Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was.. lonely work. 

Despite the many people who walked to and from the many fields of this place and the many Rozzums that tended the plants, Roz found little companionship save for some of the few animals that made their home here.

There was a group of cats, employed as mousers - for of all the advancements in technology, cats were still the best at keeping the fields’ vermin population down.

One such cat was an orange tabby named Thunder.

At least that’s what he called himself, the humans called him ‘Floofy Floofster’.

He hated the name. So she didn’t use it.

He was young and agile, new to the position and had a hard time sitting still long enough to listen to old Snooks, the grey shabby looking cat who once had been a master mouser before arthritis settled into her hips.

He longed for adventure more than anything and had a habit of sticking his nose into just about every nook and cranny he could find and then some.

And so when a robot showed up able to speak the language of animals with quite the story to tell..

Well it so naturally happened that Thunder became her way to get her voice out into the world, to gather information, to eventually set things right.

Thunder knew the vents and which ones lead outside this place, and he told the raccoons who roamed the streets out there, who in turn told the pigeons, who in turn took to the skies to find out all that Roz asked for.

But it was all a huge waiting game.

For now, she tended to the crops in a repetitive fashion over and over all day just to do it again the next day in what was turning out to be a dreadfully dull life that she’s now glad that she never started out with but it made it all the harder not to yearn for her home.

And it was tiresome to pretend to be something that she was not day in and day out.

Nor was it working since all the people tended to avoid her anyway. The second she got passed ‘Hello! My name is Rozzum’ and into ‘7134’ , whatever help or task that had been on their mind was suddenly nonexistent and they would move along.

She let slip a quiet whine - no one was close enough to hear it and she needed to let something out.

Everyday she got a little antsier, a little more likely to let something slip, so she had taken to doing little wild things to keep her a little more sane for a little while longer.

And while she was musing these thoughts yet again , some movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

It was not Thunder with good news, like she desperately wanted it to be, but a middle aged grey-haired man with a brow similar to the bear with a bushy mustache to complete the look. He had a box in one hand and a cane in the other and very much looked to be struggling.

She didn’t look directly at him. But she could see just enough features to know who it was. Jabri Shareef, who worked as the senior head of the IT department, and who ensured that all of the many systems around here ran smoothly.

She hadn’t seen or heard him in about a month.

She… wanted to know why. 

A risky thing.

She took stock of where everyone was right now.

Three humans had passed by recently - two heading to get lunch and the other simply passing through to get to the building to her left. And the other Rozzums were further into the field and didn’t have a visual on her.

And so, because she was Roz, she ditched her current task to go investigate the man. She would be back to it of course, but right now she wanted to help, even trapped here by humans it certainly wasn’t the man’s fault.

“Excuse me? Are you in need of assistance?” She put on her old voice.

All she got was a scowl in response.

“I am Rozzum 7134.” She pressed on anyway.

 And the second those numbers left her the old man froze .

Of course…

But at least he did not remain frozen for long.

“I ain’t taking no help from you robots.” The scowl returned tenfold.

Roz stared, a certain stare that wasn’t a human one and tended to unnerve said humans, a stare that meant ‘ Excuse me ?’ One she kept falling back on even though she knew it unnerved them simply because it had become instinctual.

And it certainly unnerved Mr. Shareef.

“ Especially not you.” He grumbled to hide his nervousness but the anger still shimmered. She hummed a second, stopped it, and debated if she should proceed.

“I have not seen you in 33 days and now you return with a cane for mobile assistance. Are you sure you do not need help?” 

“I said I do NOT need your help!” Was the fiery answer she received. But not two seconds after he made this declaration did he stumble and nearly crash to the ground had Roz not reacted quickly and caught him.

Knowing his mood was sour, she did not hold onto him for long, just long enough to get him back on his feet. 

His box he had been carrying on the other hand…

All the contents laid scattered on the ground.

And all at once, where Roz had been expecting his anger to reach a boiling point and for him to start really yelling, the wind seemed to drain from him as he let out a long low sigh, defeated. She did not say anything, merely tilting her head one way - waiting for him to say or do something. But all he did was stand there, gazing at the stuff on the ground with a far away look.

