Morning sunlight streamed in thru the windows, a stray beam landing directly on Alex's face. Despite the uncomfortably bright light Alex couldn't bring herself to rise. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept in. She stretched her whole body like a cat and lazily flopped on to her side. If she was being honest, she could have spent the entire day stretched out over the coach. Alas the disaster that was her apartment called her to clean it. Eyes barely open she looked over her living room area, cleaning the place up was not going to be fun. She would have to get all the empty cups off her coffee table before she managed to knock one over. That's when she noticed, there were no cups on the coffee table. Suddenly more awake, Alex bolted upright. The mess from last nights party had been wiped away, leaving behind a spotless apartment. Confusion and panic swirled in Alex "I've been robbed, and they took all my…. trash". Calling the police was the first thing to come to mind, but what on earth would she say? Someone broke into her house and did her laundry? She thought for a moment if they had actually done her laundry too. Devious.

Noise coming from down the hall halted all her previous thoughts. The intruder was still there. Fear gripped Alex, what should she do? Find a weapon. Alex scrambled around for anything she could use to defend herself with. She gripped the handle of something that felt just right to swing if she needed. Holding her choice weapon close she crept down the hallway. The noise was coming from her room. Heart hammering, she continued until she came to her slightly open bedroom door. Someone was definitely moving around inside. He was probably in there cleaning the windows, that bastard. Before she could second guess herself, she lunged at the door, throwing it open with a loud bang. She raised her weapon, which she now noticed was the broken umbrella she had been meaning to throw out. "Freeze! I have an umbrella!" Nailed it. Alex's graceful nature took the opportunity to take over and with the grace of a jungle cat her sock covered foot slipped backwards. Her forward momentum ensured she made it in to the room before landing on her face in a heap on the floor.

The intruder quickly straightened at her sudden appearance, not startled just newly alert. Alex had been expecting a movie burglar, complete with ski mask and sack of loot. What she got instead was a fairly attractive man, dressed in all white making her bed. His features changed to concern as he started to approached her "Are you alright Ms. Vold?". Before he could get much closer she scrambled back up to her feet "Fine! Yes! Who are you?". His face lit up in a brilliant smile making Alex's breath catch "Good morning Ms. Vold, my name is Shawn". Blank, Alex's mind was completely and utterly blank. Details started to filter in thru the shock. The arm band around his right arm, the LED spinning blue at his temple. He was an android. "Wha…how? I don't understand" words were hard. Maybe she had a concussion. Paying no mind to her flustered ramblings "I am the android purchased by Mrs. Brenda Vold, as a gift to Ms. Alex Vold". Her mother words from last night started to come back to her now. This was her mother's "gift" to her?

"How… how did you get in my house?" She knew she had locked the door last night. "I was given a key by Mrs. Vold, I was also instructed to return the key to your key ring once I was inside." This would have been all well and good if she had ever given her mother a spare key. She had not, in fact there was no spare key. When had her mother managed to swipe her house key from her? Anger and frustration burned inside Alex, she had never wanted to tell her mother off so badly. Alex grabbed the phone sitting on her night stand and dialed her mother's number. She was going to let her have it. The fight drained out of Alex when she was greeted with her mother's overly chipper voice message. Of course, they were on the plane heading home. "Is everything alright? Can I assist you in any way?" She jumped at the sudden approach of the android. "You seem to be displeased" Guilt stabbed Alex in the gut, it wasn't his fault her mother was so intrusive. She felt bad at how rude she was treating him, it wasn't fair to take her frustrations out on him like that. The tension and anger she held just a moment ago drained from her and she let her shoulders sag. "No, I'm sorry. That was really rude of me." The agreeable smile never left his lips. She gave him a smile in return "It's nice to meet you. Shawn?" a nod of confirmation "It is nice to meet you as well Ms. Vold". The name was slightly cringy "Alex" she corrected. He seemed pleased at the familiarity of being able to call her by her first name.

