Tears in the Night

Author's note: Okay now, this is a NON-EROTIC FIC. I actually wrote this a while ago for an A.I. fan fiction group at Yahoo!, and I thought I'd post it here for the benefit of other readers. It's set in an alternative universe, where David really did find the Blue Fairy after he was abandoned by Monica and she made him into a real boy, and he's gone back to live with the Swinton family.

The child's cry wracked the black solitude of the night, tearing Monica Swinton up into wakefulness from the depths of sleep. She sat up in bed, anxiously listening. She moved her head to see why Henry wasn't doing anything, and then remembered he was away on a business trip and it was just her, David, and Martin in the house.

The air was not cold, yet Monica found herself shivering. That cry had knifed through her unconscious mind like a lightning bolt; she actually felt its terror and anguish.

And then she heard sounds of crying, choking sobs that melted her heart and brought all her motherly instincts to the fore. She heard the voice, the voice that symbolised that which she had come to care about more than anything else in her life.

"Mommy!" It sounded strangled.

"David!" she called back, getting up and putting on her nightgown and slippers. David, the little Mecha child that had come into her life just over a year ago. Whom she had abandoned in the woods. Whom had been returned to her, miraculously transformed into a real, human boy. How, no one dared to guess. For Monica, it was enough that he was with her.

Walking quickly along the hallway, Monica carefully opened the door to David's room and switched on the light. David was sat up in bed, shaking. In his arms was Teddy, patting the boy's arm comfortingly. The bear turned its head to look at her.

"David is upset, Mommy," it said.

Monica took a closer look at David. Tears streamed down his face and dripped from his chin; liquid leaked from his nose and onto his top lip; his eyes had gone read from crying so hard. Filled with concern, Monica rushed over and enveloped the sobbing child in a loving hug.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" she asked, stroking his hair as she cradled him. It was about a minute before David was able to control his weeping enough to answer her. He gulped a few times before speaking.

"Mommy, I...I had a dream," he said. "We were together and were having such a lovely time, and I was so happy...and...then you died, you went away, and I knew I'd never see you again. I was all alone...." That was as far as he got before the tears erupted anew, and he bawled into her chest.

Back when he was a Mecha, David hadn't been able to dream. Now that he was Orga, he could dream anything and sometimes found it difficult to accept that what he imagined wasn't real and couldn't hurt him. He wasn't like other children, but then he never had been.

"It's okay, honey. Shhhh," Monica said to him softly, stroking his damp face. "Shhhh, it was only a dream, it wasn't real. I'm right here with you, and I will be for a long time yet." David looked up at her then, his eyes still glistening.

"I love you, Mommy," he said. "Please, please stay with me. I'm scared." Looking into his beautiful face, Monica knew what she had to do and smiled.

* * * *

David was awakened by the light of the early morning sun drifting through the windows of Monica's bedroom. He lay tucked up in her bed, his head resting on a pillow. Teddy sat further on down the bed, looking at him....But where was his Mommy? Surely she couldn't....

There was a stirring beside him, and Monica leaned over to smile lovingly down at him. She planted a soft kiss on his forehead. "Come on, sleepy," she said. "Better get up, or you'll be late for school."

David smiled. All was right with his world. For now, there would be no more tears.

End.