I Pronounced you, Husband and Waifu (Pt 3)

A Short Story

Find the first part here and the second part here.

It was past midnight, and there was a knock on my door. It was Jimmy.

“Nat, I need you to do me a favor. I don’t know where else, so please, say yes. I’d owe you a big one.”

“What is it?” I asked Jimmy.

“I need you to help me, to rescue Rose.”

“What?!”

Jimmy said he’s going to rescue Rose, the real Rose. He said he had been watching them, Rose and the new owner, and has everything planned. He also said he was sure that it was Rose and the new guy probably got her off a black market site. Sometimes, the manufacturer doesn’t destroy old androids; they sell them cheap to factories or the military. And sometimes it ends up on the black market.

“And you want me to be your getaway driver?! Are you crazy?! You are planning to commit a crime! We could go to jail for this!”

Jimmy pleaded, “Nat, please.. I know this sounds crazy, but I have everything planned. Down to the details. Nothing will trace back to us. I promise, tomorrow you will go continue to live your life as if nothing happened. Please, I really, really need you to do this for me. I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

“But, Jim…”

“Nat. Please.”

I didn’t know what had gotten into me, but I said, “Alright. Okay. I’ll help you.”

It was almost 3 in the morning, and there I was, sitting nerveously on a van Jimmy had rented, with its license plate switched out. Jimmy went in a bit earlier after hacking into the guy’s apartment security system and disabling all its alarm and security cameras. He also had with him the Immobilizer of the real Rose, he said if it is the real Rose, it would work on her. Otherwise, then he’ll just bail.

I had just been waiting for about 15 minutes since Jimmy went it, but it felt like eternity. All those bad scenarios played in my head. What if the police went by. What if Jimmy didn’t disabled all the security measures in the apartment. What if it wasn’t the real Rose, and it alerted the authorities. Or What if the guy caught Jimmy, and he had a gun.

But then, Jimmy came out of the apartment, carrying Rose on a trolley. He ran up quietly to our van, and load up Rose onto its backdoor. He also got up and sat on the back, and he said,

“Go, Nat. Go! I’ve programmed the GPS, just follow the direction!”

And I hit the pedal, hard.

“How much further, Jim? Where are we going anyway?” I asked Jimmy after about an hour of driving. He had been busy in the back, trying to reboot Rose with her old programming before she crashed in the first place.

Jimmy looked out the window, and said “Not much further, probably another 10–20 minutes. When we get there, you’ll know it.” Then he mumbled something to himself, and said,

“Aaaand.. Done!”

Suddenly, Rose sat up, as I see her on the rear view mirror, and she looked like she was surprised. And Jimmy gave her a hug, and said,

“Baby.. Baby.. It’s okay.. You had a system malfunction, but I fixed it, you’re alright now. You’re okay. You’re with me.”

And Rose hugged him back, smiled, and said “Thank you baby..” And she kissed him on the cheek. Then he asked him, “Where are we going now? Where are we anyway?”

“Well.. You remember that thing, we talked about? I have found a way to do it.” Jimmy answered.

Around 15 minutes later, we arrived at a harbor. Jimmy told me to go slow as he looked around the names of the boat. Once he found it, he told me to stop.

“Stop here, let me talk to the captain first.” Said Jimmy.

He then got off the van, and walked inside the boat. Not long after that, he came out with a man, and signaled me and Rose to get out. We then walked to them, and Jimmy introduced us to the man.

“This is Captain Isaacs. He’s going to help us, Baby.”

And the captain invited us on to his boat, and he sailed out of the harbor, on to the sea. I was still confused, so I asked Jimmy what is going on, and told him I can’t go anywhere, I need to go back.

Jimmy said, “No no, don’t worry, this won’t take long. He just need to take us far enough so we reached international waters, then everything is done, we’ll go back to the shore.”

“What is Done, Jimmy? What are we doing here?”

“You’ll see.” Said Jimmy, with a smile on his face.

Not long after that, the boat stopped, and Captain Isaacs asked us to go up to the deck.

“Okay then, you guys ready?” Said the Captain

Jimmy looked to Rose, she smiled and nodded. Jimmy smiled back and said to the Captain, “Yes, we are.”

“Alright.” Said the Captain, then he continued. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…”

I was shocked. Jimmy is marrying his android lover, out here, on international waters. Of course this was his plan all along. I’ve heard people and android married by boat captains because there are laws that forbid their kind of marriage on land. But to think Jimmy actually do it. This was just too much for me to process. I froze out during the ceremony.

“And now, you may kiss the bride.” Said the Captain.

Jimmy and Rose kissed. As husband and wife.

And then it hit me. Look at him smile, I thought to myself. In the years that I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him look so.. Happy. And in that moment, I realized that, I’ve always been in love with this man, and I would do anything for his happiness.

But here he is now, a husband to an Android.

“Natalie? Are you okay?” Asked Rose.

Jimmy chimed in, “Yeah, why are you crying?”

I didn’t realize that there was tears running down my eyes.

But I said, “Nothing’s wrong.” and with a smile, “I’m happy for you.”

The end.