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“Pretty good,” Alexis said, with a shy smile at Tiago.
“No pain or soreness?” Dr. Pan asked.
She shook her head, and he sighed in relief.
He hadn’t exactly taken it easy on her last night, and they’d been at it so many times. That was one good thing about being athletes - neither of them wore out easily.
“Are you ready for me to take your vitals?” Dr. Pan asked.
“Yes,” Alexis said, her eyes sparkling.
Tiago found himself holding his breath as the doctor lifted her hologram and then scanned Alexis. He couldn’t even take in the readings on temperature or heart rate.
At last, the scan was complete.
“Well?” Alexis asked.
“I’m so sorry,” Dr. Pan said, shaking her head. “Not yet.”
He watched as Alexis’s beautiful face crumbled.
“You’ve only had two nights,” Dr. Pan reminded her. “It takes time for a Maltaffian’s seed to activate. You’re doing a great job getting to know each other. It will happen.”
“It’s all my fault,” Alexis moaned, lowering herself to the floor and curled up with her head in her hands.
She looked so small that Tiago thought his heart would break.
“Alexis Clare, you look at me right now,” Dr. Pan said sternly, as she knelt on the floor next to her patient.
Alexis looked up slowly, her face wet with tears.
“This hasnothingto do with your illness,” Dr. Pan said. “You are perfectly healthy, very few people have ever been monitored as thoroughly as you have been over the last few days, and I can promise you that you’re one of the healthiest patients I’ve ever had. Your cycle is perfect, your eating is perfect, your sleep cycles are perfect.Youare perfect. Do you understand?”
Alexis was still sobbing silently, but she nodded.
“This is not out of the ordinary at all. Bonding usually doesn’t happen that fast,” Dr. Pan said. “Let it take the time it needs.”
Alexis nodded again.
“And for heaven’s sake, enjoy yourself,” Dr. Pan said. “Oberon has such plans for you today. He’s practically giddy about it.”
“Giddy?” Tiago echoed. He had thought Oberon was just AI.
“Oh, I know he’s not biological,” Dr. Pan said. “But it’s hard not to think of him as a person sometimes. Based on the number of times he’s rerun the sequences for your day, I would say he’s got big plans.”
“That sounds great,” Tiago boomed with a smile, hoping to cheer Alexis up.
She smiled at him through her tears, and his heart did that pleasant throbbing thing again.
Whether he wanted her to or not, she seemed to have him in the palm of her little hand.
19
TIAGO
Tiago watched Alexis eat a bowl of fruit salad with a feeling of deep satisfaction in his chest.
Though her beautiful face was still tearstained, she had perked up when the doctor left and Tiago began to cook.
