Cassie's sleep is only occasionally interrupted by her squeezing my leg tight. When she does I reach down and gently run my fingers across the fuzzy remnants of her hair, and that seems to calm her down.

The only problem is that I don't want to stop running my fingers across her hair. It just feels so nice. But I guess that's even more motivation to finish my own hair and free my hands.

I hope Corax is doing alright. Cassie left the door cracked when she came in, so he's hopefully able to hear me reading. I'd hate for him to be bored just so Cassie and I can have some space.

Cassie eventually shifts against my leg and her breathing returns to its normal rhythm, slowly coming back to consciousness.

She suddenly starts, pushing me away with her organic hand and sending her new one flailing.

"What's wrong?" I quickly scoot away to give her space.

"I-" She glances around quickly, still trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes. "Nothing." She pushes herself up, careful not to use her new arm, and rests her head on my chest.

"It doesn't sound like nothing." I say. Do I wrap my arm around her? Is that comforting? Or weird? She seemed like she wanted away from me just a moment ago, so probably not? But if she wanted away, then why return to leaning on me? It's safer to do nothing.

Cassie stays silent for a bit, and I give her time to think.

"I don't know how to put it into words." Her voice comes out as a hushed whisper. "I told you I'm bad at this."

"It's ok." I reassure her. "I'm bad at talking too. We can talk about things when you figure out what to say." There's one important thing that my mind is screaming at me to ask. One thing that absolutely has to be asked, even if I know I'll hate the answer. "Is it my fault?"

Cassie shakes her head and squeezes me tight.

"You're doing fine," she promises. "I just." She lets out a large sigh. "I'm just scared."

"About what?"

She gestures vaguely to me before letting her hand fall limply across my body.

"So it is my fault?" I'm not surprised by that, but it does make me sad regardless.

"No! Fuck, I didn't mean it like that. It's my problem, not yours."

"Is there anything I can do to help? You said you wanted to do everything together."

Cassie goes silent for an entire minute, her heart beating hard through her shirt.

"I can't say it." She says quietly. "Give me your tablet."

"Alright." My tablet should be in my backpack, which is still sitting on the end of the bed where I left it last night. Instead of moving her, I just pull down the blankets to free my leg, and loop my foot around the backpack strap and pull it towards us. I grab my tablet and pass it to her.

Despite all my effort, she's forced to push herself off of me and set up the tablet in her lap. It'd be easier if we fixed her second arm last night, but oh well. If it's a problem she will tell me.

"Look away." She says after opening the tablet's writing program.

I grab Cassie's book from my backpack and turn away from her. If I don't do something to keep myself distracted, my mind is just going to go wild with possibilities of what she might be trying to say.

We sit together for nearly ten minutes, with only the sound of her tapping the screen very occasionally breaking the silence.

"Here." The tablet lands in my lap. "I'm going to go be literally anywhere else."

I quickly pick it up and take in the small amount she wrote in an instant.

Relationships are dangerous. They require being vulnerable, and I've seen people abuse that vulnerability. I've had someone abuse that vulnerability. Just being around you is scary, every fiber of my being tells me not to give you any more ammunition. It's easier with you not being able to lie, and I'm trying, but it's just fucking hard. I'm fighting against myself to not just run away.

"Wait, Cassie." She's not even off the bed yet, but she stops regardless. I start to reach out to embrace her, but stop halfway. "Can I give you a hug?"

She leans backwards stiffly, and I catch her, tightly wrapping my arms around her.

"I get it, and it's ok." I reassure her. "You and everyone else has been so patient with me. You don't have to force anything. It's my turn to be patent with you, and I have a lot of experience being patent."

Her form relaxes a little bit, sinking further into me. She lets her head fall back, resting it on my shoulder.

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"I think I need a drink."

"Isn't it a bad idea to drink before breakfast?" I don't have any hard facts to back that up, but it seems correct. Can hangovers happen without sleeping? I have no idea.

"I think I need to eat."

I let her pull a laugh out of me.

"You've had a rough day, I'll get it for you. What do you want?"

"I want fish." She lets her eyes drift closed, relaxing fully into me.

"Do you want to get your arm working first?"

"Probably should." She nods, but doesn't push herself off of me.

Grabbing a cord from my backpack without disturbing her isn't the easiest thing, but I manage.

"I need to touch you to find a port. Is that ok?"

"You already are. Go ahead."

I run my hand across her arm, searching for a port or a small flap I can open. Cassie squirms, I imagine it's very uncomfortable to feel her entire arm light up with every touch.

I quickly find a small hatch on the underside of her arm, near her armpit. I pop it open and plug myself in, welcoming her arm as a part of our body.

