THE LAST BORN

E I G H T E E N

"What?!"

The harsh word is thrown at me as I peek inside his office. Malcolm's eyes are on me with clear annoyance in both of them, even his enhanced eye. I scan him briefly and see that his skin, although slightly paler than usual, is looking healthy. He isn't wearing any shirt but his upper body is covered with bandages. He is currently sitting down in front of the screens working.

I just have to check on him, he passed out in my arms last night and it was an image I can't get out of my head. I was shocked when I heard from Jackie that Malcolm is waiting for her in his office. I can't believe he doesn't even give himself a day off.

Since yesterday something has shifted in me. Seeing him so helpless and weak erase whatever fear I felt for him, I'm no longer jolt and shrink whenever he is around. Part of him may have been altered, enhanced, but despite the striking differences between him and other humans, some parts of him are still human after all, just like me.

I slip behind the heavy door and walk to his desk, I put a plate of some food and push it to him. He looks at the plate, then looks at me with a frown.

"I don't need to eat every day," He says pushing the plate away.

I know, the cook warned me, she said that Captain only eats once or twice a week. But I think, as he is recovering then perhaps he should eat? So I push the plate to him again.

He closes his human eye and leans back.

"Noir, take this food and give it to one of the technical guys, they'd appreciate it better than me. I have things to do and I need to concentrate, which is something won't be able to do if you are anywhere near me," He tells me sternly.

I push the plate closer to him. If he wants me to go then he better eat.

For a moment we are engulfed in a staring contest. His cold eyes don't chill my bones anymore, they turn them into something closer to the consistency of a pile of mud.

He then sighs and grabs the sandwich angrily, and takes one big bite with his eyes still staring at me. I reach for his hand to trace letters;

Get well soon.

He frowns at my finger on his hand and looks at me, "I'm well," He grabs my wrist and pulls me closer, intentionally tugging me so I fall on him. I let out a shriek knowing his back is still covered in unhealed wounds, I don't want him to be in pain.

"You'll get me used to this," He says with his hands on my outer thighs, rubbing his thumbs mindlessly over my body plate. "What is inside that perfect head of yours?"

That's an odd way to compliment me.

Are you in pain?

"No, I took some medicine now I don't feel any pain."

Why won't you rest?

"Somebody needs to run this place, Noir,"

My finger shakes slightly before I trace again.

Ana.

His eyes are looking at me with surprise. "Ana?"

My name comes out of his lips as a whisper, so soft like a breeze, it brings me comfort and heartache at the same time. I haven't heard anyone call me by my real name for a long time, and now I gave him a piece of me nobody else in Nirvana knows.

"Ana," He says again in a firmer tone. "Is that your real name?" He asks.

I nod.

"It's a beautiful name," He says looking deep into my eyes. "I like it, suits you better than Noir,"

Noir is fine.

"I guess, but it's not you, not the real you," He says brushing his thumb on my jaw. The act is so soothing I mindlessly lean to his hand.

"I'm sorry," Then in instant, a shade of regret washed over his face, he then says, "For my suspicion and distrust toward you, I know now how pure you're." He shifts so I sit sideways on his lap, with one arm behind my back and the other on my outer thigh, I feel completely cocooned by his embrace.

"I have lived for a very long time, and in those years, life has been throwing everything but joy and happiness to me, my whole life I had to hide to keep everyone alive, fight to keep other's from going to bed with an empty stomach, I have learned to do a lot of immoral things to make sure the rest of us will live for another day.

"So when I saw you there, so close to the ruins of earth, I put all of my bitterness to this life to you," he presses our forehead together, my heart flutters like a leaf in the wind. "It doesn't matter that I got whipped for a hundred times more, if you think it wasn't enough to right my wrong then tell me now,"

My body goes rigid at the mention of 'whip'. I don't want to hear a sentence where there are him and whip, the memory from last night replays before my eyes, and I shake my head to erase it.

"Are you happy here? In Nirvana?" He asks me.

Am I?

I'm not sad, and I don't feel miserable. I have learned a lot of new things, make a lot of new friends, tried a lot of new food, and so many more, I feel like my life is just begun when I put my feet inside Nirvana. People here look at me as an equal, unlike at home where I'm always babied for my disability.

But this isn't home.

"Where do you come from?" He asks me, something tells me he feels bitterness as he spoke.

A planet called Relish, a very far away place from here.

I remember the trip to Earth was not long and smooth, but I know now that I cannot compare Dom's ship to Nirvana. I look down at my hands, feeling conflicted all of sudden. I want to go home, I really do, but among the humans, I discovered more about myself, I learned more, and I feel more.

My hesitation reaches him and he looks down, his adam's apple bobs as he swallows hard. "I promise these people, their parents before them, their grandparents before them, and now their children after them, that I will bring justice to the UG even if it's the last thing I do,"

He looks at me with determination.

"I intend to hold onto my promise, to deliver it to them." With his fingers, he lifts my face so he can look at me in the eyes, and see one of the reasons why I admire him, yes I do. My fear has to turn into something I never thought it would. All the hardness he put in the front as a fortress to protect not only himself but the people he is responsible for. I admire him for putting aside his needs and wants, I admire him for working the hardest, I admire him for taking the role as a leader years after years with no payback other than respect and mountains of responsibility on his shoulders.

Although he is part machine and human, he has a similarity that I now realize most people in Relish do; Honor. Malcolm is an honorable man. And although I haven't met a lot of men, I do know that he is a good man. His unselfish act and hardworking value speak for him.

Malcolm is a figure of protection, he is a provider, he is an action-oriented man, he is the discipline, he is purposeful, and he is decisive. He has the qualities I didn't know were essential in a man.

Malcolm's hand feels warm against my skin, melting whatever sheer layer of resistance I have towards him. "If by then, I'm still alive, and your feeling for me hasn't changed, then I will come with you, if you let me, to wherever you wish to go. Be it back to where you come from, or if you would like to explore this universe to every nook and cranny, I will follow you until you decided that you don't want me anymore, and if the latter comes, I want you to know that you have put meaning back into my life, after many lifetimes I had to endure with no hope for my heart, now it finds it's a purpose to beat again."