Work Text:
Sunday, July 26th, 2026
19:15
1 new text message
Eve had been suspicious when she opened the text from Seth, telling her that there was an emergency at the office and he really needed her to come in to take care of it. Since finding the permanence code, she had thrown herself back into her work, excited to not only finish the work that Tess had begun, but also to start blending it with her own ideas. Being the active CEO of ENCOM meant she had very few actual days off, and her friends and colleagues were regularly encouraging her not to come into work to take care of every little thing. They were constantly telling her to delegate more often, which was a sharp contrast to how things had been last year when she had dropped off the grid almost entirely for months in her grief-fueled quest to find the code her sister had been seeking. Her life now had new meaning and purpose, and she was happy to be back at work pursuing her own goals.
Still, today was Sunday. It was supposed to be the day that she was left undisturbed unless there was an absolute emergency…and not only that, it was her birthday. Eve wasn’t normally one to make a big deal about birthdays - that had been more of Tess’s thing. But this was sort of a big one, so she had allowed herself to be fussed over a little bit.
Last night, she’d gone out for drinks with Ajay, Seth, and Erin. The guys had gotten her two tickets to a Depeche Mode concert in the UK, three months out. Though her favorite 80’s band was down to two members, she still enjoyed listening to their newer releases. She’d even seen a screening the previous fall of a documentary, Depeche Mode: M, chronicling their three concerts in Mexico City back in 2023. She was thrilled to be able to see them live. Erin had gifted her with an all inclusive spa package at a local resort, which she had already indulged herself with this very morning. Her plan for the rest of the evening was to curl up on her couch and watch a good movie, and not spend one more moment thinking about the fact that she turned forty years old today.
Her friends, it seemed, had other plans. She had dutifully responded to Seth’s text with a short “On my way”, jumped on her repaired Ducati, and headed to the ENCOM building. By the time she got to the top floor, she was certain that something was afoot. All the other offices were dark, and only a few lights were on in the top floor, though none of those offices were occupied either.
She texted Seth, “Where are you?”
“Quonset Hut.”
And what emergency could possibly require my attention in the Quonset Hut? Eve thought to herself. She sighed, squaring her shoulders, as she prepared herself for what was certainly not going to be a relaxing night curled up on her couch. She opened the door to the roof, stepping out into the fading light of day. Suddenly, neon lights flashed to life all around her, and she was greeted by the uproar of about thirty friends and coworkers yelling “Surprise!”
Trying hard to fix an actual surprised look on her face, she returned the greeting, accepting hugs and warm wishes from the group. Even though big parties weren’t her thing, she was touched by the lengths her friends had gone to give her a proper party. It was complete with catering, booze, and a DJ, and even a little mini dance floor had been laid out on the gravel. They really had gone all out to make sure her fortieth birthday was well remembered. She was glad she had thought to at least put on a pair of jeans before leaving the house, instead of coming in her sweatpants.
Seth came over and slung an arm around her shoulder, shooting her a dimpled grin, “You’re not too mad we pulled you away from a night on your couch reading Frankenstein are you?”
“For the record, I was going to watch a romcom,” she laughed. “But no, I’m not mad. It was sweet of you all to go through this much trouble.”
“Which romcom?” Erin asked, sidling over to them.
Eve grimaced, “I hadn’t actually decided. That’s just what I was in the mood for.”
“Yes, who wouldn’t want to spend their birthday alone at home, watching a movie about other people finding their happily ever after with their special someone?” Seth said sarcastically. “You’re welcome for saving you from that depressing end to your day.”
“Hey now, single women can enjoy romance movies just as much as anyone else,” Eve shot back. “And it’s not like I’m pining away, searching for Mr. Right. I’ve got plenty on my plate right here.”
“Speaking of Mr. Right, have you gotten any snail mail recently?” Erin teased.
“Oh my God, I need a drink,” Eve complained, rolling her eyes at the two of them.
It had almost been a year since Ares had disappeared to go on his journey of discovery, “meeting the world” as he referred to it. He had kept in contact with her, sending her at least one postcard a month. She enjoyed hearing from him, but she wished she had a way to contact him back directly. She knew he kept tabs on her through her socials and media outlets, but she wished she could have an opportunity to tell him how she really was. She had only known him for a day, and yet she couldn’t help but shake the feeling that there was no other person alive in this world who understood her better than him.
