Fic: Women Beyond the Machine (10/?)
Title: Women Beyond the Machine (10/?)
Author: Irishmystery
Fandom: Bionic Woman
Pairing: Sarah/Jaime
Rating: This part probably PG
Disclaimers: They belong to NBC and not me. There are spoilers for episodes 1-4. To everyone still following the story...thank you for your patience.
Jaime stepped out of the hot shower, toweling off her long dark hair. She frowned at her reflection in the mirror as she saw a bruise that Sarah had left on her neck had already begun to fade. She was normally grateful for her bionic healing but was more disturbed that Sarah’s mark on her was healing so fast. Her relationship with the blonde already felt tenuous at best and this was just a physical reminder of that vulnerability.
Jaime was not a happy go lucky person. She had accepted the responsibility of taking care of her mother and now of Becca and had made personal sacrifices to honor it. This whole experience of running from everything had made her more keenly aware of her interpersonal relationships. She had trusted Jonas and though she had been weary of Berkut, it had provided structure in her life at a time when she had needed it most. She had lost her child, her fiancee, and her sense of self within one day. Berkut had given her purpose again and an outlet for all of the anger and pain of what Will had done to her.
But Berkut didn’t understand her or what she was going through. They didn’t understand the overwhelming flood of stimuli when her eye and ear imputs had come online for the first time. They didn’t understand the rush of running sixty miles an hour or the frustration of being able to hear something two miles away as if it were right next to you. They treated Jaime more like a machine than a human being. Ruth had been the only one to even consider what Jaime the person might want but her loyalty was with Berkut.
Jaime had felt connected to Sarah Corvus the moment Sarah had walked into her bar. She still had trouble reconciling the intensity of the connection given the fact that Sarah had caused her to lose her child and almost killed her. She knew she probably wouldn’t have been happy with Will and all of his lies in the long run but it had been her one shot at a semi-normal life. As for children, Jaime didn’t know if it was even possible or a good idea to have a child now that she was bionic.
Jaime methodically got dressed and blew her hair dry as she tried to sort through all the thoughts running around in her head. She was still adjusting to the fact that her mind seemed to be able to keep track of numerous thoughts at the same time. It was almost like she had more space or memory for lack of a better word in her head and could focus on any one that took priority at a given moment.
Grabbing the two coffee cups off of the nightstand from earlier this morning, she went downstairs to the kitchen to rinse them out. Becca and Cynthia were sitting at the kitchen table. Cynthia was reading the paper and Becca was on her laptop.
“You’d better not be on the internet, Becca.,” Jaime chided as she rinsed the cups out. Becca scowled at the screen but didn’t look at Jaime. “Do you see a cord hooked up to the phone jack?”
Jaime ignored Becca’s comment. The last thing they needed was Berkut hacking into Becca’s computer and finding out where they were. She had already confiscated Becca’s cell phone when they got to the farm earlier in the week.
“Not that I don’t like it here, Jaime, but aren’t you worried the school is going to come after you since I’ve been absent for over a week?”
“Shit.,” Jaime cursed softly. She hadn’t even thought of that during this whole mess. Becca had been close to suspension on numerous occasions and this would just be one more spot on Becca’s record.
“Why don’t you call the school, dear?,” Cynthia suggested. “I can’t. They’ll be watching for that.,” Jaime replied as she began pacing around the kitchen.
“Who will be watching? Jaime, are you ever going to tell me what is going on?” Jaime had Becca’s full attention now.
“I can’t tell you, Becca. I can’t get you involved in this.”
“Yeah, cause I’m really not involved already when you disappear and then Sarah brings you back all banged up while we hide out here in the country.”
Jaime could feel a headache slowly building. “Where’s Sarah?,” she asked, changing the subject.
“She left a few hours ago. Didn’t say where she was going.,” Cynthia answered.
“Are you in the Mob?”
Jaime’s attention snapped back over to Becca. “What?”
“You can tell me. I’m down. Or maybe you’re a drug dealer or a spy.” Becca’s voice continued to rise as she came up with more and more outlandish explanations.
