004. Dark

The first time she realizes it might be love is when she chooses not to be alone in the dark of her bedroom. His arms around her are welcome reminders, not cages or the remains of a physical interaction that should be over now. He’ll be there in the morning, and she won’t mind. In fact, she might even show him the chicken coop before the breakfast she’ll make them. He might like it, the same way he found her choice to live in a plant dominated warehouse charming rather than weird. And then maybe he’ll still call her again.

005. Light

Three months, and she could belong with Allen for the rest of her life, if he’d only ask. Not to, because she isn’t that kind of girl, but he could be a partner in the eternal endeavor of Elenore attempting to not fail as a human being while she succeeds as a scientist. The very possibility leaves her different when she deals with the people around her. It’s like someone finally turned a light on in her. Even her family seems to have noticed that she’s finally got some hope, and they’re baffled by it. Which only makes her happier.

006. Sleep

She finds him unconscious, sprawled a few feet from Audrey. For a moment, Elenore pretends that he’s only fallen asleep in a strange place and that she’ll have to tease him for it. But the electrical burns on his hands and slow sludgy leak from the biotic computer tell her otherwise. The man she’d let in had just been here to steal her technology, like the crude oil eating fungus that had suddenly appeared on the market just as she was applying for the patents, and had gotten greedy. Audrey had reacted in self-defense. Too bad she hadn’t killed him.