There were many things the standard Rozzum unit could do or say in this situation - some things she had done herself back when she first arrived on the island. Like automatically start picking up the contents of the box with a chipper attitude and presenting the resorted items back to their clear owner before going on her merry way since he explicitly told her not to help him when it came to carrying his box. Or making some Ad-like remark and presenting a discount code for some item to help move his stuff.

But she wasn’t like that anymore.

“Do you need someone who will listen?” Was what she said instead - failing at keeping her true voice completely under wraps.

The man finally took his eyes off the box and set her with a hard glare but he could not stop the depths of his eyes from betraying him.

“You’ll just rat me out to Universal Dynamics.” He finally said in a low cautious manner, voice seeped in suspicion. But the way he said it..

She could hear it - the hidden test. The words between the lines.

“You would not be the only one.” She responded back - her own hidden meaning - her own little test that reeked of all the risk she was putting herself in for one singular man. The two stared at each other for a long time, neither budging, both stubborn in their own rights - but the unease that her stare caused in everyone would be the thing to force Mr. Shareef to forfeit this game.

“Aye.” He said evenly. “You ARE a strange one.”

He motioned for her to pick up the items on the ground and she gently placed them back into the box from which they came from. But with each item she picked up, the more confused and concerned she grew, for these were none of the tools and materials expected of someone off to fix the latest problem. It was all nicknacks and paperweights with a wide range of other odds and ends.The very last object she lingered on the most, a flimsy framed photo of Shareef with a young boy and girl on either side of him, where the man’s smile was present for once and there was an atmosphere of warmth.

She put that one in the gentlest of them all.

And she knew, somewhat, what was going on.

“You have cleared off your desk.” She stated matter of factly after too long of a silence.

“Yes.” Came the curt response. “Because of one of you bots.”

She turned to him then, box still on the ground as she had not yet risen from her crouch, and nailed him with a questioning look. He averted his eyes from hers and it was clear to her that he too was watching his words, testing her reactions and how much was safe to spill.

“Was.. there an accident?” It was the first thing to come to her mind - along with a moment that played over and over in her mind despite doing all she could possibly do to fix it.

“Yes and now I’m being replaced.”

She gave a small worried nod at that, eyes drifting away from him before settling back onto the box. She finally picked it up and rose to her feet but did not yet hand it back. The picture of him with the two kids burned in her mind - the picture may have been worn at the edges but the version of him in it was not much younger than he is now.

“Replaced?” she repeated.

A humph was her answer and that scowl returned with a vengeance.

“By the same damn thing that took out my hip.” He was too angry to hold back the blunt truth and his fists balled up and shook. The whole damn thing was UD’s fault and instead of owning up to it they did this and made threats to make it worse if he smeared their precious image. However, this spurt of anger was short lived and a sadness then dragged his whole body down until he looked far too old and frail than he really was.

Silence filled the air, an awkward thing between them, and one so thick that it was not easy to cut.

“Is Universal Dynamics stupid?” The words came out of her impulsively because nothing Rozzum-y enough was coming to her yet immediately she wanted to take them back in horror for she just let loose the MOST unrozzum thing in the world. But the words had caught Shareef so off guard that he could not help but let out a hard laugh that soon turned into a cough.

And for once, her luck was good as his sudden mirth did not leave him even after he regained his composure and so Roz felt a little more braver.

“You have a couple decades worth of experience and knowledge in your field - whichever Rozzum they choose will not have that and will not be able to have that in any sort of timely manner and the likelihood of a catastrophic error is far too high.” She rambled - barely able to cover her true voice at all. 

He chuckled in agreement, but a sadness was ill-hidden in it and he ended up squeezing his eyes shut before opening them to rapidly blink.

“Wish more people thought like that.” He muttered as he began walking, letting Roz hold the box for him. Roz wished she could help him more, however she was not the one to advocate for a human. She was already scrutinized constantly, a sea of people just waiting for a chance for her to really slip so that no one would ever have to deal with her ever again as her body was smelted down for parts. To bring this forward, to stand by his side to criticize the higher ups decisions, would not end well for the both of them.

Within moments of them walking away from that isolated spot, many pairs of eyes snapped to the duo, mostly human but also a nonzero amount of Rozzums. Whispers filled the air - concerns and gossips as the two passed by many people but neither paid any of them any mind.

“HEY!”

The two turned to look at who shouted at them.

There was a woman on top of one of the floating platforms - a smart invention of UD to better utilize the space for more crops - and she glared down at the two.

