Chapter Seventeen Valerie

After showing Five into her apartment, Valerie locks the door behind herself. While she looks through the mail that her sister had brought in, she keeps an eye on Five. She watches her look around, as if unimpressed at seeing the inside of a home for the very first time. Instead of asking a bunch of questions, like would be usual, Five wanders over to the window, pushes the drapes aside, and just stands there looking outside.

She can’t really seem to get a read on her. It’s hard to tell if she should talk to her, or give her some space for a while. It kind of hurts to see her despondent like this. It makes her feel like things might’ve really been that bad for her back at Werker. She doesn’t remember it being like she makes it sound. She had always done her best to bring her and Five-one up right. When she thinks back on it, the whole thing really was a crapshoot.

What she figures she needs to do is at least talk to her about what happened with Ray, while it’s all still fresh. She signed her out for social training, so she might as well get on with it. Seeing Five on her own like this kind of makes her forget where she came from. She’s not an ignorant robot anymore, but there’s still a lot she’ll have to be caught up on.

“Five, we should talk about what happened between you and Ray this morning. Did you mean to hurt him like that? Crap, sorry, that came out wrong.”

She doesn’t turn to face Valerie, but continues to look out the window. “No, not really, I didn’t mean to, but I don’t suppose I’m sorry about it either. He really scared me. He was going to kill me.”

“You did good to protect yourself like that, I wouldn’t tell anyone else any different. What makes you think he could kill you anyway? We never talked about such things. You know he can’t actually kill you right? Your, well you’re a…” She pauses for a moment when the truth of her own words hits home.

Five turns to look at her this time. Her brows are turned down and she is not amused. “He killed Five-One! They were gonna shut me down for good and put me in the scrap too, where I’d stay forever, just like they did to her. Did you even care!” She’s glaring at her hard, but her posture is still loose. It’s like she has lost all respect for her. “We’re just machines, maybe you can make us better next time.”

“No one was going to shut you down and scrap you! That’s…!”

Five interrupts with a sharp turn towards her. “Is that what you told Five-One? Were you just gonna turn some more knobs until we were the way you wanted? Were you going to take us apart again and...” She fills her lungs in anger again before continuing. Nothing feels right! What the hell did you do to me?”

Valerie is shocked. She doesn’t know what to say. Sorry isn’t going to cut it this time. It makes her feel awful inside, like she let the others molest her and Five-One. She remembers the alterations being hard on them, but knowing what she does now, she wouldn’t believe they were ever to make them more manageable. Marco was trying to make them who they once were. That was the whole point. She can’t tell her that though.

“Five, I know it was difficult. What I can tell you, is that those changes were not for us, they were for you. Trust me when I say I know this. It’s not easy being human. It feels hard because it is hard. It took you merely two years to get to where you are now. You know how long it took for me to become who I am? It took over thirty years. I started out this big!” She holds her hands out less than a foot apart. “Half the people in Welan city have it worse, trust me. They don’t even have anywhere to go back to, be it shitty or not.”

“How come you’re telling me all this now? You could’ve told me this a long time ago!”

“I wish I could’ve Five. I wasn’t even allowed to give you a real name. It was so none of us got attached to you. You were a bug in a jar, and we weren’t to be squeamish about shaking it either. That’s why I sent you out on your own, so you could see the real world, so you might have a snowfalke’s chance in hell of seeing that people can actually care.”

“You’re right, and I learned that, but I also learned that people can hate too.”

“There’s a lot about this whole project that I was kept from knowing. Everyone else lied to me just as much as they lied to you. To be honest, knowing what I know now, I don’t think you were even supposed to make it this far. That’s why I brought you home. I don’t think I can ever take you back there, not till I get some things figured out first.

The last thing she wanted to do when she got home was go through something like this with Five. She wanted things to be nice for her, for just once in her life. After all that’s happened, its what she needs. She’s been so withdrawn the last couple weeks, and it has her worried. Marco warned her that what Five is going through right now could be a foundation for her personality. She can’t have all her experinces being bad. She needs to show her some of the good in the world, before it’s too late.

