Fan Art: https://nightninja456.deviantart.com/art/Just-Some-Innocent-Coffee-Right-716621893

*Time Skip to Friday!*

*Sarah's POV*

My job let me take off the weekend since they saw I wasn't in any shape to really continue. But I didn't feel comfortable being alone but at least the guys would be returning around 3...but that was still a ways away...

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and I checked to see who had texted. It was Dan.

'Hello! I wanted to see if you'd be interested in getting some coffee! My treat!'

I smiled lightly. I responded, 'Sure, why not? Where to?'

'How about we be white girls and go to Starbucks?'

'Haha alright let's do it!' (A.N. If you don't get the joke or are a white girl, it is just something that is often tied to Starbucks and thus is a joke! Sorry!)

I got ready and headed out. There wasn't really that many starbucks in the city and the only one that was really solo was the one off of Lucy Drive (A.N. nonexistent drive in Texas...except in Austin but this isn't in Austin...or anywhere really...)

By the time I came there, he was already sitting down at a table with a laptop at hand. "Hey," I greeted.

He looked up to me and smiled, "Hey, come on, take a seat." I nodded and sat across from him. "How are you?"

"I'm...alright, what about yourself? Keeping busy?" I joked lightly, referring to his computer.

"Oh yeah, I'm doing good, just trying to make a cover for a fake news story, wanna hear?"

"Sure, but after we get our order done."

"Of course!"

We went up and I just ordered a tall chai tea latte and he ordered a tall mocha frappuccino. "Hot vs. cold right?" I joked and he just laughed as we sat back down. "Alright, sell me the pitch Scotty," I acted out.

"Alrighty.

"Right here in the infamous "city by the bay," there has been an accident leading to the death of Mr. Sean Lee, a minister for a local Presbyterian church. It was caused by drunk driver Ian Ree who had a bit too much in this late hour. He is being taken to the hospital to treat his wounds but will still be placed under house arrest until the trial is proceeded with. This has been Dan with KKTV, back to you Shelby."

I clapped for him. "Nice!"

"Really?"

"Yep! I'm pretty sure if it was a real story you'd have the audience quite intrigued."

"Gee, thanks." We shared a smile before hearing his name called.

"I'll grab it!" I got up and grabbed our drinks before setting his down and going to go put honey inside of mine. Adds the bit of sweetness to the tea to even the flavors.

By the time I got back, Dan had already downed a fourth of his cup. "Adding honey?" I nodded. "Yeah, it helps even the flavors." '...Did he just read my mind or something?' I laughed. "What?"

"It's like you read my mind or at least my perspective to the exact point."

"Really? It must be psychology getting to me. I should be able to read your mind at any point now!" he claimed in a Count Dracula voice.

"Ah, no, not my pretty mind!" I cried. Then we shared a laugh, this guy was awesome. 'Gabby would enjoy him! He's a great character.'

We eventually ended up just talking about random things like how it's a lot harder to make friends nowadays to just how coffee and tea have gone head to head to be the main drink of the entire world. He was a joy.

I looked to my phone and noticed the time. "Shoot! I have to get going."

"Already?"

"Yeah."

"You can't stay for another drink?" he asked.

"No, but I'll take you up on that another day, bye!"

I took off and went to go pick up the guys.

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*???'s POV*

Ah...she hasn't changed a bit. Still quite beautiful really...and her thoughts still pure in every sense. I found out she had still decided to go towards that engineering thing and was still awkward. But cute nonetheless. She had also gotten that job back at that old bank of hers too which was good, probably led her to want to stay here longer. And, by the way she talks around the subject, she is still single. Heh heh heh. 'Excellent.' I also know how she is towards new people but if you are able to get close enough to her, she invites you over for a movie or a board game and that will be when I strike.

I stepped out of the coffee shop and smiled up at that big sun. 'She will be mine...and she will never escape from me again...'

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*Dark's POV*

"She's late," I commented as Google pulled down his Time screen.

"I-I'm sure that it's ju-ust traffic," Google assured.

"Give her time, she's her own person after all," Wilford remarked.

"Says th-the one that wants t-to wa-atch her-"

"No I don't! Shush up!" he claimed with some pink light tinge developing on his cheeks. I rolled my eyes and kept on the lookout till I saw her truck pull up. "Finally!"

As we got in, I in front and Wilford and Google in the back, she apologized. "Sorry! I was with a friend and kind of lost track of time!"

At that my ears perked but before I could ask, Wilford stepped in for me. "A friend? I'm guessing not Gabby then?"

"Oh um, no, it was actually Dan-" I felt my ears heat up slightly at the sound of his name.

"That fellow from the other day?"

"Yeah, he wanted to go out for a coffee so, since I didn't want to be alone, I went along with it."

"But you already did your exam didn't you?"

"Yes but I'm trying to actually make more friends for future classes. Besides, he's a fun guy to hang out with." 'Fun?'

"What do you mean?"

I saw her smile. "I don't know, he was just amusing. I'm sure you guys would like him!" 'Yeah...sure...' I felt a sense of disgust when she mentioned him. I couldn't tell why, I shouldn't have a problem with him. It's not like he's hurt her or anything, she seems to thoroughly enjoy him. 'Oh Dark, you're just a little jealous...'

'Jealous??? O-of course not!'