Cythia watched the two siblings in sympathy. She didn’t like being shut out of her daughter’s life either but she knew more than Becca did.
“It’s not a matter of Jaime not trusting you, Becca.” Sarah had appeared through the front door looking disheveled and trying to appear casual.
Sarah plopped down into a seat next to Becca and continued, “This isn’t the same kind of secret as smoking a joint in the bathroom at school or sneaking a peek at a dirty movie. This is the kind of secret that could get Jaime killed.”
Becca’s eyes widened at the mention of Jaime being killed. “I just want to help.,” she said in a soft voice. Jaime placed her hand on top of Becca’s, trying to calm her down.
“I know you do. Just trust me when I tell you that you are helping by not knowing.” Becca shrugged Jaime’s hand off of hers. The rejection stung more than Sarah putting her through a wall or the electrodes that had burned through muscle and tissue. Secrets had been the cause of strain between the Sommers sisters a lot since Jaime went to work for Berkut. Becca stood up from the table and shrugged into a jacket before walking out the front door without another word.
“Just give her some time, Jaime.,” Cynthia said. “Poor girl has been through a lot of changes over the last few days.”
Jaime walked over to the couch in the living room and sat by the fire. She had tuned everything out except for the pain of hurting Becca and the fear of not knowing what her next move should be. She didn’t even register when Sarah sat down beside her on the couch until she felt the blonde lightly nudge her shoulder.
“How did you do this for three years?,” Jaime asked.
Sarah’s face took on a rough edge as she thought about those years hiding out in a rundown hotel isolated from everyone but Anthros.
“I didn’t have a choice. I lost everything. It was survival.” Sarah’s eyes narrowed as an unexpected realization occured to her.
“It wasn’t until I heard about you that I experienced any kind of real emotion.”
Jaime shot Sarah a confused look. “Sarah, you tried to kill me. You hated me.”
Sarah smirked. “When I told you I wasn’t sure what I wanted from you it was the truth. I was thinking that you would be exactly like me and then I would have an explanation for why I am the way I am. An answer to why I didn’t feel anything.”
“And?,” Jaime prompted.
“I wouldn’t have been able to tell you were bionic until we fought. Your humanity is intact. So then you intrigued me. Part of the reason I hated you is because your humanity means that there is something wrong with me.”
Jaime didn’t know what to say as she thought of all the people Sarah had hurt or murdered. She did know that Sarah had saved her and Becca.
“Sarah, if you were purely machine it wouldn’t even bother you that you didn’t feel anything.”
Sarah stared at the bright flames and tried to ignore that shaky feeling that was beginning to set in. Jaime sounded as if she actually believed what she was saying. Sarah couldn’t help but wonder if Jaime just needed to believe that in order to understand her attraction to Sarah. If Jaime was attracted to a cold, merciless machine then what would it say about her? One thing that Sarah had learned is that people believe what they want to believe sometimes even when evidence to the contrary is staring them in the face.
Becca lost track of the time as she followed the deserted highway. Her feet were beginning to get sore and tired as she walked through the dirty slush that had accumulated on the side of the road. She was tired of being treated like a baby, like she couldn’t handle the truth.
A small gas station with a convenience store attached came into view a few feet ahead. Thinking that she could use the rest and maybe something warm to drink, Becca walked in and cringed as her ears were assaulted by twangy country music. An older man with grease stained hands was reading a newspaper by the register, pausing only to occasionally ring up a customer. Becca headed over to the various dispensers in the back of the store that had hot coffee and more importantly hot water. Becca poured Swiss Miss hot chocolate into a styrofoam cup and then slowly poured the steaming water into it. She stirred the mixture together and warmed her hands on the side of the cup. Lifting it up to her face, she breathed in the enticing aroma and walked to the front of the store. The man at the counter ignored her until she put her cup on the counter and cleared her throat. She tried her best not to shrink from the irritated glance directed at her. The man rang up her drink and grumbled, “ $1.50.” Becca reached into her pocket and coming up empty checked her other pocket. She felt the first tremblings of panic set in when she realized she hadn’t brought any money with her. She was about to apologize when a hand appeared behind her holding two dollars.