She wasn’t fixated on him or anything, she was far too busy for that. The work she was doing was rewarding and she finally felt like she was on the other side of the wall of grief that had been weighing her down. Tess’ death still hurt, but the pain had subsided tremendously since she had been able to help her sister’s dream become a reality. And while she did miss Ares, she wasn’t letting those feelings grow into anything like bitterness. She was happy for him, and she looked forward to a time when they could meet again, whenever that was.
Still, she thought to herself as she swirled the contents of her glass of whiskey sour, she couldn’t quite avoid feeling a little nip of regret on this day. She was the CEO of a successful company, she had fame and fortune and very good colleagues, she was doing real world-changing work…and yet, she was forty years old and completely alone. She had everything she could ever ask for, and no one to share it with. Since her sister’s diagnosis, she hadn’t been on a single date. She hadn’t been with anyone casually. She hadn’t wanted to be with anyone.
That’s not quite true, is it? A voice in her head that sounded so much like Tess questioned. You’ve at least thought about what it would be like to be with him.
Banishing that thought with a shake of her head and something more than a sip of her whiskey, Eve returned her attention to her party. She was not going to go there tonight, not in her head and not in conversations with anyone else. She was celebrating this day with her friends…the ones who were actually present in her life.
And so she did. She laughed and bantered with her friends, good-naturedly accepting their occasional “over-the-hill” quips as they ate, drank, and made merry. She got on the dancefloor and even let Ajay spin her around a time or two. They shared stories and memories, they told inside jokes, they sang, they goofed around. Finally, after three hours of raucous partying, they began to say their goodbyes. When all that was left was Erin, Ajay, and Seth, the latter suggested an after party somewhere, but Eve shook her head.
“Guys, I had so much fun tonight. This was great. But I’m partied out. I’m ready to head home and fall into my bed.”
“Alright, alright. I suppose it is almost eleven,” he said, giving her a side hug. “That’s at least an hour past your bedtime now that you’re a granny.”
“This granny’s about to kick your ass,” Eve shot back, elbowing him in the ribs and giggling.
“You comin’?” Erin asked as the three of them headed for the door.
Even shook her head, “You guys head home, I’ll be along in a little while.”
“Don’t you dare lift a finger to clean anything up,” Seth warned her. “We’ve got a crew coming up in the morning to take out the trash and take the lights down.”
“I was definitely not going to do any cleaning. Who do you think I am?”
“A very tidy person,” he replied. “You sure you don’t want one of us to stay?”
She smiled gently, “Nope. I’m just gonna spend a few minutes up here and then call a cab. I drank a little too much tonight to be driving home. You guys do the same.”
“Okay, goodnight. Happy birthday, Eve.”
“Thank you. ‘Night, guys.”
When the door swung shut with a loud click, Eve took a long look around her, stopping to run her hand over the plaque that summarized the significance of this place for her.
The Quonset Hut
Tess Kim’s Field Laboratory
WITHIN THIS BUILDING,
THE PERMANENCE CODE
WAS DISCOVERED BY
EVE KIM, FINISHING THE WORK
OF HER SISTER, TESS KIM
THEIR BREAKTHROUGH WORK
UNLOCKED THE SECRETS OF
STABLE DIGITAL LIFE AND CONTINUES
TO INSPIRE WORLD-CHANGING
INNOVATION EVERYWHERE
Eve walked over to the railing and leaned her forearms on it, staring out over the lights of the city. She let her mind wander over the events of the night, then of the last few months, then of the last few years. Life had certainly had its ups and downs lately, but through all those constant fluctuations, she was growing and learning and being shaped. The joy, the pain, the discovery, the disappointment, the purpose, even the loneliness…it was the inconsistency that kept anyone from remaining static, frozen in one place too long.
Ares’ voice echoed in her mind almost as clearly as if he had just said the words quietly beside her, “I guess that’s the thing about life. There’s nothing quite permanent about it.”
She thought back to that discussion they’d had, leaning with backs against that car, bruised and bloodied, but victorious nonetheless. He had encouraged her again not to quit her job that night. She had taken those words to heart and had pushed herself forward to achieve great things over this last year.
But there was still something missing - someone missing. Why couldn’t she just be content with what she had? What was wrong with her? Was it because she was forty now? Her life was officially “over the hill” with half of it behind her. Even though the world had changed in many ways, a woman who was forty years old and never been married or had any lasting committed relationship to speak of was pretty rare. It wasn’t that she had never wanted those things. But there had been other ambitions and other achievements that had taken priority. She had always told herself that there would be time for such things later.