“What do you think you’re doing Jabri?” She loudly said, gesturing pointedly at Roz. While disapproval was the main emotion she was pushing out, the way her eyes darted to Roz gave away that her nerves were going haywire underneath.

“7134 here’s helping me move my stuff out.” He pointedly said back and whispers increased all around them. “She’s the only one who bothered in this whole place.” He spat right after.

And with that, he marched on as swiftly as his injured hip would allow, completely ignoring the whispers and shouts and ruckus that was happening. Roz only spared a glance and a stiff wave before catching up and matching his pace.

Despite all of their side-eyeing and distaste, none of them were brave enough to stop a mad man who willingly walked side by side with that thing.

Roz noted someone pushing their comms button on. 

She continued on with Shareef in silence.

It was only when they finally reached the elevator that would lead to the parking lot that Roz spoke up.

“I will not be able to follow past this point.” She said, once more back to using her old voice.

Shareef raised a brow at it but didn’t comment on it. He gestured for Roz to hand his stuff over and she did so very carefully.

“Thank you.” He muttered as he secured it under his arm. A finality to it - a goodbye hidden within that had Roz’s mind racing.

“Will you be okay?”

“I’m not that frail you hunk of j-“

“Rephrase: will you all be okay?” Her true voice came out in full and she could see it startled him as his shoulders hitched up. But unlike pretty much everyone else, the offness of her true voice did not dissolve into whimpers and panic, and once his heart stopped racing he let out another defeated sigh.

“I’m not sure. I already had to drastically change careers after I lost my farm decades ago and I haven’t yet cleared the debt left from it.” He pressed the elevator’s button as he admitted this and the two listened as its little dings grew louder as it drew closer.

There was very little time left.

“Perhaps Universal Dynamics will realize their error soon.” She said neutrally however Shareef was the only one close enough to see her wink.

He pursed his lips in concern and Roz thought it was charming how his bushy stache did its own little talking.

“Don’t get yourself into too much trouble now 7134.” He settled on with a twinkle in his eye and a wink of his own - company be damned by what this strange Rozzum had in mind he decided.

With that, the elevator gave a final high ding and opened its doors for the man who shuffled inside. But as he pressed the ground floor button the strange robot spoke once more in the quietest voice he ever heard from a Rozzum.

“Roz.”

“Hmm?” 

“My name is Roz.”

He gave a blink, his life a little more weirder in an instant, but he broke out into a smile as he shoved his cane forwards to stop the doors closing.

“Point still stands. Don’t get into no trouble Roz .”

And never in his life did he ever see a Rozzum look like it could get misty eyed and cry - her metal eyelids sloping down in a way that express so vividly of turmoiled emotions no other Rozzum in existence ever did before, a complex thing that she should have lacked the ability to have no matter how good a Rozzum’s mimicry abilities were.

And in that moment, one Mr. Shareef knew just what it was about her that caused such a stir amongst everyone here - himself included up until a few minutes ago. For all her odd behaviors, for every strange quirk, and for every weird reaction - there was one thing at the core of each.

No Rozzum unit could speak with a heart for none had one under all their artificial cheer.

But Roz did.

She gave him a hesitant wave goodbye and he gave a simple one in return as he moved his cane back in to let the doors close.

Her soulful eyes lingered on him and he gave one last small smile back before the elevator severed that connection clean off and dutifully began to take Shareef down to the parking lot.

There was a lot on his mind understandably and he doubted he would get a good night’s sleep. 

And as he carefully made his way over to the automatic car that would drive him back to his apartment he played back every moment he ever heard or saw of 7134, the Rozzum unit everyone swore was a ticking time bomb ready to turn terminator at any moment, and instead reframed them as Roz .

Awkward and strange in mannerisms and habits, and far more clever than she ought to be, but nevertheless kind -the most genuine kind of kind- and never daring to hurt anyone over any sort of thing. Darting around and twisting over words not out of malice but -now that he really truly thought about it - for her own survival. Someone , not something , who was wholly out of place despite her best efforts.

What he did wonder the most, though, was what exactly she planned on doing to get his employer to reconsider laying him off.

Words of a Rozzum carried little weight and the wrong ones would get her terminated.

Any action would get her finally labeled as defective and also terminated.