She needs to take Five’s mood off such bleak things and do something fun with her. She remembers how attached she was to those clothes she came back wearing. It gives her an idea. Five is clearly going to be many sizes too small for her own clothes, but by no coincidence, Clarice’s clothes will fit her perfectly. She gently puts her hand on the back of Five’s shoulder. When she turns around, she gives her a hug, and tries to hold back her own tears.

“I wish you really knew how much I care about you Five.” She doesn’t respond to her, but at least she hugs her back just as tight.

Without explaining, she leads Five down the narrow hall between her and Clarice’s bedrooms, through the bathroom, and into the large closet in the back. She and her sister have their own small closets in their own rooms, but they both store their nicer outfits in this one. It’s kind of a point of pride between the two of them. By the look on Five’s face, their collection is every bit as impressive as she was hoping it would be. She stands back and lets her peruse the long rows of garments and accessories that wrap all the way around the small room.

“Well, whatcha think? Anything you like? It seems you already know how to pick something that looks good. Pick something new, anything you want. The ones on the right, those ones’ll fit you. Maybe pick another top, since the white one you had is ruined.”

“I didn’t pick those out. Aa… I asked someone to help me pick them.”

“So you did talk to someone. Who? Who was it? You met someone and they got you clothes?”

“I… maybe I’ll tell you some other time.”

“What, did something bad happen? Tell me.”

“No, nothing bad happened. Like you said, some people do care. I met someone and they were kind. I can’t say who it was though.”

“And they knew you were a…”

“Yes they did, but they treated me like a person, not a machine. They told me that… they told me how special I am, because I have the brightest future.”

“Oh did they? I wonder who that might’ve been.” Her voice is flat, but sarcastic this time.

“Well, if you’re not going to tell me, then that’s fine. I won’t give you a hard time about it. There are things I don’t feel I can explain to you right now either, so don’t be mad when I wait till the last minute again? Now, how about I pick something out, and you do the same. We’ll have some fun with it.”

Going from one end of the closet to the other, she explains where everything is. There are clothes for work, cute outfits, sporty stuff, sexy stuff, and a whole collection of shoes to go with everything imaginable. While Five looks on her own, she takes the clothes that she came back to Werker in out of the bag to look them over.

When she lays them out flat on her bed, she finds herself quite curious of the arrangement. The combination lies somewhere between dignified and unruly. It’s all technically professional attire, but would only be worn by someone with rather confident prowess. She understands why the security guard pushed her right on through like he did. He would surely have been under the impression that Five was not someone he should hold up with the usual annoyances.

When she rejoins Five, she already has a few things draped over her arm. It’ll be her second date with Aaron and she’s finding herself motivated by Five’s choices. She wants an empowering look too, but yet something to keep Aaron from getting complacent. It’s an important trick when it comes to holding onto a man’s attention. With men, pretty much all a woman has to do is look hot and the rest will be a piece of cake. A skirt is going to be an obvious start, but maybe a little less reserved than her usual though.

She finds one that she hasn’t worn in a long time, takes it off of its hanger, and looks it over closely. It’s made of a decent black pho-leather and will be at least a full hand short of her knees. One of the seams down the side is open almost all the way up to the top. It’s a bit much more than she had in mind, but she might as well go for broke.

She isn’t going to wear leggings like Five did, but she will go ahead and do the stiletto heels. For a top, she decides to wear something more like what Clarice would pick out. She finds the piece that she remembers having and drapes it over her chest in the mirror.

It’s almond-white in color and completely open in the back, all except for a fine gold chain holding it together at the waist. The cleavage is quite deep, with the sides only wrapping up around the back of the neck. It’s going to be pushing her comfort zone a bit, but it’s quite fashionable. It’s at least still not as showy as what Clarice might wear. After all, she’s going expect Aaron to talk more than he stares. She can’t have him straining to pay attention to what she’s saying. When she holds the top out in front of her to show Five, her eyes get all big.

