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The bedroom was dead quiet, aside from the soft fluttering of pages being turned. A Worker Drone - a toddler no doubt - lay in her bed, snuggled up against her pillows and reading one of her story books. Her eyes shone on the book, acting as an easy flashlight for her to read. She had heterochromia; one blue eye and one green eye. She was completely engrossed in her book and as comfortable as comfortable could be, underneath her blankets and spending time alone. She was waiting patiently for either one of her parents to return home from the night. The sun had just set and she worried that her Mom might've gotten caught in the heat, but she was always told that no matter what, Mom would always return home safely to her. So she continued waiting, letting the rich plot of her children's book distract her. Notably, it was written and authorized by N himself. She loved reading his books. Perfect for her demographic. Cartoony and fun.
She remained completely oblivious to what was outside, slowly approaching the redesigned cabin that had once been abandoned by humans near Camp 98.7. A small but quaint cabin that Khan and his men rebuilt for her, and for her parents. It was redesigned to be two stories tall. She felt safe here. She's always been.
Click-clacking is heard from the distance, across the frozen over lake that hadn't been touched upon since Uzi's class had last been there. Tons of click-clacking. Incessant. Click. Clack. Click. Clack. A creature masked by the perpetual winter's fog, crawling along the ice with at least a dozen legs. A segmented body, elongated to the owner of the body's liking. It crept closer towards the cabin, ever so closer, like the mysterious Drone was deliberately trying to sneak up on the establishment. No lights on were in the cabin, except for one that illuminated the main room. The centipede-esque Drone quickly slinked towards the back of the cabin, making sure to duck from view in the windows. Her creepy-crawly segments followed after her, with some legs still in the snow and others scaling along the cabin itself. She climbed up, up, up onto the roof of the home, then slinking her way down through the stone cold chimney, her wriggly body fitting like a glove through the otherwise suffocating fit.
She entered the second floor that the child was currently in. That's when the child perked up and lifted her head. She snapped her book shut and clutched it to her chest, sweat drops in a blue-to-green gradient appearing on her visor. She made not a peep as she listened to the scuttling. Skittering. Chittering and chattering and a low, drawn-out hiss. She stayed absolutely still and the noises only approached her. Then she was met with a purple Solver symbol sitting ominously at the doorway to her bedroom. Then the LED lights to her room turned on, bathing her in a soft, warm glow of orange. The child immediately beamed.
"Mama!"
"Hello." Uzi greeted her child with a Cheshire grin of sharp teeth. Her Solver symbol blipped back into her usual two purple eyes. She crawled over to her daughter. "How's my Caliber doing?"
"I'm okay!" Caliber - or Callie for short - replied happily. "Now that my Mama's here."
Uzi purred gratefully, manifesting herself out of her Solver centipede form and gaining back her lower body and legs. She scooped Caliber into a nuzzling hug, to which Caliber giggled and clung to her like Velcro. "I'm glad, little dude." Uzi murmured sweetly to her, placing soft kisses to Caliber's forehead. "Did ya miss me?"
"I sure did." Caliber nodded. God, Uzi wanted to fucking melt from how adorable her own kid was. "At first I thought Mommy would come home first!"
"She's hunting." Uzi grinned, stroking through Caliber's plum purple hair. "She'll be home soon, okay? What'cha reading?"
"Oh!" Caliber picked her book back up, but then pouted. "I forgot to save the page I was on! It's a book that N wrote!"
Uzi smiled warmly. She climbed into bed with her kid and wrapped her arms protectively around her. "N writes a lot of fun books, doesn't he?"
"Yeah!"
"Why don't you reread it to me tonight?" Uzi offered. "While we wait for Mommy, okay?"
"Okay!" Caliber nodded. "Mama, can you be a centipede again?"
"Hm? What for, kiddo?"
"I just like it." Caliber insisted with a bright smile. "I like it when you curl around me!"
So that's what Uzi did. She went back into her centipede Solver form and coiled around Caliber as Caliber read to her. Listening to her daughter, her baby's voice was one of the best things someone could hear. She'd respond with lazy purrs and chitters whenever Caliber would infodump to her about the plot of the book so far, and engage her in silly questions and answers. Nori never could've done this for her. Uzi winced, and she instinctively curled closer around Caliber, huffing. She and Tessa have raised Caliber for four years now. She liked to think she was doing a good job... she remembered panicking when Tessa told her she was pregnant. It was an accident. Caliber wasn't meant to be at first. Uzi was twenty and barely able to handle herself. How could she have handled a baby on top of taking care of herself...?