And now, quite suddenly, her brain and her heart were in agreement that “later” had come, and she still had no one to share her life with. Perhaps it had even come and gone. She couldn’t help but feel like the window for her ever experiencing those dreams might be beginning to close to her.
If she was honest with herself, and she made a conscious effort these days to be honest with herself, there was only one person she would want to fill in the missing piece of her life. She had only known him for a day, but that day had been enough for her to learn all she needed to know. She couldn’t entertain the idea of anyone else until she knew he didn’t - or couldn’t - return those feelings. There was something deeply ironic about the CEO of the tech giant ENCOM deciding that the only person in the world who could best be categorized as her soulmate was the most advanced AI ever created.
But it didn’t matter, because he wasn’t here, and she couldn’t bring herself to interrupt his journey of discovering his place in the world and experiencing freedom to ask him to shackle himself to her. She must have written and deleted a dozen social media posts, messages that he alone would have known were for him, telling him how much she missed him. She sighed heavily.
“You said the world needed me. The grid needed me,” she said quietly to herself, her voice carried away by the breeze. “But I never got a chance to tell you that I needed you.”
She swallowed a lump in her throat, leaning her forehead down on her arms and squeezing her eyes shut against the hot tears that suddenly wanted to escape them.
“It’s funny,” a soft and achingly familiar voice broke the stillness. “I was going to say the same thing to you tonight.”
She straightened and spun around, not quite certain she could trust what she was seeing and hearing in the moment. But there he was, standing tall and straight not four feet from her. A warm summer air current stirred his hair, teasing a few strands loose from the others. He was wearing light denim jeans with a dark blue button up, his sleeves half rolled up, a watch on his right wrist accompanied by several woven bracelets. His beard was thicker now, and even in the shadows she could tell the sun had lightened his hair, in contrast with skin that had become more bronzed. Her mind couldn’t have conjured up an image of him with this much detail.
“Ares?” she said, still phrasing it as a question, because her heart refused to accept what her senses were clearly telling her.
“Eve,” he replied, his voice steady and unwavering, like he had practiced saying her name a thousand times every day.
It could have been the emotions she had been wrestling with moments before, or perhaps one too many glasses of whiskey, or maybe because part of her had been pining for him over these past few months…but in that moment, Eve threw all restraint straight off the roof and launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck.
If he had been in the slightest bit surprised by her show of affection, he didn’t show it. With the graceful ease of a man with highly trained reflexes, he leaned forward just before she slammed into him, wrapping his arms around her waist. When he straightened, her toes came off the ground, and he turned them both in a slow circle, his face buried in her shoulder.
She had already been on the verge of tears before she knew he was there, and now the emotions she had been struggling to hold back broke like a dam. She was too overwhelmed with joy to be embarrassed as a sob tore from her throat. She pressed her nose to his neck, breathing him in. Had he had a scent before? His pulse thrummed through the artery beneath her cheek, his skin warm against hers.
While one of his arms remained encircled around her waist, keeping her firmly anchored to his frame, he tangled his free hand in her hair, cupping the back of her head. He stopped turning them and planted his feet, but showed no sign of wanting to let her go.
“I missed you,” Eve said softly, her voice soft and tremulous.
He hummed an affirming sound, “So did I.”
She pulled her face back from him, feeling a twinge of self-consciousness for wetting his neck with her tears. Rubbing away the moisture with her fingertips, she smiled sheepishly and apologized. He stared back at her with those azure eyes of his and smiled gently, shaking his head dismissively.
He bent and set her down, removing his hands from her slowly, almost reluctantly.
“Happy birthday, Eve,” he told her.
“Thank you,” she replied, unable to keep the flush from her face. “When did you get back to the city?”
“A few days ago,” he admitted.
She gave him a slight frown, “Why didn’t you come and see me before now?”
He gave her an apologetic smile, “I did. Several times. But I refused to show myself to you until tonight.”
She raised her eyebrows, asking in a teasing tone, “Oh yeah? Have you graduated from cyber stalking to real stalking now?”
He lowered his chin and gave her a devilish smirk that proved he had mastered a wider range of facial expressions; and oh the things that look did to her.
