Dora Perkins stayed in her husband's embrace for a long time. She thought back on these past weeks with Ms. Nagra, of looking in the mirror each morning to see the two soft orange things poking through her hair, of how she'd felt awful for leaving a trail of...of slime on her host's floors (they were wood, at least, easier to clean than carpet, but still...) She thought about that horrible first day, when she'd lost control of herself and...and attacked one of the many transformees that had filled the store she'd been trapped in when the sun rose...how she'd been dragged from the store, raving like a madwoman, and how not ten minutes later she was...she was exactly the thing she'd been terrified of...
Most of all, she thought of how many times she'd thought of her home and her husband, and how she wished she could go back...she should have. She should have just done it, and to heck with the consequences. But...the fear of rejection, the fear that she would return, and he would want nothing to do with the monster his wife had become...that would have been even worse than the separation...or at least that was what she'd thought. Even in the past couple weeks she'd been reconsidering, but every time she went to call him, the fear won out...
But now, here she was: in his arms, holding to him like he might vanish at any moment...yet he didn't. She had seen his stunned and confused look; she didn't know that he even had his own feelings sorted out yet. But he wasn't leaving, he wasn't pulling away...and that made all the difference. She wrapped her arms around him, as far as they would fit around his shell, and hugged him tightly. "I...I'm sorry, Nate," she said. "I shouldn't have doubted you..."
He shook his head. "Dora, I...I don't know what I would have done. Maybe...I might have said something to hurt you...but...I don't want you to go, honey...I don't want you to leave..."
She nodded. "I won't..."
He sighed in relief. Thank God, she was safe; he had found her...thank God that he had been led here...
Mikey spent the last of the school day partly paying attention to her teacher, but focusing more on the attack that afternoon. She was awfully glad to have been able to help Hiro; for someone to have their own body taken over by an intruder...that must be a terrible experience. She was surprised he handled it as calmly as he did, but that was good; it meant there was nothing preventing her fairies from helping to the full extent of their abilities. And they'd done a good job, and he was properly cleaned...
But it still bothered her, what he'd said. The virus had been looking for someone...for Becca. Why her? Was it her specifically, or just someone like her? In any case, what did it want her for? Aside from the fact that she used to be Biff Meadows and now she had three nipples and blue hair, Mikey couldn't think of anything all that unusual about her. She'd been spending more time with the vice-principal, that was a little curious, but nothing that she could think someone would want to come after her for...
She was worried. She knew Becca wasn't a member of their family in the strict sense, but it had been kind of fun since she'd moved in with them; Mikey had never had a little sister before. She certainly didn't want anything bad happening to her...
The young gynoid said goodbye to Mrs. Maple as class let out for the day, then talked with Caitlin and Bryan for a little while before heading off down the hall in search of Becca. She smiled; she found it a bit funny that Bryan took breaks to soak up sunlight. Maybe they could eat lunch outside or something, then he could get as much sun as he needed.
She found her houseguest by the lockers, hefting her bookbag as she got ready to go home. Mikey held out her hand in an offer to carry it; Becca frowned slightly and pulled a little closer. She shrugged and tried to think of how to break the subject. "Um, Becca?" she asked. "Today one of...um, the other robots...caught a virus..."
The younger girl frowned; she hadn't really understood this stuff even before she was eight years old again, but she knew that was bad. "Are...'re they okay?" she asked.
The robot-girl nodded. "He's okay now," she said. "But...he told me the virus was looking for something, and when he saw you walk past, it decided it wanted to go after you...do you know why that is?"
The sudden flash of worry across Becca's face said everything that needed to be said; Mikey didn't even need her body-language analysis results to know that the little girl knew something about this. "Uh...um, I dunno," she stammered. "I...we gotta get home..."
Mikey put a hand on her shoulder. "Becca," she said, "I know you're not telling me the truth...I won't tell anybody else if you don't want me to, I'm just worried for you..."
