Noelle the nandroid

Noelle pushed the large electric wheelchair into the living room, much to the dismay of Mr. Crowley who ranted to his caretaker about it. " You don't get it! If I know I can draw then I have.to.draw! The next Marlene sinclair yacht isn't gonna design itself!" Noelle sighed as she stopped pushing the chair and responded, "but you can't, sir, being able to grasp a spoon doesn't mean you can firmly grip a pencil and sketch. I mean look at your hand. You're already gripping it from the pain." She stated tiredly but matter of factly. Even with her upgraded battery and bolstered limbs she couldn't help but respond in her sardonic tone. Another habit she gained from working here to add to the list she supposed.

As the older man sat there, arms folded in frustration, he barked at Noelle, saying, " Ya know you're not my mother Noelle! I'm a grown man and I should be able to do what I want!" The Nandroid was unfazed by this and responded with a curt “ Even at the cost of your own health? Fine, go ahead, worry me and Nathan.” she folded her own arms while giving him her patented stern look. The look proved to be too much for the older gentleman as he slouched into his chair in defeat, only muttering a quiet "ahh fine, fine….."

The robot stood there in the living room with the now quiet man, feeling a pang guilt as the silence grew deafening. Mr. Crowley sometimes fell into these uncharacteristically sulky moods when he couldn't get his way with certain things, Noelle had noticed. She also noticed that he began staring at an old photo of the late Mrs. Crowley that sat above the stereo on the wall. Noelle began to gaze at the photo as well. Mrs. Crowley had been a beautiful woman, only a few years  younger than Mr.crowley yet she still had looked stunning. Short blonde hair that looked only slightly faded with a few stray strands of silver hair, adorned her head while her vibrant green eyes shown against her peachy skin. Marlene wasn't just a pretty face though, her husband described her as full of life and sharp witted, she had been a brilliant marketing agent that sold the public on Mr. Crowley's self driving yacht. As Noelle thought that she'd have liked to have met such a remarkable woman, the pang of guilt grew and she knew she had to do something to cheer Me. Crowley up.

The robotic maid looked from the picture down to the vinyl record player player atop the large stereo system. A wry smile forming on her metallic lips as she walked over to it, blocking the old man's view of his late wife's photo. As she passed through the records she began to say, "come on now Mr. Crowley, there's no use in beging down on yourself, how about some tunes eh?" The gentlemen fidgeted on his chair only grumbling to himself. With a vinyl picked, she placed it gently onto the record player, as the song began to play she spoke again, "I know you can't stay in a bad mode with tune playing, you love this song about water flowing and things being. . ." She strayed into the last word in a more sing-songy voice, waiting for the man to continue. ". . . .same as it ever was." Crowley finally uttered in unison to the song with a smirk forming in his face. Giving a tired smile, Noelle began singing the song with him.

After the track had finished the pair were both in fits of laughter due to their very terrible impromptu karaoke session. Noelle felt proud of herself for bringing the older gentleman out of his funk, looking over at him she realized he was eyeing, with a smirk on his wrinkled face. This caught the droid off guard as she composed herself into the neutral faced, dry humored caretaker she knew herself as. This got a chuckle out of Mr.Crowley as he then said " ya know I don't see ya smile too often, least not around me when." Noelle began to say, " oh no sir I-'' before being cut off by the man as he continued, "bah I know Nates your pal, you two get on real well, but I'd like to be your friend too Noelle, we may not see eye to eye but I'm glad to have you around." Finally he waited for the robotic caretaker to speak, who now seemed to be stunned too, until she replied "I . . .  Thank you sir, I'm sorry if I made you feel like I don't, but I do care a lot about you sir." "I know, I know, I just felt it needed to be said. . .you know what? Friends give their friends gifts, and you Noelle, could use a gift, wait here!" Before she could even protest in response he began moving his wheelchair over towards the hall, holler back at Noelle, "maybe with this you'll cut the proper English and talk to me the same way you do with "Natey," haha." Noelle's cheeks felt warmer as they lot up in compulsion to her embarrassment.

Mr. Crowley re entered the living room to find Noelle still standing where he’d left her, “ya know you could’ve sat down eheh, i swear you droids and weird sense of etiquette.” The slightly tired looking nandroid before him sighed as she said, “Sir it’s not like i ne-” “C’mon enough of this SIR nonsense, just call me Simon.” the older gentlemen said, cutting off his robotic helper, leaving her slightly surprised. “. . . er, if that’s what you want sir- uh. . .Simon.” The beaming smile the man gave her made her feel a bit more at ease until she noticed the box he had on his lap. Simon noticed her glancing at the box and chuckled, "almost forgot! Your gift, her ya go Noelle." He practically shoved the box into her hands before she could protest. Noelle looked at the box she held gingerly and then at the eagerly awaiting old man. She let out a small sigh as she began to carefully unwrap the yellow ribbon from the box, setting it to the side, and then finally lifting the lid off of the baby blue box. Inside the box sat her gift, a sunhat with a light eggshell beige coloring and a cerulean blue ribbon that circles the hat into a neat little knot. It was a lovely hat but it also seemed rather aged somehow. Some of the egdes of the hat looked moth eaten, and the blue of the ribbon seemed faded.