“I wanted to surprise you on your birthday, since that is the common custom. But I needed to know if my presence would be a welcome surprise, first. I didn’t want to ruin or complicate things if you had plans with someone else tonight.”
“You keep up with me on socials, you know there isn’t anyone else,” she countered.
He shrugged, “If you wanted to keep someone a secret from the media, you could manage it.”
“I don’t have a hot date waiting at home for me, Ares,” she said flatly. “Trust me.”
“I know,” he replied with more depth to his voice than she had ever heard. “That’s why I waited for everyone else to leave.”
Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up at him, “You want to be my hot date?”
His smile was gentle now, almost shy, “I’m not sure I understand the exact definition of ‘hot’ in this context, but I would like to be your date tonight. Even if only in the capacity of friends catching up and spending time together. What do you think?”
She pulled her bike’s keyfob out of her jeans pocket and placed it in his palm, “Take me home, Ares. I’m a little tipsy right now.”
His smile broadened, “Is that a ‘yes’?”
“That’s a ‘hell yes’,” she replied.
Taking his hand, she started to lead him toward the door, but his feet remained firmly planted on the roof. She turned back to him, a questioning look on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just want to know before we go, what exactly did you mean when you said that you needed me?”
She looked down at their joined hands, then stepped close to him, raising her gaze to meet his squarely.
“I meant that without you, there is something missing in my life. I know it sounds silly, because it’s not like we really had much time together. But you know me inside and out. Even if you acquired the knowledge using somewhat nefarious methods, you know my deepest thoughts. You know the things that I only shared with Tess. And knowing those things helped change you. You didn’t judge me for any of it, you became connected to me. And now that she’s gone, you’re the one person in this world who knows and understands me best. It would take me years to build that kind of trust with anyone else, and honestly, I don’t want anyone else.”
He regarded her with an expression of acceptance, as if everything she was saying made perfect sense to him and it wasn’t strange at all for her to feel so connected to him after a mere handful of hours of personal interactions. He nodded his head when she finished, taking a long, deep breath that expanded his chest and let it out slowly.
“I found Sam Flynn,” he said abruptly. “And someone else was with him - a woman named Quorra. Like me, she came from the Grid. I spent several months with them, learning how they had made a life together and how she had adjusted to this world after so many years."
"How are they doing?" Eve asked.
"They're happy. They are the only people beside you I could be completely honest with about my identity. I've found their friendship to be invaluable. Living with them and seeing their relationship with each other was..." he trailed off, searching for the right words. "-A beautiful experience. Even though our origins are not the same, Quorra calls me her brother. She affirmed what I already had suspected was the truth. The key to understanding what it means to being human can’t be found with observation and research alone. That’s a start. But you have to feel your way through life. You have to experience a deep, intimate connection with other humans. You have to let them see you and all your faults. You have to let them touch your heart.”
He raised the hand she was holding and turned it, pressing it to the center of his chest and holding it there, “That's why I had to come back. You were the first person to recognize I had a heart, Eve. You were the first person to show me empathy. The first person to trust me beyond my programming. You risked your very life for me, as if my life had equal value to yours.”
“It does,” she whispered, raising both her hands to his chest. “Your life is every bit as valuable as mine, Ares. You may not have been born human, but you are just as alive and unique and worthy of love as anyone else.”
“Is that what this feeling is between us?” he asked her. “Humans use the word to describe so many different things. You and I both say that we love Depeche Mode, for instance. But that is a very different feeling than what I feel for you.”
“What do you feel for me, Ares? Describe it.”
He pondered the question for a few moments, his head lilting to one side, “It feels like how it was when the rain fell on my skin for the first time. But instead of a thousand drops of cool water on my skin, it’s a thousand drops of warm light under my skin. That’s what I feel when I look at you. When I touch you –”
He raised his hand and brushed his fingertips against her cheek.
“It feels like the warmth collects in the place our bodies are connected. And I just can’t get enough,” he added in a breathy whisper. “Is that love?”
She smiled up at him gently, sliding one hand from his chest to the back of his neck, tugging his face a little closer to hers, “I think so.”
“Eve?” he asked, and a hint of shyness was back in his voice.
“Hmm?” she replied, her gaze slipping from his blue eyes to his mouth and back again.
“Would you permit me to kiss you?”
“Uh, after what you just said to me, I was about to demand it,” she replied, her lips pulling up into a smile.