Becca turned around to thank her savior and was met with a familiar face with short blonde hair and green eyes. “Um, thanks.,” Becca said, picking up her cup and moving out of the way.
“You’re welcome.,” Ruth replied, with a smile that was meant to be reassuring but something about it freaked Becca out a little.
“Have we met? Cause you look kinda familiar.”
“No, I don’t think so. I’m just passing through. Enjoy the hot chocolate.,” Ruth said, before turning around and leaving. Becca’s eyes stared after her even after she had been gone for a few minutes.
Ruth slipped into an old pick-up truck and pulled onto the highway. She hooked a Bluetooth up to her ear and dialed a familiar number. The phone rang once before being picked up.
“What did you find?,” Jonas’ raspy voice sounded in Ruth’s ear.
“Becca is here.”
“Does she suspect?”
Ruth shook her head, “I walked right up to her and even mentioned what she was drinking when there was a lid on the cup. She doesn’t notice much. Jaime obviously hasn’t told her anything.”
“I’ll have a team out there in an hour.”
Ruth frowned as she replayed Becca’s appearance in her mind. She didn’t appear as someone on the run might have looked. Her clothes were clean and she looked well fed. They were obviously hiding at the Corvus farm. Ruth had a natural curiosity about people that made her damn good at her job. There were way too many questions that she needed answered. Why was Sarah helping Jaime? Why was Jaime trusting Sarah? Ruth had to know more.
“No. Don’t send the team just yet.,” she replied.
“Why? We need to neutralize this situation as soon as possible.” Jonas’ disbelief was clear through the line.
“I need to gather more intel and determine the best way to handle this.”
“You have two days.,” Jonas said before abruptly disconnecting the call.
Ruth chuckled to herself as she clicked a button on her blackberry that activated the device that she had planted on Becca’s jacket. It had been a risky move but she had pulled it off when she had gone to pass Becca the money. The device would not only serve as a tracker but would also give Ruth an audio feed. If she really got lucky then Becca would leave the coat near a central location in the house and then Ruth would be able to hear almost everything.
Author: Irishmystery
Fandom: Bionic Woman
Pairing: Sarah/Jaime
Rating: This part probably PG
Disclaimers: They belong to NBC and not me. There are spoilers for episodes 1-4. To everyone still following the story...thank you for your patience.
Jaime stepped out of the hot shower, toweling off her long dark hair. She frowned at her reflection in the mirror as she saw a bruise that Sarah had left on her neck had already begun to fade. She was normally grateful for her bionic healing but was more disturbed that Sarah’s mark on her was healing so fast. Her relationship with the blonde already felt tenuous at best and this was just a physical reminder of that vulnerability.
Jaime was not a happy go lucky person. She had accepted the responsibility of taking care of her mother and now of Becca and had made personal sacrifices to honor it. This whole experience of running from everything had made her more keenly aware of her interpersonal relationships. She had trusted Jonas and though she had been weary of Berkut, it had provided structure in her life at a time when she had needed it most. She had lost her child, her fiancee, and her sense of self within one day. Berkut had given her purpose again and an outlet for all of the anger and pain of what Will had done to her.
But Berkut didn’t understand her or what she was going through. They didn’t understand the overwhelming flood of stimuli when her eye and ear imputs had come online for the first time. They didn’t understand the rush of running sixty miles an hour or the frustration of being able to hear something two miles away as if it were right next to you. They treated Jaime more like a machine than a human being. Ruth had been the only one to even consider what Jaime the person might want but her loyalty was with Berkut.
Jaime had felt connected to Sarah Corvus the moment Sarah had walked into her bar. She still had trouble reconciling the intensity of the connection given the fact that Sarah had caused her to lose her child and almost killed her. She knew she probably wouldn’t have been happy with Will and all of his lies in the long run but it had been her one shot at a semi-normal life. As for children, Jaime didn’t know if it was even possible or a good idea to have a child now that she was bionic.