But she was clever .

And he hoped she’d give them a hell of a time.

Chapter Text

In the end, it took that strange Rozzum only three weeks for the higher ups on the farm to come begging for Mr. Shareef to return to his job - of which he demanded a raise and surprisingly got it with almost no resistance. It left him a little puzzled and so as soon as he stepped one foot off that elevator he was trying to assess just what the hell Roz had done exactly to make them so desperate and was immediately greeted by the shabbles the farm had become.

For starters, he only saw about half the Rozzums working and they were moving slowly in energy efficient mode. Multiple people were frazzled as they were forced to run calculations manually on paper as tracking systems for the number of crops harvested, number of supplies received, and number of orders to be fulfilled had all gone down. Internet had become spotty and only a few small areas had it working consistently. Basically pretty much every system in relation to profits had all taken a huge hit.

He initially had been accused of sabotage during week 2 of this mess when things really started to snowball but none of the cameras or drones or old fashion fingerprint searching could provide any sort of evidence so the accusations were completely dropped.

And then Roz had been swiftly accused right after just for being the suspicious scapegoat she had become. But somehow - and he would soon find out just how - not one bit of evidence could be found of her doing anything nefarious at all as well. She was just doing her tasks as she normally did with her normal strange behaviors and nothing hinted at her deviating at all.

By week 3, with no lead or evidence to support sabotage, people fell back into superstitions and mobbed the higher ups to rehire Shareef because clearly they had ended up pissing off some sort of tech god.

And so here Shareef found himself gob smacked as he slowly carried his box of stuff in one hand and cane in the other through pathways that went past disheveled coworkers towards his reclaimed office.

And as he took it all in, a creeping sensation crawled up his back.

The feeling of being watched .

He searched around, eyes looking out for the culprit in a sparse sea of Rozzums, until he landed on one that was staring at him full on all the while still doing her task.

Roz .

And once he spotted her, her lenses finally moved and shifted into what could be best described as a wide toothed grin. He flashed his own as he made his way over to the Rozzum, everyone else too absorbed in the chaos to notice the bizarre reunion.

“Mind doing me the honors?” He respectfully asked as he lifted his box.

“Of course.” She said with her old voice but it also had what sounded like a purr in it - and he would soon find out just how true that was.

She gingerly took the box in both hands and the two started off. While walking, Shareef noticed her fingers drumming the box, a series of small little rhythmic taps, and also noticed her eyes flick about in a thousand different little directions. She also walked stiff as a board with a ramrod straight back with her head hardly bobbing at all.

He couldn’t blame her. His own nerves were on fire.

Neither said a word until they got to Shareef’s office and the door was firmly shut behind them. Even then the two were tense with wary suspicion as UD might very well have bugged the room considering both had been top suspects. So after placing down the box, they checked thoroughly for any hidden cameras. They looked through the supposedly empty drawers and under the desk then checked under the plain rug and above in the ceiling tiles. Roz used her x-ray and thermal vision to look through the walls and used her superior hearing to listen for any sort of out of place buzz that electronics made.

It was only when every millimeter of the place was completely and utterly scrutinized and nothing was found that the two relaxed. 

“So, how’d you do it Roz?” Shareef was the first to speak up and he saw Roz’s eyes beam with joy at just him saying her name. And god didn’t that just pull his heartstrings - for her to be so delighted just by someone saying her name? But it was a quick thing and in an instant she was down to business.

“It is both a simple thing.. but also complicated.” She said in that unrozzum-y voice, the one that she had been trying to hide for months, yet now -for Shareef- she spoke in it freely. He felt conflicted. It was worrying how quickly she had come to trust him in such a short amount of time but in that same regard he had too..sort of. 

The drilling he went through, what everyone went through, was to report potentially malfunctioning robots immediately and that drilling screamed ‘ danger ’ to him about Roz. He mentally huffed and replaced it with a different thought entirely. He focused on the voice she felt safe enough to use around him and how It was a shame she had to hide it because her hidden voice was much more pleasant on the ears than the standard Rozzum’s that got a little grating after a while.

“Many things in life are.” He responded as he pulled out his chair to sit on it and gestured to Roz to take the other.

“That is true. But it would take me a while to explain everything and I doubt we have the time.”

