A/N: The heat rises in the last third or so of this update. Enjoy!
Of course, Proto-UMA had to be stored in a walk-in closet, access to which necessitated she pass through Ryker's very inviting bedroom. He'd gone with the same clean lines as the rest of his house, but, also like the rest, his space was far from sterile. It was lived in and had a vibrancy that reminded Emmie of the family Ryker was a part of. A rainbow-colored patchwork quilt graced his bed. After the sheets he'd given her, she'd expected it to be fitted with neutral toned Italian linens costing more than what she made in a month. When Emmie noted her surprise at his bedding choice, Ryker told her that his aunt Marilyn had made the quilt for him. He'd been using it for over ten years.
Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of time to dwell on Ryker's handmade quilt or what they could do under it. He took her hand and brought her to meet... OMA.
"Why OMA?" The robot was not what she'd imagined. Just a bunch of wires and circuits in the vague shape of a human being. It did have what resembled a face, with blinking eyes and a jaw that moved up and down as it "spoke."
"Well..." Ryker pressed on a button and OMA's eyes flashed open. "UMA stands for Ultimate Machine Assistant and was built upon what we learned from this model. I named it after the fact. It used to be nicknamed C3PO, but Dan and I decided it wasn't worthy of that moniker. So now we call it OMA: Okay Machine Assistant."
"Just okay, huh? Poor thing. You're going to give it self-esteem issues." She reached her hand out and touched the side of OMA's face. "And it's an it, not a she, this one?"
"You know, for obvious reasons, they're all 'its.' We just call UMA a she because, as I explained before, it's what people want from an assistant. A female presence makes people feel comforted." He bit his lip and Emmie noted something in his expression she never had before: uncertainty. He turned away from her and began punching something in to the robot's control module. "Do you want to ask OMA a question?"
She peered at the small touch screen attached to a panel on OMA's torso – the one Ryker had just been using. "What do I enter?"
"Oh, no... I've set it for voice activation. Go on, ask it something."
"Okay. What's three times five?"
"Three times five is fifteen." OMA's robotic voice spouted out the answer as its jaw attempted to work in coordination with its words. It wasn't entirely unsuccessful.
"Oh come on, you have to make it more challenging than that. Ask it something else."
She thought for a moment. "What's the meaning of life?"
OMA's eyes blinked. Its jaw opened and stayed open.
Ryker chuckled. "Yeah, that's what it does when someone decides to become philosophical. The meaning of life – really?"
"You said I should challenge it!"
"Like asking it who the US president was in 1945 or something like that. Remember what I'm designing these for – old people, primarily. They need to be able to reminisce. Or, appear to reminisce, that is. We're talking historical facts and chit chat. Philosophizing would be nice, though. I've, um... been experimenting with that. But we've still got progress to make in that area, even in more recent models."
"You're also designing them to assist. So, can OMA... I don't know, dust or something?"
"Sort of. It does have a feather duster component. See that?" There it was, tucked under what in a real human would have been a rib cage. "But... I wouldn't let it dust around any valuables. I lost an antique vase and one of the crystal horse figurines Iola collects during the testing phase."
"Iola must have been pissed."
"She has so many, she hasn't noticed, yet. So, let's just keep this between you and me, okay?"
"Why, Mr. James, I do declare... I've got dirt with which to blackmail you."
He looked her up and down. "I think I have a few things on you, myself."
Ignoring him, Emmie suppressed a grin and turned back to OMA. The robot stood there, its eyes staring dully at them. "Does it do floors?"
"It's a great vacuum. Here, let me show you. "OMA, vacuum the upstairs."
They stepped aside as the robot lifted itself off its base and began to slide forward. Instead of legs, OMA had a long metal skirt. A whirring noise began and OMA scooted from side to side, sweeping the floors as it went.
"So essentially, you've created a talking Roomba."
"A Roomba had to be invented first before our Robotic Overlords could become a possibility." Ryker stretched his arms. "Do you want something to drink?"
"Sure. Just some water would be great. And I'll skip the robot apocalypse tonight, okay? Just not feeling it."
"I think we can manage that. No promises about tomorrow, though. Would you mind keeping an eye on OMA? Its sensors should prevent it from going down the stairs, but yesterday I found it dangerously close. I haven't had a chance to see what the problem is."
Ryker headed out of the room to retrieve their drinks. Sighing, Emmie took in her strange predicament: following a robot around to make sure it didn't have an accident while resisting the advances of a sexy man so she could reveal to him that she's pregnant with someone else's baby.
This was not what she'd pictured herself doing a month after moving to Moon Beach.
She followed OMA from the closet to the bedroom, watching as the robot whizzed around the room. Emmie sat on the bed, planning how she was going to spill her news without him freaking out, if that was even possible. She came up empty-handed. There was no way to be subtle, or gentle. She'd just have to say it, and hope for the best.
A crash brought her back to the present. "Oh no!" She'd been so distracted by her own thoughts, she'd forgotten all about OMA.
She met Ryker near the top of the stairs. He handed Emmie her water and then bent over the robot, who had toppled head first over the first set of stairs. It hadn't gone far as one of its wheels had become lodged in the metal rungs of the railing. Still, what passed as its neck was now twisted at a weird angle. Ryker pulled out the tablet that had been attached to its torso. The screen was cracked.
"I broke it, didn't I? Oh my God!"
He shook his head. "Put the water down and help me get it upright again, will you?"