Jaime methodically got dressed and blew her hair dry as she tried to sort through all the thoughts running around in her head. She was still adjusting to the fact that her mind seemed to be able to keep track of numerous thoughts at the same time. It was almost like she had more space or memory for lack of a better word in her head and could focus on any one that took priority at a given moment.
Grabbing the two coffee cups off of the nightstand from earlier this morning, she went downstairs to the kitchen to rinse them out. Becca and Cynthia were sitting at the kitchen table. Cynthia was reading the paper and Becca was on her laptop.
“You’d better not be on the internet, Becca.,” Jaime chided as she rinsed the cups out. Becca scowled at the screen but didn’t look at Jaime. “Do you see a cord hooked up to the phone jack?”
Jaime ignored Becca’s comment. The last thing they needed was Berkut hacking into Becca’s computer and finding out where they were. She had already confiscated Becca’s cell phone when they got to the farm earlier in the week.
“Not that I don’t like it here, Jaime, but aren’t you worried the school is going to come after you since I’ve been absent for over a week?”
“Shit.,” Jaime cursed softly. She hadn’t even thought of that during this whole mess. Becca had been close to suspension on numerous occasions and this would just be one more spot on Becca’s record.
“Why don’t you call the school, dear?,” Cynthia suggested. “I can’t. They’ll be watching for that.,” Jaime replied as she began pacing around the kitchen.
“Who will be watching? Jaime, are you ever going to tell me what is going on?” Jaime had Becca’s full attention now.
“I can’t tell you, Becca. I can’t get you involved in this.”
“Yeah, cause I’m really not involved already when you disappear and then Sarah brings you back all banged up while we hide out here in the country.”
Jaime could feel a headache slowly building. “Where’s Sarah?,” she asked, changing the subject.
“She left a few hours ago. Didn’t say where she was going.,” Cynthia answered.
“Are you in the Mob?”
Jaime’s attention snapped back over to Becca. “What?”
“You can tell me. I’m down. Or maybe you’re a drug dealer or a spy.” Becca’s voice continued to rise as she came up with more and more outlandish explanations.
Cythia watched the two siblings in sympathy. She didn’t like being shut out of her daughter’s life either but she knew more than Becca did.
“It’s not a matter of Jaime not trusting you, Becca.” Sarah had appeared through the front door looking disheveled and trying to appear casual.
Sarah plopped down into a seat next to Becca and continued, “This isn’t the same kind of secret as smoking a joint in the bathroom at school or sneaking a peek at a dirty movie. This is the kind of secret that could get Jaime killed.”
Becca’s eyes widened at the mention of Jaime being killed. “I just want to help.,” she said in a soft voice. Jaime placed her hand on top of Becca’s, trying to calm her down.
“I know you do. Just trust me when I tell you that you are helping by not knowing.” Becca shrugged Jaime’s hand off of hers. The rejection stung more than Sarah putting her through a wall or the electrodes that had burned through muscle and tissue. Secrets had been the cause of strain between the Sommers sisters a lot since Jaime went to work for Berkut. Becca stood up from the table and shrugged into a jacket before walking out the front door without another word.
“Just give her some time, Jaime.,” Cynthia said. “Poor girl has been through a lot of changes over the last few days.”
Jaime walked over to the couch in the living room and sat by the fire. She had tuned everything out except for the pain of hurting Becca and the fear of not knowing what her next move should be. She didn’t even register when Sarah sat down beside her on the couch until she felt the blonde lightly nudge her shoulder.
“How did you do this for three years?,” Jaime asked.
Sarah’s face took on a rough edge as she thought about those years hiding out in a rundown hotel isolated from everyone but Anthros.
“I didn’t have a choice. I lost everything. It was survival.” Sarah’s eyes narrowed as an unexpected realization occured to her.
“It wasn’t until I heard about you that I experienced any kind of real emotion.”
Jaime shot Sarah a confused look. “Sarah, you tried to kill me. You hated me.”
Sarah smirked. “When I told you I wasn’t sure what I wanted from you it was the truth. I was thinking that you would be exactly like me and then I would have an explanation for why I am the way I am. An answer to why I didn’t feel anything.”
“And?,” Jaime prompted.
