KARA

[Somerset]

Lips lined with the scruff of a day's growth parted to growl at her for apologizing, but when his eyes fell on her so did his jaw fall open. For as those seemingly innocent words left lips she'd begun undoing her shirt, button by slow button to reveal the expanse of flawless white beneath. Lips moved without words, jade eyes captured in the snowy grasp of her unwitting display; it was all he could do to keep his hands at his side as she brushed past him, unknowingly giving the lonely widower the closest thing to physical intimacy he'd experienced in the past three years of his life. So sharp and distinct was the sudden desire that burned in him from something so demure as the removal of a blouse that he was outright stunned... and it wasn't until she'd reached the door that he even realized he'd been staring.

Not to mention that she wasn't an actual woman.

Cursing his embarrassingly utter lack of control, he made mental note to get laid before addressing her once more. "Robot, that wasn't what I meant-," he began, only to immediately cut himself off as she stepped back into the room. Stripped free of the blouse entirely now, she stood in flawless naivete, bare to the waist save for a thing strip of fabric that must have passed for a bra nowadays. Tearing his gaze aside, he tried (and failed) to suppress the rising color in his cheeks as he spoke to her. "There's no need for you to be naked, Robot, I just... I just meant to stay in your room at night. hell, stay in any room, so long as it isn't mine. And... and keep your clothes on when you do." Looking away as he was, the image of her silken smooth shoulders, bare and kissed tenderly with cinnamon freckles, flashed across his mind's eye... and he ached to know how soft she truly was.

[raindrop]

Kara turned and looked at him, curious, the light blouse held relaxed at her side. He couldn't be renaming her 'Robot', could he? There was something about that, it wasn't her and she felt almost as though he was taking something away from her. Why should this be so? First there was the matter of nighttime attire protocol and also something else slightly alarming.

"Sir," she stepped toward him again, reaching out and touching his arm only to find out what she supposed was so, "are you feeling quite well? You seem to have developed a fever?" It seemed to have come on suddenly and when she saw that his eyes were again drawn down from her face to her body she addressed the protocol. "And you sleep in only briefs. Would this not be standard nighttime attire?"

This tugged her own gaze down to his loins and she saw that there was a change there. Quickly accessing her memory storage she knew what had happened now.

"Oh," she said faintly as she dropped her hand from his arm, the issue of her name forgotten, "do you...still wish for me to go?" she asked softly as she met his eyes.

[Somerset]

Artificial or not, there was enough of a real woman in her to realize full well what the rising scarlet tone in his cheeks meant and what the longing in his bottomless jade stare thirsted for. The flicker of her eyes elsewhere did nothing to soothe the awakening fire within him, and in his weakened state Lee let his eyes wander. The scoop of her neck and the graceful arch, the soft slope of her shoulder... the swaths of white that held her perfect teardrop breasts, subtle handfuls that his fingers longed to touch and his lips ached to taste. The smooth expanse of her stomach, soft lines guiding his clover orbs further downward, leaving him to ponder the mystery of what lay beneath her khaki clothing.

"Oh... do you still wish me to go?"

Better to ask if she could come in for some coffee, or to ask to stay the night. Whatever artificial intelligence lingered behind those silvery mirrors, there was enough feminine wile in them to know what he wanted... and enough delicious submission to offer it willingly to him. And why shouldn't he? He'd been good.. three years of celibacy, three long years of remaining faithful to a memory. Three years of ignoring women, or living only in the memory of what was... now along came this... this robot, perfectly viable and artfully crafted. Why shouldn't he allow himself some fun... didn't he deserve it?

The answer, of course, was clear.

"Go." The simple word nearly rattled on his breath, airy and hesitant, whispered with what withered remains of self control he could still muster. "Go, and leave me to myself for the rest of the day. I don't... I don't want to see you."

Lee turned away, pulling up the blanket as he laid back down. It had suddenly gotten unbearably cold.

"And for Christ's sake... put on some clothes."

[raindrop]

Kara stepped back as though Lee had physically struck her. He didn't want to see her, why at this point was she surprised? Since Kara's birth in the image of an adult human woman only days ago she had been threatened with annihilation, treated as though she were untouchable, and roundly rejected. There had been good moments, too, but so far it seemed that rejection was to be the normal course of events for her.

She pulled the top back on, nearly tearing it in her haste to obey and buttoning it with superhuman speed.