Shareef hummed at her words. In a human, there would be no issue with anything, but with a Rozzum - even one he now accepted was a someone and not a something - still left him on edge when she said ‘I doubt’. A little thing that a Rozzum should not be capable of saying at all along with ‘I feel’, ‘I think’, ‘I believe’, and other such things. He squashed down the feelings.

“Well, considering your reputation.. I think my fellow co-workers will jump at the opportunity if I offered to ‘tune you up’ once or twice a week.”

“You would also get everyone making conspiracy theories about you.” She pointed out both in voice and gesture - he continued to try to squash down his dang nerves as the motion of her hand was too smooth in execution.

“Mighty annoying, yes. But I also get to be the one in on the whole you thing without having to wonder which theory is true or not.”

“And what do you believe is correct? Right now?” She asked and wasn’t that still unsettling.. Rozzum’s didn’t ask questions beyond ‘what task do you need me to do?’ and he fought down goosebumps. He wasn’t an animal dangit!

“Well, certainly that you got a lot of thoughts going on up there.” He mused as he tapped his chin. “And that you can lie which should be impossible but frankly you’re not really great at it.”

“Eugh..” 

He chuckled at the noise and the way she deflated. Truly, she was bad at it but also just good enough for plausible deniability.

“And that you have a habit of doing things not only unrozzum-like but also unhuman-like.” He paused at that and pursed his lips as he stared blankly at his still unpacked box.

“Those are the facts. And together it paints you as being your own person rather than a thing you were intended to be and who must’ve gone through one heck of a life before getting, supposedly, refurbished.”

After he finished she gave a solid nod. 

“Is it true?” He raised a brow at her silence - noting her fidgeting with her hands on her lap. 

She gave another nod but this time she was the one to avoid eye contact, gaze trailing to the floor.

He waited patiently for her to steel herself for whatever strange thing might come out of her now.

“I have.. certainly lived a unique life.” She started with, but her own nerves were clearly getting to her. 

He gave a questioning humm at that.

“And.. I don’t.. I don’t think you would truly believe it.”

“Surprise me then and we’ll see.”

Her eyes then shot up to his without moving her head and he cut off the flinch before it had much chance to show. Then, her gaze went back down and she squinted in thought - glowing eyes making slight micro shifts all over the place before she finally nodded and rose to her feet.

“I think it’s best if I showed you.” She settled on as she strode silently over to the wall on his left where the vent was.

He wasn’t really sure what he expected her to do.

But it certainly wasn’t to..

..chitter.

Like a raccoon. 

It was scarily accurate too, he knew his animal noises from his time on his family’s old Hilltop farm, and how Roz mimicked it was right on the mark.

But what he most certainly hadn’t expected in all his years was for a different chitter to respond.

And then out popped a real raccoon.

And the two chittered back and forth as Mr. Shareef stared, stunned into complete silence and as still as a statue, wondering if he had perhaps not actually woken up that morning and that he was in fact dreaming since all this was just too bizarre. It had to be, this was all too fantastical in the frame of what people knew as fact, if not then everything Shareef ever knew about a lot of things was now flipped completely upside down and then sideways. For this Rozzum was clearly having an actual full on conversation with an animal like out of some kind of children’s story.

“This is Duskfoot.” Roz finally formally introduced him to the raccoon who now curled contently on her shoulders and Shareef blinked out of his stupor. 

“Uh..Yes. Okay.” He said dumbly, still trying to decide if this was really happening, before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. “Give me a minute.”

“We do not have a minute.” She stated with a touch of urgency.

“Fine. But Roz.. this is a bit much.” He moved his hand away from his face to shoot Roz a serious look.

“...It gets worse.” She deadpanned as she studied the man who was definitely having a crisis. 

“Worse…” He repeated with an exasperated sigh and then put his head into his hands before moving to rub his temple still trying to process just this one scene and now he’s learning that it gets all the stranger.

“Yes.” She confirmed rather stiffly. “Him and his.. rather extended family.. were the ones to sabotage key systems.”

“How..?” He asked dumbfoundedly, lifting his head out of his hands. This couldn’t be real.

“I made friends with Thunder-”

“Thunder?”

“Right.. ‘Floofster’ but he doesn’t like that name.”

He made a humm at that, noting it for later as Roz was right and that time was running out before people started wondering where she was.

