Alyssa and I left her living section, and she told Evilin in the lobby to head home.

“Thank god.” Evilin said and yawned. “What a boring assignment!”

“I'm sorry.” I said.

Evilin reached out and pat my synthetic shoulder, and I succeeded in not wincing from it. “It's not your fault you're so valuable that they kept us guarding you.”

“Thanks. I'm glad that-”

“I'm just kidding. It's completely your fault.” Evilin said and laughed. “Have fun, you two.”

Alyssa shook her head and we watched Evilin walk away, then headed down the block in the other direction.

“That's a pizza place.” Alyssa said and pointed.

“Where are we eating?” I asked.

“Prisoner's choice.” Alyssa said, and I chuckled.

“I think I want some chicken.”

Alyssa snorted a laugh. “Chicken? You want chicken?”

“Yeah, is there somewhere around here for that?”

“Hell, no.” Alyssa shook her head. “You rich people have really high expectations.”

“So, you're saying there's no chicken anywhere near this living section?”

“Jack, there's no chicken in the next six living sections.”

I frowned. “No, that won't do.” I said and changed where we walked, and went to the closest Tube car access. I pushed the button, and Alyssa's eyes kept twitching.

“Hey, drop your scan level from active to passive.” I said. “You'll overload your optic nerve if you keep trying to watch the security feed while moving around.”

“How did you know I was doing that?”

“The human brain still tries to make your eyes look at things, even though you're not using your eyes.” I said.

“Dammit, I thought I... never mind.”

The Tube car popped up and stopped in front of us, and we hopped in. Rusty gave a single bark and stood on the seat in front of me.

“Where are we going?” Alyssa asked.

“I want chicken.” I said and typed in the code for a living section halfway to the center of the Cavern. “That I can't have it where I am is criminal.”

Alyssa laughed. “You sound so entitled.”

“Hey, when a man knows what he wants, he goes and he gets it.” I said and sat back to relax. “In 15 minutes, you are going to taste the most delicious thing you have ever tasted.”

Alyssa opened her mouth to respond, I assume with a joke or something, then her face went a little red and she didn't say anything. It made me think back to what she was doing to me last night, and I couldn't stop my arm from moving. I ended with it resting on the back of her chair, and my hand dangled very close to her shoulder.

“Sir.”

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

“Relaxing.” I said and let a soft yawn escape. “I slept okay, but I'm still tired.”

“You just worked for several hours straight without a break.” Alyssa said. “Why weren't you tired then?”

“My brain was engaged in something I was very interested in.” I said. “Now that I'm just sitting here and waiting, my excessive boredom is eating away at my consciousness.”

Alyssa glanced at my hand that was almost on her shoulder, then she turned her head and looked at my face. “So you expect me to keep your brain interested?”

“Please.” I said and closed my eyes, then slouched down in my seat a little to rest my head on the headrest.

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“You're brilliant.” I said, and then yawned loudly. “Think of something.”

I could almost hear her thinking hard.

“Well, I'm debating on whether to change the squad's rotation to reflect...”

“Please don't be insulted when I say this.” I said. “Borrrring.” I yawned again. “Just ask your squad mates if they want the standard 8 hour shifts or rotate in 4 hour shifts. If you split the squad so that 2 members are at each place, they won't be stuck pulling a full shift and risk blowing their assignment by falling asleep.”

“But what about...”

“Sandra won't stand for anyone being in or near the apartment with her, so making the guard schedule change won't affect her at all.” I said. “It won't really affect me, either.”

“Why's that?”

“You've got the most difficult job because you stay with me all the time.” I said. “If you make the change, the two squad members assigned to your building only have to be there at night.”

“Then that means...”

“The first guard works 4 hours, goes home and gets a full night's sleep, then can be at Sandra's for the third shift.” I said. “She gets full coverage day and night, as do I, and no one is awake for more than eight hours a day... unless they choose to be, of course. That's on them, though.”

Alyssa took a deep breath and let it out. “How long have you been thinking about it?”

“A long time.” I said. “All the way back to when you mentioned it a few minutes ago.”

“You're kidding.”

“Nope.” I said and slumped further down, and my arm slid off the back of her chair and draped over her shoulders.

“Sir.”

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?” Alyssa asked, and her voice was a bit sharper than it was before.

“If I say I'm relaxing, will you get angry?” I asked, and she leaned forward. My arm slid down the seat and hit the armrest on her other side.

“I am not helping you relax.” Alyssa said. “Not like that.”

“Then how would you help me relax?” I asked and opened my eyes, and she was looking right at me from only a few inches away.