And when Caliber was born, Uzi feared the worst. She'd be just like Nori. She'd be an absentee mother to her own baby. She'd fuck up, she'd be a terrible Mom, her child would hate her like she hated herself... Tessa was her beacon of light, and so was Caliber. Through Tessa, Uzi saw the miracle of bringing a life to the world. A world swept by an endless winter, sure, but it felt like what Uzi needed. Uzi would wince at the mere thought of a child as a younger, angstier teen, but when Tessa handed her their daughter that day, she cried. She sobbed and held her new baby tight. She felt love. Bittersweet love at that because that's when she realized it's the love she never really got from her own parents. She knew she couldn't be like them. She was going to be better than Khan. Than Nori. She would not fail her baby. She was going to break the cycle.
She stayed attentive to Caliber's voice and ramblings about her little book. She purred like a running engine. She was content. That's all she ever wanted at the moment. She felt safe. Like her baby. Safe from danger after so much trauma, loss, and guilt. Maybe Caliber was a gift sent to her and Tessa.
"Mama?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you really have to sleep during the day and be active at night?"
Uzi blinked, then nodded. "Well, yeah. The sunlight would, well... it'd hurt me a lot. I'm nocturnal and act during the night."
"Why does it hurt you?"
"That's... just how the Solver works, kiddo." Uzi answered after a pause. "I'm technically a vampire."
"That sounds cool."
"Yeah, well-"
"Can I have the Solver someday, Mama?"
Uzi froze, her core gripped with ice. She had to stop herself from gasping.
"Robo-God, I hope not." she replied, almost instantaneously. She couldn't control herself answering. It just came out, like on instinct.
"Why?"
Ah, childhood innocence. Uzi swallowed painfully and curled tighter around Caliber, as though to protect her from herself. "It's... it's hard to explain, Callie. Your Mom and I will tell you when you're older, okay?"
"Oh... okay."
Caliber left it at that, thankfully. Uzi breathed a sigh of somewhat relief. She glanced at the analog clock that rested above Caliber's bed. "Time for bed, kiddo."
"Aww." Caliber whined. Regardless, she closed her book and hopped off the bed to put it away in her bookshelf chock full of other books.
Uzi uncoiled herself and stretched, managing to crack her back in a couple places. While Caliber was busy putting away her book and rearranging some things the way she liked, Uzi crept up behind her and grabbed her to pull her into a great, big hug.
"Gotcha, my little baby bat!" Uzi tossed her into the air, spreading her leathery bat wings. Caliber burst into a fit of giggles and Uzi would cleanly catch her, then toss her a little higher. Caliber loved it. The two laughed and laughed, and Uzi then nuzzled into Caliber, purring deeply. Happy tears pricked at her visor. "You're my baby. My baby bat, Callie." she whispered to her. "I love you. A whole lot."
"Me too!" Caliber smiled, clinging tightly to Uzi. Uzi wrapped her wings protectively around her daughter, clutching her like she was the last thing she could hold on to. She held her for what felt like a long time, and it almost hurt to put her down.
After Uzi got her into bed and tucked her in, she ruffled Caliber's hair thoughtfully, playing with the soft, fluffy locks. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? For a little bit, hopefully. All the blinds will need to be closed so I don't burn."
"Burning is bad." Caliber remarked, reaching for a stuffed animal of a dog that N made her himself on one of her birthdays. She hugged it close to herself. She hummed and smiled broadly when Uzi kissed her forehead goodnight. "Goodnight, Mama."
"Goodnight. I'll be here if you need me, Cal."
Uzi remained for a moment before leaving the bedroom and closing the door with a soft click. She leaned against the other end, inhaled deeply, then exhaled. The first thing she did was head downstairs, turn on the lights, and heat up the cabin for Tessa's arrival. It's cold as hell out there. How a human survived this long still puts her in awe. She made absolutely sure that the house was heated up enough for Tessa's comfort and ended up fretting a little too much about it with how frazzled her mind suddenly was. She made their bed, headed into their small kitchen to prepare an MRE meal for Tessa, and then finished by pacing impatiently. The waiting game. She had herself lounging on a cheap-made leather sofa when familiar footsteps stomped onto the front porch and keys fumbled with the top and bottom locks.