Even though he had been clear that she was to go she hesitated, watching his back, the blanket winched up tight to cover his body. She wanted to be able to talk to him, the lonely feeling was rushing back even before she stepped away, quietly going out and shutting the door with exquisite gentleness behind her.

She leaned against the door, allowing tears to prickle at her eyelids again that day as her cheek pressed against the smooth dark wood. Why did Lee choose loneliness? It was something she found she did not really like.

After a long moment she pushed away from the door and padded down the hallway, head down in dejection. First she returned to the foyer where her other two sets of clothes were still sitting. Taking those to the room that she had been given she put them down on the dresser and caught her own gaze in the mirror.

She leaned in, studying her own face and touching it here and there with her fingers. Tears still stood in her light silver-blue eyes and she fluffed her hair so that it fell into place. It was difficult to know what Lee saw when he looked at her, Kara only knew what she saw.

Turning away, she felt the nothing, the loneliness more keenly than before. It was mixed with something else that she had no name for, she only felt that she had not succeeded well on her first day here.

She surveyed the bed. Strictly speaking she didn't need to sleep although going into sleep mode could contribute to better battery longevity. Did it matter, though?

Leaving her clothes on as ordered, Kara curled up on the bed and pulled the rose-sprigged comforter over herself. Cuddling down as well as a lonely android could as she shut her eyelids and let the light die from her eyes.

[Somerset]

It wasn't a voice or a command that awoke Kara from her artificial slumber, but an alert. A glaring red blip registered in her subconscious, stirring to action a mind she'd forced into dormancy. AEGIS, the house's innate defense system, was giving off a silent alarm that an intruder was trying to force its way in through the front door. Though Lee had long since manually overridden the house's ability to contact the authorities, the silent alarm went up nonetheless, only to be scooped up by Kara's basic home-security protocol. As the sleeping android stirred from her slumber, the front door continued to jostle and jolt under the increasingly forceful approach of the unexpected guest.

-*-

When Deborah had first convinced her introverted widower of a brother to accept the world back into his life, Lee's answer was to leave all the doors of his house unlocked. All this served to do, other than frustrate his sister once she found out, was to allow easy-access to his home to the only guest he still allowed over: Seth Gordon, his one-time co-worker and former college roommate. The two shared very little in common; where Lee was reserved and focused, Seth was the wildcard of the two, never afraid to speak his mind, however unwanted his opinion might be. Horrendously self-serving and careless, most others (not counting the ditzy women he always seemed to manage to have in droves) found him to be obnoxious.

Lee, however, appreciated his brash nature now more than ever; in a world where everyone pitied and felt sorry for him, it was good to share time with someone who didn't treat him like a sad sack... even if it meant that person probably didn't truly care for him. Seth's random interjections of himself into Lee's dreary life were welcome escapes from the drudgery, and as base and crude as his old friend might be, Lee figured he served as the least social interaction he could endure before being truly considered a hermit.

A balled up fist with perhaps a touch too much hair on it banged against the thick oak doors, their resounding boom going unheard by the house's owner. "What, all of a sudden we're locking doors here? Old Sethy Boy isn't welcome anymore?" Again the doorknob jostled and shook before another shocking boom rattled the wood, this time from a boot. "C'mon, man, get your head out of your ass! I've got Stallone's newest; the guy at the store says the only thing higher than the body count is the boob count. Lee? LEE!" Another three booms rattled through the house, demanding attention.

[raindrop]

Kara went from sleep mode to a standing start with speed that would have disconcerted most humans had they seen. For an instant she was stymied by the conflict between, '...keep your clothes on," and the fact that Lee seemed to dislike these particular clothes greatly. She reached for the buttons and remembered he wouldn't want to see her today so was she to keep these on? But there was someone at the door, Lee should be told, so he might see her in which case...

Her fingers blurred as she unbuttoned the blouse and threw it off, pushed the khakies down and kicked them away before dithering between the jeans and T-shirt and the yellow halter top and short skirt. Lee didn't want to see her yet there was possible company. Work or hostess or...? Autonomy was surprisingly confusing when mixed with someone else's garbled expectations.

The alert still pinged on and off in her subconcious, hurrying her so that she grabbed the jeans and skinnied into them quickly, zipping, buttoning, adding the T-shirt and suffering one more pang of momentary doubt when she again saw the lips printed on the front.

No time to guess any further, she fluffed her hair and slipped on the flat canvas shoes before hurrying from the room to Lee's door.