"Ok, go ahead and move a muscle."

"Middle finger, first joint out."

Getting our arm configured goes quickly, and I soon take our hand in mine. I begin once again gently running my finger over our hand, her nerves snapping into the right place with every touch. I do preemptively turn down our sensitivity though, I don't want to accidentally tickle her again.

I work my way across our palm and fingers before turning our hand over and working on the back of it. The second I move onto our arm, Cassie's fingers bend, entwining with mine.

"I really enjoy sharing an arm. It's just a really nice feeling." It feels really intimate, but I don't think she'd want to know that.

"Alright. Don't make this weird." Her voice makes it clear she's not actually angry. She's trying and failing to entirely hide a small smile.

"If you want to try it, I can route the inputs for my arm to this port real quick and give you access."

"I think I'm alright."

I trace my fingers up our arm again, double checking every last location. I only stop when I reach her sleeve.

"I need-"

"Yeah yeah. I know." She moves to remove her shirt, and I unplug from her arm to give her space.

I have her entire body memorized, every scar, every soft, smooth patch of skin. I can recall her at any time, but seeing her bare skin still makes my mind short circuit. She's just so unbelievably beautiful. Knowing her story, the source of every beautiful imperfection, only makes her more gorgeous.

"Are you just going to stare all day?"

"Sorry!" Multiple seconds passed without me even realizing. "I didn't mean to! You're just really pretty."

"I'm glad you think so." She leans back again, sinking into my body. Her bare skin is so warm against my shirt. I desperately want to take mine off and feel what it's like without any fabric in the way, but that feels like too much. "You can keep working."

"Right! Sorry." I grab her arm and plug myself back in.

"I'll let that one side, but please don't apologize a third time."

"I won't." Probably. Or at least I'll try not to.

I lay a finger on our shoulder and begin to trace once again. I focus on our metal, inching closer to the seam of her skin. I really want to make sure I can do the seam in two quick rotations. Although, I guess I don't have to worry about that as much as I used to. She's ok with me touching her skin, to a point at least. Still, I don't want to risk making her uncomfortable.

"Everything feel right?" I ask.

She signals for our arm to move, and I let it. She slowly brings it up in front of her face, clenching and unclenching our hand a couple of times. Her organic hand lands on our arm, slowly running her own fingers across us.

"It's good." She nods. "Wish I didn't have to adapt to yet another sensitivity, but it'll be fine."

"Alright, I'm glad." I don't bother asking if she wants me to adjust it before returning our arm to her. "I'm going to go get some food for you."

Cassie freezes instead of moving out of my arms and off my lap.

"Fuck it." She mumbles before her head quickly turns, landing a quick kiss on my cheek and quickly jumping off of me.

"I hope it's better now that I have skin." I say after another few stunned seconds.

"It is." The words are barely loud enough to reach my ears.

Corax has turned the living room into the nest he truly deserves. He's collected every pillow, including those from the two other bedrooms, and piled them in the center of the room. He's draped every last blanket and comforter on top of them, and sits perched atop his throne.

"Did you have a nice night?"

Even from here I can hear a soft ticking coming from here. That's all the answer I need.

"Could you hear me reading last night?" I ask.

Corax nods, he looks far too comfortable to speak.

"Ok good."

His nest dominates the living room, and I have to go out of my way to avoid it on the way to the front door.

It's only when I reach the intercom that I realize, what do I even order? Fish, of course, but what kind? I guess it's the job of whoever answers the intercom to help me with that. I hit the button.

"How may I help you?" The same voice that answered the first time we were in Vegas answers now.

"Hi, I'd like to order some fish."

"What kind would you like and in what dish?" The voice asks.

"I can't eat, so I have no idea. We'll just take whatever you recommend. Oh! And can I please get some water and something alcoholic."

"Would you like a suggestion for the drink as well?"

"Yes please."

"We have a delightful 54' vintage champagne available."

"That sounds fine, thank you."

I step back from the intercom and return to Corax's nest. There's nothing to say, I'm just so glad he finally gets to have something this nice. I stand, beaming with pride and a smile on my face until a knock on the door interrupts me.

"Room service!"

I open the door to one of the bodies Zero used to repair Cassie and I. Are they in there? Or is someone else? Or maybe they're non-sentient? I have no way to tell, and I'm sure asking will get me nowhere.

The body bows, holding out a large covered tray for me.

"Thank you." I take the try, and close the door before they can, making sure I don't accidentally hit them.

I return to Cassie's room and knock on the open door.

"Room service." I mimic the delivery android's inflection in my own voice and step inside.

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