“I wouldn’t have been able to tell you were bionic until we fought. Your humanity is intact. So then you intrigued me. Part of the reason I hated you is because your humanity means that there is something wrong with me.”
Jaime didn’t know what to say as she thought of all the people Sarah had hurt or murdered. She did know that Sarah had saved her and Becca.
“Sarah, if you were purely machine it wouldn’t even bother you that you didn’t feel anything.”
Sarah stared at the bright flames and tried to ignore that shaky feeling that was beginning to set in. Jaime sounded as if she actually believed what she was saying. Sarah couldn’t help but wonder if Jaime just needed to believe that in order to understand her attraction to Sarah. If Jaime was attracted to a cold, merciless machine then what would it say about her? One thing that Sarah had learned is that people believe what they want to believe sometimes even when evidence to the contrary is staring them in the face.
Becca lost track of the time as she followed the deserted highway. Her feet were beginning to get sore and tired as she walked through the dirty slush that had accumulated on the side of the road. She was tired of being treated like a baby, like she couldn’t handle the truth.
A small gas station with a convenience store attached came into view a few feet ahead. Thinking that she could use the rest and maybe something warm to drink, Becca walked in and cringed as her ears were assaulted by twangy country music. An older man with grease stained hands was reading a newspaper by the register, pausing only to occasionally ring up a customer. Becca headed over to the various dispensers in the back of the store that had hot coffee and more importantly hot water. Becca poured Swiss Miss hot chocolate into a styrofoam cup and then slowly poured the steaming water into it. She stirred the mixture together and warmed her hands on the side of the cup. Lifting it up to her face, she breathed in the enticing aroma and walked to the front of the store. The man at the counter ignored her until she put her cup on the counter and cleared her throat. She tried her best not to shrink from the irritated glance directed at her. The man rang up her drink and grumbled, “ $1.50.” Becca reached into her pocket and coming up empty checked her other pocket. She felt the first tremblings of panic set in when she realized she hadn’t brought any money with her. She was about to apologize when a hand appeared behind her holding two dollars.
Becca turned around to thank her savior and was met with a familiar face with short blonde hair and green eyes. “Um, thanks.,” Becca said, picking up her cup and moving out of the way.
“You’re welcome.,” Ruth replied, with a smile that was meant to be reassuring but something about it freaked Becca out a little.
“Have we met? Cause you look kinda familiar.”
“No, I don’t think so. I’m just passing through. Enjoy the hot chocolate.,” Ruth said, before turning around and leaving. Becca’s eyes stared after her even after she had been gone for a few minutes.
Ruth slipped into an old pick-up truck and pulled onto the highway. She hooked a Bluetooth up to her ear and dialed a familiar number. The phone rang once before being picked up.
“What did you find?,” Jonas’ raspy voice sounded in Ruth’s ear.
“Becca is here.”
“Does she suspect?”
Ruth shook her head, “I walked right up to her and even mentioned what she was drinking when there was a lid on the cup. She doesn’t notice much. Jaime obviously hasn’t told her anything.”
“I’ll have a team out there in an hour.”
Ruth frowned as she replayed Becca’s appearance in her mind. She didn’t appear as someone on the run might have looked. Her clothes were clean and she looked well fed. They were obviously hiding at the Corvus farm. Ruth had a natural curiosity about people that made her damn good at her job. There were way too many questions that she needed answered. Why was Sarah helping Jaime? Why was Jaime trusting Sarah? Ruth had to know more.
“No. Don’t send the team just yet.,” she replied.
“Why? We need to neutralize this situation as soon as possible.” Jonas’ disbelief was clear through the line.
“I need to gather more intel and determine the best way to handle this.”
“You have two days.,” Jonas said before abruptly disconnecting the call.
Ruth chuckled to herself as she clicked a button on her blackberry that activated the device that she had planted on Becca’s jacket. It had been a risky move but she had pulled it off when she had gone to pass Becca the money. The device would not only serve as a tracker but would also give Ruth an audio feed. If she really got lucky then Becca would leave the coat near a central location in the house and then Ruth would be able to hear almost everything.