"There's still the question of backups," Mattie said.

She, Leo and the the synths were in a roadside cafe, just a temporary cabin which had survived forty years serving fry-ups and instant coffee.

Fred sat beside Max. He pretended to sip his drink, but every second was glancing around, twitchy and desperate to be on the move. Leo's memories: creators of unease. If Mattie had doubted the amnesiac Leo, now she was certain. The man she loved was real, just kept behind walls of justifiable paranoia.

"Do it now," said Max.

"I only did you yesterday," said Leo.

"Not us," said Mia. "You."

"-Restored you," said Max. "Or you might lose this whole day and everything you've learned."

Was Max teasing Leo? Impossible to tell. But body language, even across a Formica table and chipped mugs, was hard to suppress. Mattie was very conscious of Leo three feet away and she knew he was alive to her too, the consequence of new intimacy.

"When we get back," said Leo.

"No, now," said Mattie. "We can't lose you again. Which brings me back to my point, where do we keep the backups, how do we keep you all safe?"

"Disabling remote access would be a start," said Leo.

"Funny. It saved your neck." She gave him a mock glower and saw his lightning smile in answer. Around the table, synth eyes flared green, noticing, recording. Of course, Leo was capturing it all too, every look, every word. Her chances of maintaining feminine mystique were zero. Lucky she didn't care.

"We keep backups for each other," said Mia. "Each of us carries the backup for another."

"That doubles the risk," said Fred. "Two lots of data which could be discovered."

"But it means we will always have each other in our hearts," said Mia. She took Leo's hand and squeezed it. "I'll take Leo's."

Oh, awkward. Mattie caught Leo's eye. Your mum, sharing your memories?

"I'll take Leo's," said Max firmly. "And obviously all our memories are private." He smiled at Mattie. He definitely knew. Max, of all of them, was the person quickest to pick up on emotional drama.

"I need to check you out," said Leo to Fred. "We still don't know how my stuff got mounted to you." Leo's eyes were already glazing over, his thoughts racing away to the work ahead. Although their mission to restore Fred had been a success, there were many lessons to be learned from it, and Leo would be consumed with those lessons for the foreseeable future.

Mattie looked at her phone. "I ought to get back."

Leo raised his gaze to hers. All his defences were up, and Mattie could not read a message in his wary blue eyes. But it was fine. It was all fine.

"Talk later," she said, sliding out from behind the table. "It'll take me a while to get home, plus I need sleep." She gave them all a quick smile and escaped to the car park.

She was fumbling with her car keys when Leo caught up with her. "Hey."

"It's all right," she said. "I'll catch you later."

He touched her arm. "Not soon," he said, "But I'll come down and see you. Somewhere."

"Ok." She had one hand on the driver's door.

Leo reached over and took her other hand. "If you want."

"Yes."

"Ok then." He kissed her cheek and let go her hand.

"Leo. This is going to sound a bit strange but. I'm looking forward to talking to you again. Online. This has been... Good. Great, but intense."

Relief is hard to disguise. Leo grinned. "Yeah. I know what you mean." He paused. "You're braver than any of us, doing everything without a backup."

"It didn't feel brave."

"You saved me," he said. His voice dropped to a mutter as the others gathered around them. "And you made this better." He gestured between his chest and hers, the indicators of a shared connection.

She nodded. "I had help." She darted in and kissed his cheek, as if it was a year previously and as much as she would ever do - but the tingle that passed from his skin to hers belied the pretence. She scrambled into the car and made many unnecessary seatbelt and mirror adjustments.

The gathered synths waved at Mattie as she manoeuvred towards the exit. They shrank in her rear view mirror, Mia and Max, and Fred, finally together. But she was not looking at them, she was watching Leo, his smile, and she could see at last what it meant, now that she knew his heart.

That was the memory she would carry back to her room, the one she would cherish, however imperfectly. He was made of data, but also of flesh and blood. She was only half what he was, but still they had found a way to connect, and that had led them to friendship, and more, and finally to this next stage, whatever it would turn out to be. Leo had been lost and found and proven to be more than the sum of his memories.

Without the person, the memories had no purchase, no value. The point of difference between human and conscious synth disappeared here. Mattie's life was stored in her brain but also her heart, and so was Max's life, or Mia's, or Leo's.

Mattie smiled at this, at Leo vanishing behind her. Memory only meant anything when it was bound to emotion, and in this respect, at least, she was just like him.

THE END

Author's note: I hope you liked this fic about memory and love. Let me know what you thought, please! Next up is a Yuletide special...Which sort of follows the events of this series. More soon, -Sef