“And Thunder got in touch with the raccoons in the city. And uh..”She trailed off, a little sheepish. “I did have to make a trade. No one’s getting the box with the five hundred solar powered LED lights back.”

He gave a snort of frustration, not at losing the LED lights - things were cheap to make- but at this whole situation and the one big burning question he had.

“Let’s back up one moment.” He interrupted before she could continue her current explanation. “How in the Sam’s Hell did you learn to communicate with animals?”

“...” She hesitated, clearly thinking hard with the way her eyes did that strange flicking about again before she squared her shoulders tensely. “I was trapped on an island with no humans for about a year.”

He wondered why she was so hesitant, afraid even, of telling him that piece of information. What exactly was she holding back? What was she so worried about that she didn’t want him to know this? But that was for another day when he had less of a headache - for now he counted his blessings that she apparently trusted him enough with this tidbit of information for whatever reason.

“Okay.” He said, moving on in what was the weirdest interaction he ever had. “So you basically hired the raccoons to mess with everything discreetly?”

“Correct.” She confirmed straightforwardly. “They started with simple, easy to fix things for your temporary replacement, like a misplaced semicolon in the code for the automated delivery system, to make it look like things would be fine.”

“Then ya moved on to bigger things, less easy to fix things.” He predicted and she nodded.

“Yes. The biggest blow was to the power docks. 75% of them are currently either completely non-functional or only somewhat functional.”

“You hogging the good ones?” He said, noting how she seemed in complete working order with no power issues.

“Again - on an island for a year.” She pointed out. “I am used to relying on just my solar circuits and batteries.”

“Right..”

“Anyway, I must get going now.” She said abruptly, before turning to the raccoon -no, Duskfoot- to chitter something before lifting him back up to the vents where the critter then turned around and waved goodbye of all things as Roz returned the wave back. The last thing the raccoon did was pull out a folded up piece of paper hidden within its bushy tail and handing it to Roz.

“But before I do, here is a list of everything currently down plus what actions the raccoons took to take them down.” She handed the piece of paper over to Shareef who promptly unfolded it to see a rather lengthy list. “Leave it in the vent when you’re not using it, Duskfoot will hold onto it during the night, we don’t want to be caught with it.”

She turned to leave but he stopped her in her tracks with his next question.

“You can do all this damage at any time.. but you didn’t up until now. Even though you’re treated poorly.” He started and Roz paused with her hand on the doorknob, staring at him with that still unnerving stare of hers, waiting. “Why?”

“This is not what I want to do.” She said softly but surely. “I have things that I must set right and this is simply not the way to do it nor would I ever do so regardless. Besides.. It’s no one’s fault here for my current situation.”

With that, she waved goodbye and left, her footsteps hardly leaving a whisper as she walked away. 

Leaving Shareef to contemplate all that had just happened and just what his life had very suddenly turned into and the very enigma that was Roz. He knew she was kind as much as she was off putting but he asked that question anyway not only to better judge her character but also if he were in her boots, well, kindness wouldn’t be his first reaction.

Yet her kindness is what led to him being rehired - at the very real potential cost of her own life.

She saw him struggling and risked it all for someone she didn’t even know.

He sat there thinking that over and over the most, haunting him. There’s not one other person in the world that he knew of that would take such a gamble for someone else except… he didn’t want to think of his late wife but she was the only one he could think of to compare Roz’s reckless kindness to.

The office felt far too empty now.

So one by one, he started to pull out everything from the box that contained all of his stuff. The first thing he pulled out was the picture of him and his kids Jad and Jaya when he had taken them on a short camping trip. 

He remembered how Roz had lingered on it. Something that led to one of many, many questions in his head that have yet to be answered.

Hopefully, they will be answered in time. 

For now, he would do his best to watch out for her. The Rozzum who risked it all just so he wouldn’t have to struggle to provide for his kids and to keep a roof over their heads and for that he was forever grateful.

A small chuckle left him because of the irony of it all.

One highly praised standard Rozzum nearly ended everything for him and his family while one exceptionally abnormal Rozzum that most wanted dead for her imperfect behaviors was the one that saved it all.

He had much to thank her for.

But he couldn’t do anything for her just yet as he pulled out the list of things he needed to sort out lest this all be for nothing.

And good lord it was truly a lengthy list yet he couldn’t help but smile at the complete hell she had given them.