'Heh heh, right. It's alright Dark, we can always get rid of him later.'

'We're not killing her new friend.'

'Boo.'

"Is something wrong Dark?"

I didn't even notice that we were already home. Wilford and Google were at the door. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Your ears are a little red," she giggled.

"Oh, really?" I felt my ears and sure enough they were quite warm. "Well, maybe I'm getting sick or something."

"Or maybe you heard something you didn't like much." I looked her way, worried.

"Wh-what could I have-"

"I'm kidding! Come on." We got down and headed inside.

Sarah didn't really want to do nothing so we ended up playing a round of Risk, a board game where you eventually just try to take over the whole world with your troops, but you mostly rely on luck to kill your opponents.

As we played, we had a conversation begin. "So, how was work?" Sarah asked.

"It was good, not as much of a crowd as there usually is," Wilford commented.

"That's good." There was silence. I felt the air was tense as that was probably the last thing she wanted to hear, despite her unusually light-hearted nature.

I spoke up. "Sarah, are you sure you're alright? From what happened?"

"Yep! I'm just fine. Will probably be ready to work this coming Monday with all I've got!" She probably didn't notice it but she had a switch in her eyes before they righted themselves. That means Cineos is probably repressing it so I didn't go any further with it except for providing a nod.

Once again the tension rose as we played on. As a last fatal attempt to try and get the conversation going, Wilford rang out, "Ural to Ukraine!"

Sarah saw what Wilford was trying to do and went along with it. "How dare you impose war upon my people! We will win against your hooligans!"

"Charge!" They rolled the dice. It was Wilford with 5 and Sarah with 2. He flicked away one of Sarah's soldiers as though it was a pest. "Looks like that's 1 taken down. One more and I will have claimed victory!"

"Not if I can see to it!" She focused on her soldier. "Billy, you must fight with all of your strength. I know the odds seem against you but Billy, Billy you must go on. You must avenge Bobby Boy!" I'm guessing that was the name of the fallen one.

They rolled again, this time it was Wilford with 2 and Sarah with 2. "Huh, looks like Billy has a bit of a fighter spirit in him...no matter! I have a couple more I could dish out at you!"

He went at her again: Wilford 3, Sarah 5. She grinned sheepishly at him.

"Well, there's always Afghanistan. Afghanistan to Ukraine!" It came out to a similar result. "Um...I'll just have to come back to that later..." He passed the dice to Google. Eventually we all partook in this way of talk and it ended up with Google winning since he has been getting better with luck and knowing the chances of rolling the dice. We should've known better than going against a droid.

We began to work on dinner. Tonights dish: Sarah's mom's special meatloaf with mashed potatoes, corn and peas. While we were cooking though, Google found himself holding onto a counter to keep him up. "You alright Google?" Sarah asked.

"I-I a-am fine-e. I'm gonna g-go lay down f-for a bit."

I took him aside when he was out of Sarah's view. "Is it him?"

He held his head. "Y-yeah. The recent e-events have aggra-ravated him. He wa-ants to say h-hello."

"Go lay down, I'll send Wilford after to help you sleep." He nodded and went to the room.

I went to Wilford. "Hey, could you possibly give Google a dose of tranquilizer to help him sleep?"

"Is it...?"

"Yeah."

"Alright and I'll watch him...just in case he decides to take a visit." I nodded and he left.

"What happened with Wilford?" Sarah asked as I joined her side. She was currently mixing the meat with the other ingredients.

"He's gonna help Google sleep."

"...Is Google's side acting up?" I nodded, knowing it would be pointless to try and keep it from her. She sighed. "I feel bad for him, out of all of you he's been able to keep his cool...What exactly happens?"

"Well, let's just say he enjoys being in control of the program and he won't just stop at the local government, he'll go state and more if he's given the chance."

"Geez..."

"And the worst part is that each time he goes under, he gets stronger and can take out much more because of upgrades and the rate of human knowledge growing."

"Yikes...well, the attic is only a little broken so feel free to use it I guess if it comes to that." I nodded.

Then there was another silence that filled the room as she put together the raw ingredients of the meatloaf. I saw she couldn't really move away from it so I took the time to ask her about her state of being. "I'm fine Dark, really. It's weird, usually when stuff like this happens people find themselves in pain for days but for me, I don't have to worry about it till at least a couple of weeks or so, months even! And by then I sometimes even forget the event has happened!"

"...And that's of your own will?"

She glanced over to me. "What do you mean?"

"Like, Cineos isn't preventing you from thinking about it to keep you stable, right?"

She tried to laugh it off but during her laugh I saw Cineos come by in her eyes, as though warning me not to push it. "I doubt it-"

"Listen, it's not always the best to forget about these things-"

She stopped positioning the ingredients. "Look, Cineos does things that he feels are for the best. If he feels I shouldn't remember this, then I shouldn't remember it! End of story!" She paused, blinking to herself before continuing. I held onto the silence as she put the meatloaf into the oven. "Alright, so that should be done after an hour and then after that we need to uncover it for 10 minutes so it can look a pretty color...we can probably watch a movie or something." She wasn't even looking at me and she quickly went past me to the living. '...I don't think Cineos gets this...she needs to talk about this kind of stuff...I need to find a way to get that across.' I went to the living room to find her already sitting down and scanning for a movie or a show to watch.