandon left his lab and made sure the door locked. His shades slid over his eyes as he walked tiredly down the hall. Behind him, Derek turned the corner and caught sight of him.
"Brad!" Derek called. Brandon turned around and took a moment to register Derek's face. "Come here! I want to ask you something."
Brandon groaned as he slowly walked towards Derek. "It's, like, six thirty in the damn morning, man. What could possibly so important that I should miss out on dreaming of ways that the government is probably watching us?"
"It's about Katherine's past," Derek said, and turned down the hall to head towards his lab. "Follow me."
Brad's mouth hung open in irritated disbelief as he stared at the back of Derek's head, but he grudgingly followed. "What the hell do you think I know about Katherine's past?"
Derek opened the door to his lab. After Brandon entered, he locked the door. The wall concealing the robots opened. They now resembled a pair of sleeping human beings, one a man and the other a woman. They wore the typical Razors outfit of white shirts and black pants.
"Why does Katherine have me build these every year?" Derek asked. "It confuses me..."
Brad stared at the robots, and then at Derek, mouth still ajar. "D, I majored in chemistry, not psychology. You want me to analyze the polymer you used to make the flesh look real, fine. You wanna talk about the nutzo things going on in that girl's head, talk to the Pure One."
"I'm not asking Jack about this!" Derek exclaimed. "Look, every year, she has me build these robots of her parents, and I don't understand why."
Brad rolled his eyes. "Man, if you don't explain what this has to do with me, or in what way this might be funny, in the next five minutes, I'm outta here."
Derek sighed. "Aren't you ever curious about anything?"
"Sure. I'm plenty curious as to why I'm not asleep right now. Will that be all, Sherlock?"
"And I thought Jack made all the dated references," Derek muttered. He opened the door and pushed Brad out. "Go to bed, Brad." And then the door closed.
"What?" Brad said to the closed door. "No psychotic goodnight kiss? Fine, see you at breakfast. More accurately, lunch."
Dangerous Thoughts
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