“Oh, there’s going to be men!”

“Actually yes, in fact there is, how’d you know that?”

“Cause of what your gonna wear silly. That shirt you’ve got is for men to look at.” Five literally couldn’t smile any bigger, even if she tried. She knows exactly who’ll be joining them later.

She thought she’d figured out who Five has been talking to, but now, not she’s not so sure. There’s no way she could’ve picked this up from Aaron, he’s way too square.

“You’ve only been gone for mere days and all of a sudden you know all about men and women huh. What in the world Five?”

Five is just about at the point of hopping around in such excitement. When she holds out the clothes she’s picked out for herself, her grin fades to a little bit more reserved of an apprehensive smile. She’s a little self-concious of her choices, but she likes what she has. “Can I do this? Will they look ok together? I really like them.” She rubs the fabric of the shirt, on her cheek, enjoying the soft feel of it.

In one hand, Five holds out a pair of black leather pants that are appointed with numerous short shiny metal brads at the corners. In the other, she holds out a light-weight blood-red turtleneck. It’s made of a smooth fine fabric that is very matte looking.

If she didn’t know better, she would think it were actually Clarice standing in front of her. With that black hair, the two do look almost exactly alike, and they even seem to have the same taste in clothes. It makes her worry about her sister. After what happened with Ray, things are going to become quite difficult between her and Mikel now.

“That looks amazing Five. If I could fit in those clothes, I’d probably trade you.”

Five is almost shaking with excitement. “Yay! I like them so much!”

She shakes her head in disbelief. Five is surely a clone of her sister, overt exuberance and all. She goes over to one of the shoe cubbies on the far end of the closet and grabs a pair of her sister’s shoes for her. They’re a nice pair of sleek ankle boots with pointy toes and small silver buckles going up the sides. She hands them to her and hugs her again when she takes them.

While she gets the jet-tub ready to get in shave her legs, she starts the shower for Five. She looks a little bit like a child who’s been out playing all day. Five takes her wig off and turns around to take her clothes off like she normally would, but pauses when they happen to catch glances of each other in the big bathroom mirror.

She didn’t really think anything of it at first, but then she considers that this is probably the first time Five has ever seen a real person naked before. She probably wonders what the difference between the two of them is. As far as she can see herself, there isn’t one. She finds herself being a bit self-conscious of her own body and age in front of such perfection. Five will always have her youth, while she will not. She slips into the tub a little more quickly and doesn’t look back into the mirror again.

After they both finish cleaning up and getting dressed, she shows Five a few things on how to use makeup, as well as some basic hair styles she’s considering for herself. Though they have another wig now, she still has her stick with the original black one because it goes with her outfit so well.

To match the white top she picked out for herself, she puts a broad faint white stripe across her eyes. She helps Five paint a thin gloss-black one on herself, to match the color of her pants. It gives her a very strong and sexual persona. Even though it would obviously look unprofessional of her to be seen playing dress-up with company property, the deviant in her takes a great amount of enjoyment in it. She ends up deciding to wear her long wavy hair down, but in a loose fishtail braid so it doesn’t completely cover her exposed back.

When she checks the time on her phone, it’s already seven-o-clock. She can expect her sister to be showing up any time now. Clarice had said that she’d be staying the night at the apartment with her this time. She’s really excited to have her back, especially after what happened at work. It’ll make her feel a lot better to have her home again, even if it’s only for one night.

She’s wondering what to tell Clarice when she introduces her to Five. It’ll be a little weird introducing her to such a close look-alike, and one wearing her clothes, but that’ll be part of the fun. She’s barely ever talked about the prototypes with her, and that was only in small talk. She doesn’t really want to tell her that Five is a robot, at least not in front of her like that. She’d probably be a little sensitive to that, and it wouldn’t be fair to her. It will however be rather interesting to see if Clarice figures it out on her own.

