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Claire stiffens in her bed. She’s just about used to it now, turning over in bed to grab hard metal instead of soft, tangible flesh, and she finds that she is actually starting to prefer it. Holding Isaac in his Kaylon form is indeed different than embracing an organic being, but the alienness of it is what lures her to him. There is an understanding that he does not have to do this, he does not require rest in the same way she does and simply sits in idle processing as she sleeps with her arm draped over him — but he sleeps with her at night now anyways . She didn’t even have to ask - after the honeymoon, he offered to sleep with her every night that he does not need to recharge. He’s a quick learner, and he’s getting very good at this husband thing.
He flickers up. “Claire?” he asks. “You have an emergency call from your office. There was a momentary malfunction in fire suppressant systems and Ensign Jamison requires critical care.”
She rubs her eyes as she attempts, with great valiance, to jolt herself awake. She pulls on her uniform pants, puts her uniform on loose and unzipped—that’ll have to do.
“Oh,” she says, a brief pause at the door. “Can you walk Ty to school today? Marcus still isn’t feeling well. He’ll need another few days of sleep and meds to get over this illness.”
“Of course,” Isaac replies, always so willing. “I will remain in the main room until the children awaken.”
Before darting to sick bay, she smiles at him. “Thank you. See you later.”
“Isaac?” Ty asks, a loud yawn. Isaac’s speed of calculation is beginning to increase around the other members of the Finn family; as Ty enters his sensors immediately indicate that Ty will be approximately 5 minutes and 32 seconds late for his 0800 class if he maintains his typical school preparation speed of five minutes to get dressed and fifteen to eat. “You’re still here.”
“Your mother had to attend to an emergency in sick bay,” he informs Ty. “I am here to escort you to your educational institution.” Ty looks at him and Isaac cross-references his expression with known biological emotions—he is blank, perhaps confused. Or just tired. So Isaac clarifies: “I will be walking you to school when the rest of your family is unavailable.”
“Oh,” Ty says.
“Do you not wish for me to do so?” Isaac says, extending a breakfast tray outwards, a combination of nutrient-rich foods perfectly calculated for his age and stature.
“It’s not that. I just…” Ty sighs. “I’m not little anymore. I think I can walk to school on my own, maybe.”
“I see.” Isaac pauses. “Ty, if you allow me to accompany you on your walk to school, from a distance of approximately 2 meters behind you, I will make note of your behavior and inform your mother of both your request and how well you did in your attempt to walk to school partially unaccompanied. Is this a suitable compromise?”
Ty blinks. He’s more awake now. “You’ll tell her if you think I’m ready?”
“I will give your mother any evidence I have gathered and allow her to make that decision on her own.”
“Okay,” says Ty. He begins shoveling his breakfast into his mouth—Isaac does not have to use any additional processing speed to identify the excitement in Ty’s vocal pattern.
Some of them still stare, these days. Isaac is precisely aware of his surroundings and Ty’s wellbeing at all times; many eyes lock onto him with concern as he follows Ty around the ship from far behind. He is not confronted, but there is some suspicion as he walks near Ty -- they are studying him, keeping track of each movement like he is a non-sapient creature in an old Earth wildlife documentary. It is, he knows, a logical and understandable suspicion.
But there is nothing else like him -- nothing else in his vast database, nothing else in his realm of personal experience, near-objectively nothing else in the universe quite like the Finn family. He has been reshaped by them.
And Ty does well. Isaac does well with his compromise idea, Claire tells him, later—she wishes she could reward Isaac for it, Claire tells him, later, with an erotic lull to her voice. She’ll just have to figure out how—she does not understand that the spike in efficiency her love sparks is reward enough, that her very presence is a gift in and of itself. Every time he tries to express this, it never lands exactly in the way he intended - but she still loves him, so he must be doing something right.