"Tessa!" Uzi scrambled off the couch and attached herself to Tessa the moment the latter set foot into the cabin.
"Oy! You missed me, didn't you?" Tessa laughed, squeezing her tight to her torso. "I wasn't gone that long, was I?"
"Nah." Uzi chuckled. "Just missed you, is all. Get that dumb astronaut helmet off. I heated up the house."
"Put the little tyke to bed?"
"Yup. Not too long ago. Maybe twenty minutes ago?" Uzi guessed.
"Good girl." Tessa praised her, walking past to take off her helmet and set it on an end table where she usually put it. "You're such a good girl, Uz."
Uzi's visor exploded with purple blush lines and she squawked, flustered. "Tessa!" she hissed, hair fluffed up. "Not right now! I just put her to bed!"
"Just my way of saying I missed you, too." Tessa lifed Uzi's chin with her left hand. "Still a shorty even at twenty-four. When are you gonna start growing, girl? Being a centipede robot doesn't count~"
"Aw, shut up. You know Drones can't." Uzi snorted, nuzzling into Tessa's hand. She touches faintly at the wedding ring on the other's hand, fondly remembering that day. "I'm bite-sized to you, huh?"
"That's about right." Tessa nodded. She shrugged off her backpack that she usually took when out hunting with N and set it on the coffee table. She opened it up and fished out its contents: the chopped up pieces of two Worker Drone arms, specifically the soft, bendy silicone parts. They were drizzled with fresh, warm oil like it was a sauce. "Got these for you. My memory's like a steel trap; I've got your feeding schedule read out."
"Tch! You think you know me so well." Uzi rolled her eyes, taking a seat on the sofa and licking her sharp teeth when Tessa presented her her meal for the night.
"I married you, didn't I?" Tessa just smiled at her, joining her on the couch.
"After I knocked you up, yeah." Uzi took the first bite and melted at the taste, eating the first piece right up like it was a piece of steak. They did look like steak medallions after all. The oil burst in her mouth and it was heaven. "We kinda had to."
"Reckon so." Tessa agreed. "I'm really glad we did." She leaned her head on top of Uzi's, breathing in her lavender scent.
"Since when were you so frikken sweet to me?" Uzi cracked a goofy smile, blushing again.
"Always." Tessa purred. "How do you like your meal?"
"It's fucking delicious." Uzi said through a mouthful. "Like, ugh, the oil is so good. ...Thank you, or whatever..."
"Of course." Tessa kissed her forehead. "I gotta head to bed. Went hunting all by myself today. Hard work, eh?"
"Y-you didn't have to!" Uzi fretted, eyes hollowing out. "Tonight I could've hunted for myself. You know that!"
"I know. It was daytime and I'm a regular ol' human, so I thought it'd be nice to get it over with." Tessa shrugged with a cheeky grin.
"You mean you hunted Worker Drones?"
"Well, you have to eat something!" Tessa chuckled. "I don't mind killing a few for you. I have to start doing that for you, ya know?"
"You really don't have to." Uzi insisted. "I'm the literal Solver. Killing for food is easy."
"Even the queen of the Solver needs to be taken care of, right?"
Uzi snickered and playfully punched Tessa's shoulder. "You're so cringe!"
"Maybe I am." Tessa glanced at the now empty plate. "Oy, you ate all your food!"
"I was hungry." Uzi licked her teeth and sucked her oil-coated fingers. "Thank you, babe, or like, whatever."
"It's okay to call me pet names, dear." Tessa brought her in for a hug. "We've been married for four months and eighteen days!"
"How do you remember that?" Uzi asked while snuggling close to Tessa's chest.
"I can't forget the happiest day of my life." Tessa stroked Uzi's hair, a content smile on her face. "Right next to the day Callie was born. And right next to the day I met you."
"S-stop being sappy!" Uzi went purple again, burying her face.
"I love you!"
"Mm, love you, too." Uzi couldn't help the big smile that crept into her lips.
The two held each other for a while on the couch. Tessa fell back onto the cushions so Uzi could crawl onto her and cuddle closer. Uzi's tail snaked out and started waggling, thumping against the couch. Her throat rumbled in a deep, loud purr, soaking up Tessa's warmth like it was sacred. She had a perpetual smile on her face, rare to see on her. But Tessa made her smile more these days, as well as Caliber.
She finally had something to be over the moon about.