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“Five, my sister’ll be here pretty soon and there’s a couple things we need to go over first. She doesn’t really know anything about you, so she might ask if you’re a robot, you know, one from work. I want you to know ahead of time that she doesn’t mean anything by it.”

“What might give me away?”

“Well, for one, you kind of look a lot like her. My friend, the one that designed you, thought my sister was really gorgeous. He made you the way you are so that you could be just as beautiful as she is. Also, you’re wearing her clothes, so she’ll mainly be suspicious of me for that.” Her expression is a little squeamish, considering how it might sound to her, learning she was made to look like someone else.

“I understand. I won’t be upset. I’m not ashamed to be a robot Valerie. It means something different to me now. It’s a good thing. Wait… you made me to look like you’re sister?”

Five pauses for a good while, thinking about it. She considers what Aaron told her, about how good looking she is, and how it’s a very special gift that she’s been given. She wonders if Aaron knows about Valerie’s sister. Will he like the other owman more because she’s real?

“It was nice of you to’ve made me like your sister Valerie. The others told Five-One that she was ugly, and they said that to her a lot. We didn’t really know what it meant then, but it still hurt her. That’s why they were nicer to me isn’t it?”

She can see so clearly what’s been going on this whole time now. Five is probably right. She can’t believe how blind she’s been to damn-near everything. She shakes her head at how typically men are always going to behave. The last thing in the world she wanted to do is bring up Mikel and Ray while things are going so well, but she can’t let this go unanswered this time.

She puts her forehead in her palm and lets out a sigh. “I know Mikel is just as much to blame for all of this shit as Ray is, but it’s complicated. You see, I would love to throw him out with the trash, trust me, but I can’t. He’s… dating my sister.”

Five’s eyes get bigger with every following implication that comes to her mind. “You mean like you and A…. so you hate him too?”

“Like me and who Five?” When Five holds her tongue, she figures pressing her on it isn’t going to get her to talk. It never does. “Ok, Fine, but you’d better not say anything about this to anyone. You keep this to yourself.”

There’s an awkward silence between the two of them. This whole thing is exactly like what’s going on between her and Aaron. Neither of them will give any ground until the other does first, so it’s just going to stay that way.

The apartment door suddenly slams shut, startling her out of her thoughts. She quickly springs up to intercept her sister before she walks in on her and Five. She holds her arm out in front of Five to stop her from following her out into the main room and motions for her to sit back down on the edge of the tub.

Unexpectedly, Mikel has also come along with Clarice. She can hear the hard soles of his boots stomping around in the kitchen. He’s probably the one who was so careless with slamming the door. The last thing in the world she needs is for him to see her playing dress-up with the robot that just hospitalized his best friend.

She is not ready for this yet. Instead of catching Clarice in the living room, she turns right back around and quickly ushers Five deep into the closet. She hides her all the way in the back and even has her get in behind the clothes. She hears Clarice coming down the hallway.

“Valerie? Where are you?”

“I’ll be right out!” Her mind is scrambling to come up with a way to handle this without having a giant blowup between the three of them. She’s already imagining all the accusations being thrown around.

Clarice peeks her head in around the door frame just in time to not catch her. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d ever dress like that on your own, not without me twisting your arm.”

“Oh bullshit Clarice. I’ve have had this top for years, and I am the one who showed you how to dress like a woman since you were this big.” She holds her hand out as high as Clarice is tall, poking fun of her being shorter.

“Ha, you’d be wearing a raincoat if I wasn’t coming along. Wait, what exactly is going on here? What are you getting all gussied up for? I thought we were going out, like going out-going out? You’re not gonna dance in that, your tits’ll fly out!”

“I just wanna like look nice alright!”

“My ass. You’re try’n to get laid! Yeah ya are.” Clarice gasps when she puts two and two together. “You’ve got Aaron coming don’t you. Oooh!”

