[Pete]
Who: Kitty and Pete When: Backdated to Valentine's Day What: Surprise romance Where: Kitty's room Rating: R for "errr I don't know"
On February 14th, Kitty rose earlier than the man sleeping beside her. She phased out of bed instead of disturbing him. She went downstairs, as usual, to train. After a quick breakfast, she spent the day in the engineering lab. Unlike a normal day, today she seemed a little distracted and a little sad. She listened to music all day, absolutely none of which was anything short of bleak, and when she removed her headphones at the end of the day it felt like stepping out of the shower. The soft haze that had dampened her sense was gone and the reality of the day hit her like a ton of bricks.
It wasn't on her mind that there was a man upstairs who she'd been sleeping with who undoubtedly cared little for such rituals. The thing that troubled her was the thought of the tons of red-and-pink wrapped candy that hadn't been produced, the little Valentines distributed by elementary school children had never been scribbled into being, the roses never cultivated for distribution by eager dates and affectionate spouses. The quietness of the world, the dampening of 21st century human industry, seemed so suffocatingly sad sometimes.
Kitty's routine continued to proceed without hitches. She finished a solid day's work in the engineering lab and headed upstairs to spend some time in her room before dinner. It barely occurred to her that Pete might be there, so preoccupied was she, but it wasn't a total shock when she stepped inside and found him there. For the first time all day, her autopilot turned off.