She started to say something else when she realized, she must look like a train wreck. Embarrassment crept up on her. Android or not she did not like her first meeting with anyone to include her with morning breath and a rat's nest of hair. "Will you excuse me? I will be right back." With that she darted off to her bathroom. Flipping the lights on she was greeted with a reflection that could have just as easily belonged to a tornado survivor. She had forgotten to wash her makeup off from last night, eyeliner was smeared down the side of her face. Her hair might have been even more of a disaster than she had been picturing. It seemed to defy gravity in it's attempt to be a wreck. All in all she mostly just looked homeless. Turning the shower she let the hot water run until the room was filled with steam and hopped in.

Although their first meeting hadn't exactly gone smooth Alex was determined to make it up to Shawn for being so rude. She shook her hair out with a towel and thru the traitorous bundle up in to a messy wet bun. Armed with her cleaning clothes and a sense of determination Alex peaked out from her bedroom. Shawn was sweeping behind the fridge. "Shit, was I supposed to be sweeping behind that thing this whole time?" he was finding chores to do Alex didn't even know existed. Collecting herself Alex strolled in to the living room. "Need any help?" he turned his brilliant smile of her again but this time she was ready for it and kept her breathing in check. "No ma'am, I will take care of everything. Please relax and enjoy your day." Her smile faltered, she didn't like the idea of him working so hard while she lounged on the couch. "Well I would like to help anyway" She began to sweep up the small pile of dirt he had collected from behind the fridge. Only to have him take it from her to throw the contents away.

The day progressed more or less the same, with her awkwardly starting a task only to have Shawn come and claim the task from her with a "Let me take care of that" or "Allow me". She knew he was just doing what he was programmed to do but it still made her feel bad making him do all the housework by himself. She couldn't stand having someone catering to her hand and foot like this. She carried the last couple of dirty dishes from the party to the sink, when an idea struck her. "Hey Shawn?" not a second later he appeared, ready for her instructions. "Will you help me wash the dishes?" his smile brightened, and he stood a little straighter "Yes ma'am". It was almost like a puppy eager to please his master, she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face at the comparison. "Great!" She tossed a dish towel at him "I'll wash, you dry". His face scrunched up in confusion. He looked at the towel as if he didn't understand what he was supposed to do. "You don't have to do that ma'am, I can take care of it" She rolled her eyes at him. "Alex. And I know you can, but it will go faster if we work together" His confusion didn't seem to be any less "Work together?".

She turned the water to warm and let it run "Yeah, I wouldn't make you do everything by yourself". Alex poured a generous amount of soap on to the sponge and began scrubbing a plate. He seemed to be torn between following instructions to dry the newly washed plate and taking the new dirty plate from her. Slowly he joined her at the counter and began making sure each plate was dried to perfection. It was funny how much effort he put in to even the smallest task, almost like he wanted to prove how useful he was. Alex did have to admit, while she hadn't been crazy about the thought of having an android around the house, the company was nice. They spent the remainder of the evening working together on the household chores and even unpacking a few of Alex's boxes. By the end of it the house had never looked better.

"Great job! This place looks amazing" She beamed at him, slightly proud she had been able to help even a little to make the place look this good. Now that all the cleaning was done it was finally time to relax. Alex strolled over to the living room, grabbing the remote she plopped down on to the sofa. Shawna however had not moved, he was still standing there, staring blankly at the apartment. "Shawn? Are you ok?" smiling eyes turned to her "I am. I'm simply making a list of tasks to accomplish tomorrow". Tomorrow? The place looked incredible, now was the time to sit back and enjoy themselves and all the hard work they had done. Annoyance ran across Alex's face, she made her way back to where Shawn still stood.

He snapped back to reality when Alex started to push him towards the living room. "Ms. Vold? What are you doing?" She grunted with the effort it took to get him to simply walk forward "Alex! And you are going to sit your butt on the couch and watch some crappy tv with me". Finally, she got him to the sofa, she pushed him, and he collapsed into the plush cushions. "The house looks great, you did great. You don't have to push yourself so hard. So, here's the big question…" he looked up at her not knowing what to do with himself "Cartoons or some bad reality tv?". He started to protest but the sharp glare from her halted his words "Cartoons?". She smiled a satisfied smile and took her seat back on the opposite end of the couch. "Cartoons it is then" she flipped channels until she came across a brightly colored, lively cartoon. She could feel his eyes still on her and if she hadn't been paying attention, she might have missed it when he whispered "Thank you. Alex."