The girl on the wall was who she used to be before she’d sworn off men, before she vowed several unbreakable oaths. She was smiling, happy. That girl had been engaged; she still had a bright future. Had the prospect of a normal life.
Clara clenched her fingers together tighter.
And waited.
Chapter Three
***
Reid straightened hislab coat and flexed his muscles, loosening them. He entered his office, startling the girl who pretended to be unafraid. Clara Anne Warren.
“Clara?” he asked with a modicum of boredom. She stood and he waved her back into her seat as he walked around his desk and sat down. Her hands were clenched, holding a purse that had seen better days.
“Yes.”
She visibly swallowed and Reid opened up his wristcon to take notes. He didn't need to, but it always unnerved hopefuls when things were being written about them that they couldn’t see. Half the time he was filling out material requisition forms for the facility. The other half of the time it was Sudoku.
“Why are you here?” he asked without pleasantries.
He glanced up as Clara fumbled to find the right words. Her tongue slipped across her bottom lip. “For the same reason anyone would come here.”
Right.“You'd be surprised, Ms. Warren. Men and women have a lot of different reasons why they come here.”
“They do?”
“Yes. Shelter, protection, to have a child, to fuck a Cyborg,” Reid mused with a shrug, watching a blush spread across her cheeks. Why be subtle when the truth was there for all to hear?
“Oh... well, I want to have a child.”
“Good to know. We’re not a charity.” He brought up her file to double-check her answers. “Why?”
“Why?” she asked with a hint of confusion.
“Yes. Why do you want to have a child? Why do you want to have a cybernetic child? What brought you here?”
“I've always wanted to have a family. I never had one growing up and I love children. I've tried... before this,” she looked around the room briefly, “but it never worked out, it always failed. It's hard to explain.”