Pausing, she listened to see if he'd awakened but heard nothing.

"Sir!" She called through the door, knocking to wake him, "There is a visitor at the door. Are you at home to them?" She knocked and called again when he didn't answer, wishing that she had the presence of mind yesterday to inquire as to his preferred greeting protocol for the front door.

He didn't have to see her, all he had to do was call back and she could stay out of his sight as ordered.

[Somerset]

Damnit. Today, of all days, Seth had to go and shove his fat pig nose into the swamp? Fine. Through the door came the hurried sound of someone rushing to get out of bed and the sudden crash of someone tumbling to the floor. A litany of curses, each more inventive than the last, masked the rest of his motions, growing louder by the moment. The door swung wide to reveal her master in much the same attire, a fury on his face... that died at the stalwart reminder of just how beautiful she looked. Swallowing a portion of his anger, he growled his aimless irritation at her, eyes averted. "Deborah must have locked the doors yesterday on her way out; it's Seth. He's the only one who comes by here. If it's a swarthy looking man in sunglasses despite it being midmorning, let him in."

Grabbing a pair of jeans off of the counter, he began to hurry into them, hopping as he spoke to perforate his words with breathy grunts. "He'll know... what to... do and will... probably have... some sort... of plan... in mind." Sighing, he buckled them closed and reached for a shirt. "Just... let him in, and don't let him touch anything that looks fragile. I'll be right down."

The door closed, though not before his eyes found hers once more, reverberations of their earlier intimacy still quivering in his eyes.

[raindrop]

Kara startled when he opened the door and dropped her gaze to the floor on the principle that if she wasn't looking at Lee perhaps he wasn't really seeing her. He peppered her with instructions and she raised her eyes, wanting to see him again. Light silvery blue met rich green for a moment before the door came between them.

It wasn't fully closed before Kara darted down the hallway toward the banging. Lee didn't seem to think that this Seth was very nice but Lee didn't seem to like much of anyone. The fact was that this was company and Kara was excited to see what he was like for herself.

Reaching the door she opened it quickly and took in Seth's appearance as she offered a smile.

"Hello," she said, "Please come in, Mr. Grayson will be out in a moment."

[Somerset]

"Mamma mia." The words drug heavily from his Seth's scruffy lips, his dull brown stare intensifying at the sight of the woman who opened the door. Peeling down his thick sunglasses like shades from a window, he gave her a full-bodied lookover, his stare so intense she felt it licking and lapping at her curves; all that was missing was a lascivious lick of his lips, and he wasn't far off from doing just that. "Wow wowwee... no wonder that jerk hasn't been returning my calls. Excuse me, Madam, where are my manners... I'm Seth. Seth Steel. I was just in the neighborhood and I-"

Dark brown eyes narrowed as he intensified his stare at her, deciphering her like a password. "Wait a minute, wait-a-minute... you're an AX400 hundred, aren't you? Third generation, ah, man... what'd they call you, what's your name..." Snapping hsi fingers, he stomped his feet in giddy excitement, eager to solve his own riddle. "KARA! Right!? Oh man, I've read all about you; you're the newest thing on the line! Fully capable of..." Brown eyes lowered... then narrowed suggestively, a knowing wink in his gaze. "...of just about anything, am I right?"

Brushing past her eagerly, treating her much the same way he would a coat rack, he called out to the emptiness. "Hey, you pervert, you! You didn't tell me you got yourself a fancy new talking sex toy! Get your ass out here!"

[raindrop]

Sex toy? Kara stood still, hanging onto the door as the man brushed past her. She wondered why she liked the way Lee had looked at her, even if she felt sad for him, and she didn't like the way this man did. Weren't they both sexual in nature?

Closing the door, she watched the man barrel through the room, watching lest he touch anything fragile.

"Please, Sir, perhaps you'd like to have a seat until Mr. Grayson returns?"

She smiled in best hostess fashion and gestured to a chair.

"I can get some snacks for the two of you."

Moving toward the kitchen, Kara found herself hoping that Lee would appear soon. She had no preconceived notions of sex and would have accepted anything that Lee had wanted as normal even if humans found it deviant. But the way this man had looked at her and had dismissed her made her feel like being in the other room - any other room - would be wise. She would not have the kind of contact with him that he had referred to unless Lee expressly wished it and she fervently hoped that her owner would not do that.