She placed the glass on a nearby side table and came back, grabbing onto OMA's left shoulder. Together they righted it and slid it down the hallway a little. Its head lulled to the side.
"I'm so sorry, Ryker." She had a feeling this wouldn't be the last time she'd be apologizing to him tonight.
"Oh, it's all right. Nothing a few hours of labor can't fix. Don't worry about it."
"Are you sure? I feel awful."
"Let's get it back to its stand." They rolled OMA all the way through Ryker's room and back into the closet. "So, what happened? Why weren't you watching her?"
"Well, I was just... sitting on your bed daydreaming and I..."
"Oh?" He led her away from OMA, out of the closet and closed the door behind them. "So, you were fantasizing about me while lying on my bed, waiting for me to return to you."
"You never cease to amaze me. So full of yourself!" She punched him playfully on the shoulder. He caught her fist, swung her arm to the side and grabbed her around her back with his other arm. Before she knew it, he had her pressed to him.
"You're only here to sleep. I know that. So, if you're sure that's all you want... then let me know right now. I'll give you whatever you wish for, Emmie."
The intensity of his gaze told her he meant what he said. It was terrifying and exciting. Terrifyingly exciting. "Our entanglement clause..."
He didn't loosen his grip on her. "That too. If that's what you want."
She knew now what she wanted. She wanted to tell him the truth and have him accept it. She wanted to move beyond her secret. She wanted them to move beyond it, for it to not matter somehow. But the likelihood of that happening was next to zero. This would be it for them. Tonight she was going to entangle him in something he would not want to be entangled in and he would run for the hills.
"Tell me what you want, Emmie."
Her eyes glided towards his bed and then back to him. Perhaps just one more time before her big reveal. "I want to think of nothing beyond what you're about to do to me."
Ryker didn't need any more encouragement.
She found herself swept up off her feet into his arms. He carried her to the bed and lay her in it, his lips finding hers as they both began peeling off layers of clothing. Soon she was naked. His hands caressed her, purposely massaging her hips, her chest, her shoulders, anywhere but where she wanted him to touch her most. Well, if he wouldn't do it. She brought one hand up to him and began stroking, and placed her other on herself, her nimble fingers rubbing over tender flesh. A gasp escaped her and Ryker broke from his kiss to watch what she was doing.
From his response, the sight of her pleasuring herself appeared to be one hell of a turn on for him. He thrust into the hand she was squeezing him with, sitting upright so that he could continue to observe.
She slipped her fingers inside, imagining that it was Ryker. She continued to stroke him. Gradually he positioned himself closer and closer to her. In and out she went as he watched. It felt amazing, but she wanted more. She wanted him. Nothing else could possibly satisfy her the way he would be able to. "Ryker." His name escaped her lips quite unintentionally. "Ryker," she cried out again, this time purposefully, knowing he'd read the need in her voice.
He grabbed both of her hands, pulling them away from their work, and brought them up over her head. Holding them there, he kissed her, as he maneuvered himself between her legs. He pushed one of her knees up to her chest and then, with a powerful thrust, she got her wish; he was inside of her, the heat and intensity spreading from where he touched her to the entire length of her body until all she could feel was a burning passion.
Every molecule of her was on fire. More, she thought as they kept the fire burning. More, she wanted more. More of this, more of Ryker, far more than what she'd told him she wanted from him. She wanted everything.
"More!" she hadn't meant to say that out loud. It was one more more in her more-filled internal dialog. But once said, it couldn't be unsaid, and Ryker responded accordingly.
The intensity ratchetted up a notch. Several notches. Soon, it was on a level Emmie could no longer control. She called out his name again and again, swearing and then finally uttering sounds with no meaning beyond the expression of pure ecstasy. Ryker followed suit, finishing just after her, her own climax spurring on his own, as so often it did.
He was still shaking as he fell onto the bed next to her. They had been in this position so many times before, but this time was different. They were here, in his bed, for one thing. And unlike all the other nights in which Ryker visited her and then eventually left before the night was over, she was expected to stay. She waited for their breathing to return to normal. Usually at that point, she would get up and shower, indicating to him that it was time for him to leave.
This time, she didn't get up, didn't ask if she could use the shower. Instead, she turned towards him and tentatively rested her head on his chest. He responded by wrapping his arms around her, an unmistakable sigh of relief escaping him. He stroked her forehead. The soothing gesture may have lulled her to sleep, had she not had a major life-changing piece of news to share with him.
"Emmie," he kissed her forehead, "We need to rethink our entanglement clause. I know you may feel differently, and at first I was happy to follow your plan. I've had some shitty relationships and it was just simpler to keep things... simple. But, I'm ready to move beyond that now. If it's what you want too." He paused. "Are you going to say something?"
She tucked her face into his chest, breathing in the earthy aroma of sandalwood, then turned and propped herself up on her elbow.
"It's... it's what I want as well. But Ryker... there's something I have to tell you first."
A/N: Oh boy. Here. We. Go.
You guys... how is this going to play out? The moment of truth is upon us. I am SOOOO nervous for next week's update! Are you?
I have a message from one of my characters: Ryker insists that I tell you that the PR2 robot featured in the video at the head of the chapter can't hold a candle to his UMA, or even to OMA. He might be slightly biased, but I will say that OMA's vacuum is built in (seems like a good thing) and it's certainly faster at wielding that feather duster (not necessarily a good thing). I'm pretty sad that OMA is down for the count right now so all votes for this chapter will be used for its repairs. Thank you for your support!