She knows her sister can read her like a billboard, but she doesn’t need her rubbing it in like this. Clarice always brings her out of her comfort zone, so she does it right back to her, and then all that does is get them both in deeper trouble. It’s kind of their thing though, dressing to the nines when they go out. Women in Welan city are supposed to be known for their fashion. It’s kind of expected. Whenever they go out, they play the part and look the look, but they never fuck around. They’re not degenerates, and they have class.

After waiting to make sure Valerie is descent, Mikel steps into the bedroom doorway to say hi, and try to break the awkwardness between them. He puts his elbow up against the doorframe and leans into his typical cowboy stance. She has a hard time not chuckling when he even hooks his thumb in over his belt like some kind of guy in an adverstisement. She knows he’s supposed to be a decent man, but she just doesn’t get that vibe from him.

She figures she might as well be civil with him for now, as long as he’s willing to try. He isn’t really the one who screwed up anyway, except for how he was running his mouth out on the floor. She can’t figure out what the hell his deal is, and she’d like to smack that stupid little smirk off his face.

“How’s Ray doing by the way? I’m sorry he ended up getting hurt like that. He should’ve known to keep his distance while alone. Those are the rules.” She says it as plainly as she can, as if it were so simple.

“He’s doing fine. He’ll be out for a while, it was a nasty break.” He shifts his weight and switches his feet around.

“Out for a while, why? His arm should be fine by next week.”

“Oh, no, you’re right about that. They fixed him up just fine, but this wasn’t exactly the usual kind of safety incident. I think we should all take a step back and let things simmer down for a bit. Maybe think on things before moving forward, would you agree?”

She could cuss him for hours right now, but that’s not what she’s going to do. She only raises her eyebrows at him, in all seriousness, and says her peace. “Ray… is a loser, and he can fucking rot in hell.”

“Hey now god-damnit! I know what kind of man he is and I ain’t gonna have some dumb….” He almost raises his voice, but then stops. He isn’t going to do this with her in front of Clarice. He’s not dumb enough to fall for that.

Her voice is real low this time. “Dumb what Mikel, some dumb bitch?”

She’s wondering if he’s the kind of man that might take a shot at a woman, but his posture never even shifts a millimeter. What bothers her, in the back of her mind, is how quiet her little sister is staying in the background. Likely, he’s already told her plenty about the whole incident, just like he did everyone out on the floor. This is going to make the night with Five a bit more stressful.

To her luck, he keeps the conversation rolling in a neutral manner. She’s somewhat impressed with his reserve. He keeps it professional, even though it would be completely acceptable for him to tell her how he really feels, in the confidence of her apartment.

“I noticed that you signed Five-Two out for the purpose of social training.” He says it as mockingly as she meant it to be. “And with an undisclosed timeframe nonetheless. Don’t worry, I stopped the safety department from making a thing out of it. They know I know you, and well, I am that guy.” He sounds rather smug, as if “robot wrangler” was a real job title.

With the sudden turn in his mood to a more pleasant one, she finds herself not wanting to ruin it. Even after what happened, he obviously intends to stay on good terms with her, so she leaves it be at that. He must really like her sister. He’s doing a pretty good job of not digging himself a grave like he could be doing.

“Yes, Five-Two is going to be further instructed on social normalization. In fact, it may have been better to have done so earlier.”

“Maybe she and Ray might not have had their little altercation then?”

“Mikel…” She tilts her head, warning him to let it be. “You and I both know that was going to happen one way or another. He’s been gunning for her since day one, and we’re lucky it was only as bad as it was. Five knew what he was up to the whole time.”

He clenches his teeth tight and scratches the back of his neck with one finger, trying to keep his cool. He barely shakes his head at her and smiles a small fake smile. “You think on it, the next time you’re alone in a room with that thing.”

