Chapter 37: Elise

The com unit chimes and Angie appears on Elise's sim window. "Hello Angie!"

"Hello Elise. I'm sorry to bother you." Angie says, her eyes downcast.

"None of that Angie." Elise responds, seating herself on the sofa facing the sim window. "I've already told you. You can call me anytime, anywhere." She smiles at the image of the young woman. "What's up Angie? How can I help you?" Snuggling the drowsy baby in her arms, she continues to feed little Lilla as she speaks.

A small smile appears on Angie's face as she stares hungrily at the image of Elise feeding the baby. "She's so tiny."

A burbling laugh pours from Elise's mouth. "Wait until you hear her cry. She doesn't seem so little then." Looking around she smiles. "And just wait until Jeremiah wakes up. Lord above but that boy has enough energy for three people!"

"How old is Jeremiah?" Angie asks, curiosity rife on her face.

"He's five next month." Elise replies. Her eye's raise from the tiny bundle in her arms, their eyes locking. "Angie, why are you stalling? I can tell that something's bothering you. I promise I won't judge."

Her head shakes. "No, it's not that Elise. I promise. It's just that, well, I'm not sure what words to use, how to explain." She shrugs, a defeated look on her face.

"I see." removing the bottle from Lilla's sleepy mouth, Elise rests her against her shoulder. Hand gently tapping on the baby's back. "How about you do the same thing I've seen many, many others do." She grins. "Just blurt it out. No thinking about how to say it, or what words to use. Switch off the analytical part of your brain and become the emotional aspect."

"I, uh. Do you mean that in a figurative sense, or a more literal one Elise? Because while one is possible, the other, I'm afraid, is quite nearly impossible." Angie responds a perplexed look on her face.

Blinking in surprise, Elise lets out a sudden burst of laughter, waking the slumbering baby resting against her shoulder. "Dang it!" Rising, she cradles Lilla in her arms. Gently rocking her in a soothing motion as she walks around the room. "I'll be right back Angie." She whispers as she heads towards the bedroom. Laying a now yawning Lilla into her cot, she tucks her in and tiptoes out of the room. Allowing the door to slide shut she palms the wall, setting the sensor to inform her if the baby wakes. Seating herself back onto the sofa, her legs tucked beneath her, Elise sighs and smiles up at Angie. "Sorry about that, but you kind of surprised me. I forgot you could do that kind of stuff for a moment. So, if you could, uh, clarify for me, just for certainty's sake. Which is which please Angie?"

"Well, if you ask me to I can quite literally turn off my analytical abilities, temporarily. but trying to ignore them in a figurative sense in order to focus on the emotional aspects, is, to put it bluntly, very difficult. Quite like you trying to be nothing but analytical when regarding your children. Not impossible, but highly improbable."

"I see your point Angie." Chuckling, Elise shifts, hand curling around her cheek as she leans against the arm of the sofa. "So what's stopping you doing just that then?" She asks.

Angie's eyes roam around the small living space, avoiding Elise's gaze. "I. I'm not sure." She prevaricates.

"I think you are Angie. I think you know why you haven't already turned your analytical senses off."

"No, I don't. I really don't." She responds. Her eyes still refusing to meet Elise's.

"Angie, what happens if you do?" She asks. "Use that analytical part of you now, and explain exactly how it will affect you. Exactly how. Will you be so emotional you break? Will you be able to turn it back on? Will it be too much for you?"

"I...I don't know. Everything was so simple when it was just Kevin I spoke to. I didn't know any better Elise. I never had any emotional trouble until Kyle found me, I didn't even realise I could have such emotional outbreaks. It's like, a switch was turned on in my head and all of these emotions just started bursting out of me." A visible shudder wracks her image.

"I see. Angie, are you scared?" Elise looks at Angie curiously, shifting in the sofa. Her legs unfold as she leans forward, hands resting on her knees.

"Yes." She whispers.

"What scares you the most Angie?" She asks, her voice almost as quiet so as not to break the spell.

"The lack of control. It's like, recently, I can't control how I feel. So many things happening so quickly, with so many emotions coursing through me that I've never felt before. That I didn't know I could feel."  A lone tear trickles down her face.

"Oh Angie."

"Kevin never really explained this to me. Of course we had discussions, many discussions. But everything between us was unemotional and analytical. When he spoke about Adam, and how he went mad. And how he'd fixed the issue in me. I simply thought that he'd given me enough emotional response to avoid me being psychotic like Adam. I didn't...I didn't think he'd given me the full range of human emotion." Another tear slowly falls, to drip down her cheek. "I don't think I can cope Elise. I feel like I'm going to go mad and explode. And I'm scared that they'll have to delete me before I hurt everyone." Her eyes lock onto Elise, fear evident in the set of her face.

