Bring The Heat

76. Life After Bleeding Pt 3

Robin stared at the screen in front of her. Glimpsing her reflection, she examined it - she'd put on her black lipstick (she was getting back into it) and tucked her hair behind her ears. It was in an attempt to get confidence from her looks, but as she fidgeted nervously with a pen, tapping it rapidly on her desk, it was clear that it wasn't working.

Nicki was right... Wren deserved to know. But how the hell could she ever put it into words?

The day she looked in the mirror and decided she looked at least feminine enough to pass, she had felt relieved that she'd never need to tell anyone again. But now she did, and it felt like she would never be able to shake this part of her off.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the doorframe.

"I'm baaaaack~" Wren chirped, and Robin's heart stopped.

She had assumed that she'd at least have until the morning to tell Wren, but now that she was here...

"Hi." Robin muttered blankly, spinning back to her computer quickly, "Just working on... some... reports."

Wren ran over and hopped up to sit on the arm of Robin's chair, her skirt riding up her thigh as she did so. Robin looked away awkwardly.

"What's that mean?" she asked, pointing to something on the screen.

"Uh... I couldn't explain it. But hey, it's late! You should really go to bed now."

After a brief moment of silence, Wren slid off of the chair, feeling rejected.

"O- oh... yeah... ok. G'night..."

As Wren's sad footsteps slunk sadly down the hallway, Robin hung her head in her arms. God, she felt like such an asshole. At least it was over quickly...

But seriously, how the hell could she tell Wren? She didn't even know where to start, not that she wanted to. The thought rolled around in her head like a piece of gravel over the next couple of minutes, until she heard someone speak behind her without knocking first.

"Hey." they said, in a deep and commanding tone. Spinning in her chair, Robin saw Rebound in the doorway.

"Oh... hey. How you holding up?"

"So. You and Wren, huh?"

Robin was caught off guard by the question. He had changed topics like it didn't even matter what she said to him...

"Well, I d-"

"If you're getting with Wren," he interrupted, "you'd better not hurt her."

Completely taken aback, Robin stared on at Rebound. He was acting in a completely alien manner, she'd never seen him like this in the years that she'd known him.

"What I'm saying is, you put up a facade." Rebound continued, "She looks at you and all she sees is a pretty girl, and you let her see only that because that's what you want to be. But you're not that. You've got problems, real ones, ones that'll hurt her. You're not really just gonna jump into something with someone as vulnerable as Wren, are you? It's time to get real, and get your shit together."

Rebound wandered out of the medbay, and down the hall to his room. After saying that... he felt good. Satisfied, to a degree. It was hard to describe, but he felt free letting out a little spite at last.

Back in the medbay, Robin was left staring off into space. She'd never seen Rebound like that... but processing what he had just said, she realized that he had been right.

She'd been approaching this like a normal situation, but it wasn't. Wren was still learning about her world. She HAD lived a life before, and she still retained knowledge and experience - but she didn't know who she was, not fully. Robin thought about how she could avoid hurting Wren... at this point, the worst she could do right now is confuse her any more. She had to be clear, upfront... honest.