She wishes she hadn’t said that Five needed social normalization. He might say that the prototype was allowed out of its cage before it was ready, blaming it all on her. At least he won’t be pulling any shit on her as long as he’s dating her sister. It’s like Clarice is a glass wall between the two of them. They can make all the silly faces they want, but neither of them can gouge each other’s eyes out.

“Maybe, Mikel, we can find out just what really happened, tonight. You wouldn’t make Five out to be a liar would you?”

Clarice has kept quiet the whole time, but she’s been paying close attention. Maybe Mikel hasn’t actually told her anything yet. Maybe he doesn’t want her to know, because she might find out that hes actually a son of a bitch. She might be able to use this to keep him in line.

“Why would we do that? We both know damn well what happened. I’m not gonna be the one to make anything out of it.”

“Do you even know what happened, Mikel, really?”

“Just let it go Valerie.”

She drops it like he asked, but patiently waits for him to catch the little Easter egg she dropped. It seems to have gone right over his head, but Clarice still caught it though. She darts her eyes to her and then back to Mikel.

“Tonight? You said we could ask Five what happened tonight. What does that mean? Is she here?” She back-steps into the hall and looks down it, as if they might not be alone in the apartment.

The look on her sister’s face alone confirms her suspicion that Mikel has been feeding her a line of shit already. She’s kind of upset that Clarice automatically feels alarmed that Five might be around. She wonders what kind of bullshit he’s told her.

“Five actually will be joining us tonight, and if we must, we’ll see what-is-what for ourselves.” Now she’s goading Mikel. “If there’s anything you want to talk with her about, it’s all fair game to me. She needs to learn how to be social right? There’s no reason to be squeamish about it.” Knowing that Five is listening to everything they’re saying, she interrupts the other two before they might say something they can’t take back. “Five, could you please come out and meet our guests.”

It takes her a minute, with Mikel being there, but Five eventually comes out and peers in from the closet doorway. She doesn’t readily volunteer to come out much farther than that. Her brow is scrunched a little bit and she won’t take her eyes off him, not for very long at least.

Clarice puts a hand over her mouth and looks up at Mikel. “Oh my, she’s as cute as a button Valerie!” She’s clearly not impressed with Mikel after all that he’s cooked her up to be. She’s no monster.

Five straightens her posture in a little bit of surprise herself. It wasn’t what she was expecting. Not only does Clarice brush Mikel off, but she scurries right on in to fawn over her. Valerie tilts her chin up at him for having been such a jerk. Five doesn’t really know what else to do but to give Clarice a big hug when she comes over to her. It was the perfect thing to do. Clarice is beside herself with love for her. Mikel can only fold his arms indignantly. He definitely looks like an ass now.

Still needing to get dressed herself, Clarice heads into the closet, towing Five right along behind her. By the sound of her sister’s voice in the back, she’s enthralled with Five, and it seems they’re chatting together quite well. While they’re busy, she and Mikel are left alone to continue on about the situation at Work. Now that Clarice isn’t watching him, his demeanor drops most of its reserve. He steps closer, making sure to tower over her.

His voice is quiet, deep, and with a little bit of a growl to it this time. “You can go ahead and do whatever the fuck you want with your science project at work, but I’ll not be listening to it trash Ray without answering for it.”

She’s a little bit shaken by his sharp turn of attitude with her. He’s not just trying to be intimidating this time, he means it. She’s not afraid to hash things out with him, but she won’t stand for him being a bully in her own home. With a stern voice, she lets him know that he only has a few options left before he overstays his welcome.

“Well, now it appears that I have to make it simple for you Mikel. Either you shut up and sit on your hands from now on, or you start looking for new jobs for you and you’re buddy. You’ve finally caused enough damage to put yourself on the radar, and in a big way. That, and you’re about flat out of boyfriend points right now. Believe me Mikel, when I say I am giving you more of a chance than you deserve, and this shit is not helping.”

Mikel takes in a full, slow, and steady breath. She can hear it in his nostrils. He’s frustrated, but he has every bit of control over his temper. Every time she expects him to blow it, he proves to be smarter than she gives him credit for. He looks down at her, unimpressed, as if he knows he has a better hand than her anyway.