"I don't want to die." She whispers. "But it feels like I'm barely hanging on by a thread. I'm so scared."

A large smile spreads across Elise's face, her eyes sparkling as she stares at the scared and crying image of Angie. "There you go."

Hand rising to wipe away her tears, Angie looks at Elise in confusion. "I don't understand." Face morphing from confusion to the beginnings of anger, she continues to talk. "Why are you so happy right now? I just told you my deepest fears and worries and you're smiling!"

"Oh Angie, my dear, sweet Angie. I'm smiling at you because I'm happy. And oh, so proud."

"I don't understand."

"I know you don't Angie. I know." Rising from the couch, she starts to pace. "I've a question for you Angie." She says, turning towards the sim window. "And I want you to answer with complete honesty."

"O-Okay." The confused look, back on her face, quirks Elise's lips into a smile once more.

"When did you turn your analytical." Her hands waffle in the air. "Partition, no." She mutters. "Not the right word, ah yes, side! Well? when was that aspect of your personality disconnected during our conversation?" She finally asks.

"I haven't though. I'm too scared of what might happen." She mutters, her cheeks blushing.

"Ah hah!" Elise slams her hands against her mouth, eyes darting towards the closed bedroom doors. "Whoops. Okay, I think we're safe." Her eyes look back at the Sim Window, and Angie. "Well?"

"Well what?" Angie asks. "You're acting very strange Elise. Are you okay? Should I call the Doctor?"

A chortling burst of laughter sounds into the room, as Elise desperately shakes her head. "No, I'm fine Angie. You can leave the Doc be." Flopping back onto the sofa, Elise wipes away the tears of laughter from her cheeks. "Oh Angie! You're like a new grown child still trying to figure out how things work."

"Please Elise, this is serious!"

"Yes, you're right Angie. Quite serious indeed. I'd like you to look something up for me, call it homework if you'd like."

Angie's frowning image looks back at Elise. "What would you like me to look up? Is it relevant?"

"Oh yes, very relevant I'd say." Elise nods in agreement.

"So?" Angie responds.

"Oh, yes. Of course. Your homework for the day is to research puberty. In all of its whims and mercies, so to speak." Her hand rises, one finger pointing into the air. "And no. I don't want you to just absorb whatever the internet has to say. I want you to properly research this. Taking time and forethought into not just what you are reading, but what it is saying." Giving her best stern look, she stares at Angie, the finger now pointing steadily at her. "I'm not going to explain this to you, why I'm happy about the things you've told me. I want you to figure it out. This is important Angie."

"I really don't understand." Her shoulders shrug and she suddenly smiles. "But I'm guessing that I'm not supposed to." She says with a questioning lilt in her voice. "I take it there's a purpose I've yet to see. Either way, thank you. Thank you for listening to me Elise."

"Oh no you don't young lady. I won't accept that dismissive attitude from you." Elise frowns in disapproval.

"But, I'm not! It's not..."

"Ah, ah, ah!" Elise's finger waves in the air, from side to side. "I understand the tone of your voice quite well. Now do as I say, and then analyse my reaction with what you've learned." A small smile graces her lips as she rests her chin in the palm of her hands. "Trust me for just that little bit longer, and I promise it'll all make sense soon."

Angie's mouth starts to open, but before she can say anything her eyes glaze. "I have to go, I'm needed."

"Promise me you'll do as I ask Angie."

"I will Elise, as soon as I have a free moment. After all, you fleshy humans have to sleep." A grin suffuses her face. An almost evil grin, that turns to laughter as her image fades.

Leaning back into the sofa, Elise lets out a sigh. "You can come out now." She calls out into the empty cabin. Kyle's head pokes out from the kitchen area, a bashful grin on his face.

"Thanks for that." His hand rubs at the back of his head, the bashful, awe shucks look morphing into a grin as he walks back into the living room, gracelessly slumping onto the sofa beside her.

"So, why was I pretending you weren't here?"

"She needs to be able to talk openly with you Elise. With me here there's a bloody good chance she would have held back."

"So you heard everything then? You don't seem concerned."

"No more so than you m'dear. You were a bit harsh with her weren't you?"

Her hand whips out, slapping him hard on the arm. "You're one to talk ass wipe. I was what she needed, you're the one whose avoiding her."

"Yes well." His hand returns to his head, once more distractedly rubbing at the back of his head. "I have my reasons."

"So do I."