The expression of hesitance was replaced by a smirk that, though not quite as rogueish as his earlier one, still spurred her heart rate to greater speeds. He reached to her face with both his hands, tipping her chin up to him as he closed the distance between them. The first brush of his lips against hers was so soft as barely to be felt, but on the second pass he caught her lower lip between his. She let him set the pace at first, tipping her head to the side to give him a better angle. He didn’t linger on her mouth, preferring to give her a succession of a dozen little kisses and nibbles instead of a long, deep kiss.
Finally, she pushed to her tiptoes and maintained contact as he began to pull back, drawing his upper lip between hers and holding it, inhaling deeply through her nose. He responded in kind, his arms circling around her and pulling her more tightly against him. Her hand that had been pressed between them wrapped around his back, fisting into the material of his shirt between his shoulders. Surprisingly, he was the first to brush his tongue against her lip, tentatively tasting her. She deepened the kiss, opening her mouth to him and letting him explore as much as he wanted.
Ares was nothing if not a fast learner. With each new experience, he grew bolder and more confident, kissing her thoroughly enough to leave her breathless, though not in the frantic way of a person half starved for the experience. He savored her, leaving no part of her mouth unattended to. Her entire body responded to his touch, lighting a fire within her that began to build with intensity.
When he finally pulled away, it was gradual, with another half dozen little kisses to soothe her lips, swollen and tingling from his attentions.
“That was…” she trailed off, panting.
“It’s hard to put in a nutshell,” he offered.
“You can say that again.”
He opened his mouth as if to do just that, but then said instead, “I’d prefer to do that again.”
“Pump the brakes, love,” she said, putting her hand back on his chest as he dipped his head once more. “You kiss me like that again right now, and we’re not going to get off this rooftop before daybreak.”
He gave her a curious look, “How come?”
She gave him a nervous chuckle, “Just trust me on this. I have a little more experience than you do in these matters. Let’s just take this one step at a time.”
“So, we go home first?” he asked.
She smiled at his use of home and we in the same sentence, as if he already regarded her home as his.
“Yeah, let’s go home first. Then you can kiss me like that to your heart’s content.”
He nodded his head with an expression that clearly bespoke how satisfied he was at that prospect. This time, he took her hand, leading her toward the exit with long strides. A short elevator ride took them to the ground floor, where Eve guided him to the employee entrance where her motorcycle was parked in the CEO space. He swung his leg over the seat, scooting forward so she could comfortably slide on behind him. He handed her helmet to her, which she obediently put on, though she regretted not being able to rest her cheek on his back as she had the first time they’d ridden a vehicle like this together.
“Eve?” he asked, straightening his back to look at her over his shoulder.
“Yeah?”
“How many traffic laws am I allowed to break between here and your house?”
She laughed, “Stick to the fifteen over on the highway and then take the backroads to my place. You can get away with opening her up out there.”
“Good to know. Hold on.”
Like she needed encouragement. She snaked her arms around his waist as the Ducati flared to life with a roar. He kicked up the stand and yanked the bike around in a tight circle, leaving tire marks in her spot. As they took off, Eve felt the thrill of so many emotions running through her, she could hardly sort them all out. In half an hour, her entire world had shifted. Ares was back. He did feel for her what she felt for him. And now, here she was once more, clinging to his back and they raced headlong toward a future that held so much promise.
She wasn’t oblivious to the fact that there were definitely going to be many challenges to navigate. She didn’t have the slightest idea of how she was supposed to keep him a secret or make it so that he didn’t have to be a secret anymore. More importantly, how was she going to smuggle him into the UK for that Depeche Mode concert they were definitely going to see together? But she wasn’t going to think about any of that tonight. It was still her birthday. It was her day off. And she had other things on her mind tonight. And they all began and ended with the man in her embrace.
She may be officially over the hill today, but she sure didn’t feel like it on the back of that bike, with the hum of the engine vibrating beneath her and the press of his thighs against hers. She leaned her head to the side as the wind tugged at his hair, her visor keeping it out of her eyes. She could just see the side profile of his face, the cut of his cheekbones prominent from this angle. His head turned a bit more and his bright gaze flicked back toward her for a moment. She felt the muscles in his abdomen constrict beneath her fingers as he leaned forward, coaxing a little more speed out of the twin engines.
She made a mental note to text Ajay when she got home and tell him to clear her schedule for tomorrow. She was going to require another day off.