“Alright, that’s fair. We know the score. Ray picked up the tab this time and now we’re square.”

“Squares it is then.”

“Ray will have to be reminded of standard safety procedures around machinery. That’s just a work formality. From here on, we can keep our feelings out of it.”

Just as she and Mikel wrap up their little standoff, Clarice and Five pop back into the bedroom. Having to do a double take, she gives her sister a wide eyed look-over. She should’ve suspected that she’d try to best her. She can’t choose whether to scowl more at Mikel’s sly grin or her sister’s get-up.

Clarice is wearing a blue cocktail dress that was probably not meant to be worn outside of the bedroom. If it were any shorter, her ass would definitely be hanging out the bottom. She wants to ask her what kind of tape she’s holding it down with but it’s no use. Mikel is clearly in a better mood now, and she’s not going to mess with that.

The dress is a bit much, but that has always kind of been the point. Like herself and Five, Clarice has also painted a stripe across her eyes to match her own dress. Sometimes she feels like the fun times are over for her, but her sister always seems to be able to bring them back for another night every time.

What’s annoying her the most at the moment, is Mikel’s continued attempt at getting her to notice his gloating. She’s happy for her sister that he’s such a tall strapping man, but she wishes there was a little bit more between his ears. She still smiles over at him while swapping out her things from one purse to the other.

She knows he’s just a typical stubborn ass of a man, but she wishes he didn’t have to be so difficult with her specifically. It can get quite burdensome. Everything Clarice tells her about him makes her want to give him every benefit of the doubt, but there’s still something off about him. He doesn’t come off as being a bad person, just not completely honest.

With the same silly hop as Five does sometimes, Clarice disappears back into the bathroom, reemerging with a broad and very sparkly diamond choker high up on her neck. Somehow, it takes her outfit from escort, to trophy. She doesn’t notice the pair of white pumps that Five is holding till she hands them to Clarice.

“Five picked them out!”

After she puts them on, she sees that they really do go well with the dress, bringing it together with the white sparkle of the heavy jewel laden necklace. She’d been pretty sure those white shoes would never go well with anything until now. It feels really good to see the two of them having fun together.

After looking back up at Five, she notices that Clarice has painted another thin blue line across the bottom of her black one, so that their colors match each other. She really appreciates the thoughtfulness of her having done it. It must make Five feel so much more included. There’s a smile back on her face and she looks to be as excited as any girl would be. She’s glad she decided to do this for her. If she had left her back at Werker, she’d be all alone again, afraid of being thrown out with Five-One.

She can tell Mikel is getting all antsy, being cooped up with the three of them. It’s probably a bit too much estrogen for him all at once. Since everyone is all ready, she rounds them up to head down to the lounge. It’s a bit earlier than she told Aaron to meet them, but they’ll only be right downstairs.

While they all step into the elevator down the hall, she notices Aaron come out of the stairwell access door. He must’ve just gotten back from work. He’s still wearing his usual polo and slacks. She steps back out of the elevator to catch his attention. While she has her back turned, the doors close behind her. She can hear Clarice say that they’ll wait for her downstairs from through the doors.

Realizing Five is now alone with the other two, she lets out a “fuck” that catches Aaron’s attention. He marches over to her and looks down over the edge of the railing at the elevator. It’s glass, so he can see the others inside.

“What happened?”

“It’s nothing, I’ll just wait for it to come back up.”

He looks her over shamelessly. “You said we were going to meet up at seven. I’ve still gotta get ready. I didn’t know we were going anywhere, you look like, holy crap hot!”

“Aw, Thanks Aaron. Mikel and Clarice were getting a little cooped up so I figured we’d head down a little early. We’re just gonna hang out for a quick drink, I’ll see you down there in a little bit?”

He wraps his arm around her waist and gives her a sensual kiss. “I’ll be right down.”