Noelle looked up that older gentleman to question these things only to find his beaming face, making it rather difficult for the robotic maid to question him about the hat further, all she could utter was, "T-thank you! Mr. Cro- uh, Mr. Simon, it's a lovely hat, I'd love to try it out on a nice sunny day at the park." She said with enough sincerity to satisfy the old man, who chuckled a bit I'm response, saying, "well you can try it on now! No sense in not giving it a go eh? c'mon Noey!" She gave him a soft smile and nodded lightly she began to place the hat on her head. Taking care to try and gently pat some of the dust away she put it on, having it cradle the back of her head instead of just wearing it flatly on top as it seemed to not be quite the right size. Noelle gave a small spin before saying, rather dryly, "how do I look?" Before her and Simon burst into a small fit of laughter. The luaghter between them slowly pettered out until there was instead, a comfortable silence between the two.

A door creaking open and being closed broke the silence as Nate came through the doorway hallway and into the living room. The younger man rubbed his eyes, trying and failing to rub the bags from under his eyes. He mumbled some greetings as he adjusted his glasses to look at the two people seemingly waiting for him the room. He smiled and said, "well I wasn't expecting a welcoming party but I don't mi-" his sentence trailed off as he noticed the hat on Noelles head. The maid's smile she had began to wane as she said, "Nate is something the matter. . . " She trailed off as she looked over to Simon who had began looking at the floor with an air of shame to him. Nate broke the silence yet again, "dad. . .why is Noelle wearing the hat you were going to give to mom. . . " The older man finally looked up and said, "I just uh, I figured. . . Why let it go to waste." He coughed awkwardly trying to break the tension as much he could, but failed to do so. A way of realization washed over Noelle, the oldness of the hat now making sense to her. She instinctively grabbed the hat off her head, the ref circles on her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Nate walked past them silently, only being stopped for a moment by his father who grabbed his sleeve and tried explaining himself best he could, "look Nate I didn't mean to make things weird or anything. I know you're still grieving bu-" before he could finish Nate yanked his sleeve away, mumbling something to the effect "it's fine." As he walked away. Noelle didn't even know what to do in the midst of this awkwardness. It was Simon who spoke first, " I'm sorry I just, gah, I've never been good at considering everyone's feelings at once, I'm sorry, Noelle could you talk to him maybe? I. . . make things worse probably." the mechanical caretaker was slightly taken aback at ho somber he sounded, even his voiced seemed deeper. After shaking off her initial surprise she nodded at him and walked to the hallway, and went up the stairs to try and find Nate in his room.

Noelle found him exactly where she figured she would, at his desk in his room. He was seeminglybattempting to paint a model he had been working but seemed to frustrated to get much progress going. She spoke softely as she approached him, "Natey? how're ya feeling?" He froze at his desk at in surprise, relaxing only after a moment, he placed the model on the table and rose to his feet. Even after her upgrades to better handle her stressful he stood above her, a full 4 inches taller than his robotic friend. he looked at the floor before speaking to her, "I'm . . .fine, are you okay? I mean, my dad did make you wear a dead woman's hat." Noelle shivered at this, being reminded of the morbidity of the situation, only then remembering she still had the hat clutched in her hand. She began holding it behind her, " it's, awkward but I'll manage, heh, ah you're always worrying about me first. I appreciate it but I'm worried about you and your father, I don't want you guys fighting or anhthing." At this Nate nearly scoffed as a cold look came over his face, "how can I not get mad at him when I see him trying to make you into a replacement for my dead mom!" He looked ready to say more but held back after saying this. Noelle looked at him in shock, the thought hadn't occurred to her, but she could see by the harsh expression on Nate that it was something he had thought about a lot. "Nate i-i don't think that's what he's trying to do, he's not the kind of guy who'd do something as weird as that." "Noellee, no offense, but you don't know what my dad is like at all. You met him after the accident, I've lived with him my whole life. He wasn't always a goofy old man." A tired face replaced the one of anger he had worn moments before. "growing up he was a pretty distant and aloof guy, the only person who could breath some life into him was my mom. He only ever smiled when he was with her in those days, not even I could. . .now it's only after she's gone that he got this new lease on life and now I don't know what to expect from him." Noelle thought back to how somber Simon seemed back when he told her to check on Nate and now his words rang in her head. Nate had silently been going along with his father's whims for this long even though his father had become someone unrecognizable to him.

The nandroid held the boy as he slumped into her. Hugging him tightly in that moment, letting him know she understood. she eventually lossened her hug and pulled away from him. "Natey, I understand how you feel but I am here to take care of HIM." Nate looked hurt by this but he knew she was right and simply nodded, "I know you worry about me but I can take care of myself ya know, I'm me, and I don't plan on becoming anyone else, least of all your mom." The young man smirked at this and nodded once more. "And besides, your dad. . . I think he's just. . . Trying to figure himself out, and I think WE should be helping him. I know it's been hard on you but please bear with a bit more and learn who your dad is, for me? Please?" Nate blushed a bit as he gave a final nod and said, "yeah i. . . I'm sorry I just . . . I don't him doing that to you, you're my. . . You're best friend Noey." It was now the robotic maid's turn to blush, taken aback by Nates words. She tried her best to quickly compose herself, coughing awkwardly into her hand and saying, "ahem, uh well, have a little more confidence in your bestie then hmm?" She said, ending her sentence in a more sultry tone that they were bothore used to hearing from her. She playfully  slugged Nate on the arm who had began to chuckle to himself at her flustered state, "alright, with that done, I think I'll go get something special for tonight dinner from the market, how does coffee cake sound?" "Sound great to me, just be careful if you cut through the park, I hear some police officer has been hassling lone androids there." "I'm sure I'll manage Natey, now why don't you go make up with your dad while I'm out hmm?" "Okay, okay." He said with a small smile growing on his face that gave Noelle confidence in thinking things might be okay once she got back.