Heaven's Door

Everything's Perfect

Mitch first rung the doorbell of the townhouse ten minutes after nine. Leilani, who had just gotten dressed after taking a shower, was shaking the towel off of her head before greeting him.

"Thank you so much for coming." she proclaimed as she slung her arms around his neck for a tight embrace.

"Gotta make sure you don't cheat on me with a bot." Mitch replied with a teasing smile. Leilani looked at him with a confused glance.

"Why would I do that?" she questioned.

"I'm joking." he assured her as he started to guide them to the basement door. "I know you don't like turning a robot down if they need the hardware update- but unlike the last time, this bot can (and has) told you no. They have their own wants and wishes too, creepily enough, and maybe it's time you learned to respect that."

The girl frowned. "You're doubting me?"

"Not doubt per say..." Mitch admitted with an uncomfortable shrug. "But... boundaries. You're not very familiar with them. When someone says no, they mean no Lei."

Leilani let out a small huff as the two went down the staircase to the basement. She never noticed it about herself, her stubbornness to keep working on a bot until they were in perfect order again. The last time a bot came into her care that was in absolute disrepair, Leilani lost days of sleep just to make sure the robot could reactivate. It was a bot before Raychel, and in retrospect, likely in a better condition then than what Raychel was in now. Mitch could have been her older brother had it not been for his constant worries of her liking a synthetic being more than a human.

"I'll need a lot of help with this Mitch." Leilani then sighed, looking up at her boyfriend with lost eyes. "I'll need a lot of advice, and ice cream, and..."

Smiling, Mitch placed a kind hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry," he assured her kindly, "I've got your back. Always do, don't I?"

Hopeful, Leilani flung her arms around his neck again for a hug. "I love you." she graciously thanked. Mitch smiled as he hugged her back. After several moments, the two pulled away and entered the basement laboratory where Raychel was waiting rather impatiently for them.

"Took you long enough." she huffed indignantly.

"How are you feeling?" Leilani asked her quite nicely as she walked to the bot's side, leaving Mitch to set up a small area to sit near Raychel's right leg.

"I don't." was the cold reply. The girl took this as a good sign.

"Yesterday I was able to completely remove the armor on your left leg, so today we are going to start on the right."

Ray nodded in agreement. Sounded fair enough.

"Removing the armor around your right leg should be faster than removing the left's armor, so if there was enough time, I was going to start removing your helmet. That sounds alright with you?"
"Sure." Ray dimly agreed. "Just get it over with."

The girl nodded as she went to the spot Mitch had prepared. "Did you start the soldering iron?" she asked him in passing.

"Yes ma'am." he agreed. "Would you like the safety goggles now?"

"Yes, and the gloves."

"What about the doors?"

"Open both of them up. Get the box fan from the spare room too and set it up outside the door."

Mitch gave a firm nod as he went to do so. As he did that, Leilani started to work. After that, the only sound that could be heard were of sparks flying and the low buzz of the fan. Faintly, it almost gave the same feeling of a surgery room- the blinding white walls against migraine inducing lights, the occasional talk between the 'doctor' and her 'nurse', and -worst of all- the passage of time seemed to go on forever.