“Sir, I am here to protect you. I cannot do that if you keep trying to put the moves on me.”

“Is that what I'm doing?” I asked, and she took in a breath through her nostrils and let it out through her mouth.

“Sir, I am only going to tell you this once.” Alyssa said and Rusty beeped loudly. “I-”

“Hold that thought.” I said and eased her aside, then reached for my robotic dog and popped open Rusty's back panel.

Medical Discharge has been approved. Orders for you and Alyssa's squad are being sent momentarily.

I cleared the message and closed the panel, then sat back.

“What was it?”

“Not worth mentioning right now.” I said, then looked her right in the eyes. “You know, I never asked you a very important question.”

“What's that?”

“Alyssa, please... be honest with me.” I said and took her hand with my synthetic one. “I know this is sudden and I probably should have asked you something this important before... and I'm sorry I didn't until now.” I said and gave her hand a little squeeze. “Do... do you like... chicken?”

Alyssa stared at me for a moment, then frowned. “E-excuse me?”

“I decided to go get it without even asking if you wanted any...” I started to say, and then her hand reached up and touched her temple as she closed her eyes.

“The message you received wasn't worth mentioning, was it?” Alyssa asked and opened her eyes.

“Not at the time.” I said and smiled. “Now it's worth mentioning.”

“You jerk!” Alyssa said. “What was all that about asking me something important and then asking about chicken?”

“A delay tactic.” I said. “I needed to buy time for you to get your orders.”

Alyssa shook her head in disbelief. “My squad is going to go nuts over this.”

“They're going to be that happy about it?” I asked and gave her a big grin.

Alyssa sighed. “Good god, Jack. How could you do this?”

“Actually, you were kind of stuck with me no matter what happened.” I said. “Want me to show you your secured file?”

“What? No!” Alyssa exclaimed. “Do you want to have me arrested?”

“Arrested?” I chuckled. “As the head of my security team, you have access to it on your own.”

“I do?”

I nodded. “When I upgraded you from combat to security, your whole squad received updates.”

“But...”

“You've been keeping your head in the sand and not even trying to embrace your new job, have you?” I asked, and her face went a little red. “You thought if you didn't see too much, or stayed quiet and didn't draw attention to yourself, you could get shuffled back to a combat rotation.”

Alyssa didn't say anything and turned her head to look out the Tube car at the traffic that passed by.

“I'm sorry, Alyssa. It doesn't work that way.” I said. “To paraphrase what someone once told me, once you're in, you're always in.”

“Jack, I... I don't want to be in.”

“Me, either.” I said and touched her arm. “But, I am and I need you, Alyssa.”

Alyssa turned her head away from the window to look at me.

“I'm being serious here. All joking aside.” I said. “I. Need. You.”

Alyssa took in a deep breath and let it out, then nodded slightly.

“Thank you.” I said, and we both looked out the side of the Tube car to wait for the ride to be over.

We arrived at my chosen destination and left the Tube car with Rusty, and we walked a short way to the small restaurant. Neither of us spoke as we ordered, and we sat down and ate our food in silence. It was over before we knew it, and since we didn't have any conversation going, there was no reason to stick around.

We left the restaurant and got in the Tube car, which looked like the one we had arrived there in, and it dropped back down into the Tube system. Alyssa typed in a destination and I didn't even look at it to see where we were going. The ride was over quickly, much quicker than if we had gone back to her apartment, and the Tube car popped up to drop us off.

Right at the System Security headquarters.

I didn't say anything as we got out of the Tube car and I handed Rusty to her. She took the robot dog and held it under her arm, then we went inside the building and through the security scanner without incident. We entered the waiting elevator and it dropped down to the right floor, and it opened on the same floor I had been on during my interrogation.

I knew which door to go to and walked over to it. If I had forgotten which one it was, the guards that stood in front of it would have reminded me. I opened the door and was greeted by an irate higher-up.

“What the hell did you do?!?” Julia Grinder shouted.

“I had lunch.” I said and smiled. “Chicken, actually.”

“Ugh!” Julia grunted and sat down. “You've messed it all up!”

“I have to admit that was unintentional.” I said. “It makes me happy, though.”

“You... god, what am I going to do with you?”

“Let me go.”

“I should lock you up for the rest of your goddamn life!” Julia said, angrily.

“That's your choice.” I said. “My security squad will have an easy job if you do.”

“You... just... just sit down and shut the hell up!”

“Yes, ma'am.” I walked over to the chair in the middle of the room and sat, then waited to see what she was going to do to me.