Chapter 3: Lunch Date
*Whirrrrr*
My car sparked to life as the miniature fusion reactor kicked on. The slight pressure of it lifting off the ground pressed against my bottom.
I turned to my wife, Lana, who was sitting next to me in the back seat. "You alright?"
Lana is absolutely gorgeous. Her light brown hair is straight and flows over her shoulders. It contrasts with her eyes that are such a dark brown that they are almost black. These two features stand out from her face that is contained with a series of soft curves and a small nose. Normally, those soft curves generously flow down her body but the baby had other ideas.
She smiled and nodded, her dimples showing slightly and slowly melting my heart away. I felt like falling in love with her all over again every time I saw her smile. "Yes, I'm fine. The car starting only bothers me sometimes."
I sighed. "You're carrying valuable goods."
Lana giggled in response, caressing her baby bump. "Dr. Morand said I'm due in 3 weeks."
I froze for a moment, slightly confused. "It's that soon, huh? Damn, time really flies. It feels like you showed me the test only yesterday. I can't wait to see how good looking of a child we'll have. Whose hair do you think they'll have?"
She shrugged. "I hope yours. I've always been jealous of your black wavy hair."
I rolled my eyes. "Come on, I've never been happy to have no color in my hair. It's boring."
Lana laughed. "It just makes me melt, the combo of your bright blue eyes and the black hair. Ugh."
I raised my brow. "Lana, you know we can't try for another until after this one is born, right?"
She immediately pouted and softly punched me on the shoulder. "Shush, you."
I shrugged, chuckling a bit. "Hehe, what can I say?"
She sighed, changing the topic. "The baby is hungry. I'll probably eat a lot for lunch."
Mark interjected from the driver seat. "We will arrive in approximately 1 minute."
I looked over and made eye contact with Lana. She smiled and nodded. I wore a large smile seeing that. "Mark, join us for lunch."
Mark replied as he made a turn onto Coney Island Avenue. "Are you sure? I don't want to intrude."
I chuckled. "Mark, you're never intruding. I'll get you some tea. I know you love the smells."
Mark nodded. "Indeed, they are quite intriguing. I can't seem to comprehend how the scent is different every time. Very well, I shall join you."
Several minutes later, the three of us were sitting in a booth at Rico's Diner. A busboy had brought us three water cups. Even though androids do not eat, it was still normal to serve them water. They are able to drink water to give a brief boost to their cooling system. Mark has told me that the colder the water, the "better" it feels.
A waitress walked up to the table. "What can I get for you three today?"
I gestured to my wife so she ordered first. "I'll stick with water but I'm gonna do a stack of pancakes and the farmer's omelet with whole wheat toast and home fries."
Smiling at her voracious appetite, I rattled off my order. "I'll do an iced coffee with almond milk and one pump of caramel. For food, I'll take a sausage egg and cheese sandwich as well as a bowl of oatmeal."
The waitress jotted a few things down on her tablet and then looked back at me. "White, whole wheat, or kaiser roll?"
I tilted my head, thinking for a moment. Then I turned back to her. "Kaiser roll, please. Oh, and also a cup of chamomile for him."
She raised a brow at the last request but quickly shrugged and wrote it down anyways. "The coffee and tea will be right out. Food should take about 10 minutes."
I smiled and nodded, gathering the menus and handing them to her. "Thank you." Waiting a few seconds after she left, I turned to Mark and Lana. "She must be new here."
Lana chuckled. "Has to be."
Mark nodded. "There is a decent probability that is the case. From my 13 visits here, that reaction has been made approximately 5 times including this one."
I then looked seriously at my wife. "Five says she asks why I got him tea."
She raised her brow provocatively. "If you insist, honey."
I reached into my pocket and placed my phone on the table. My wife did the same, taking her phone out of her hand bag and placing it on top of mine.
I then turned back to her. "So, are pancakes a new thing? You usually don't order them."
She laughed. "The baby told me they wanted pancakes, so I got pancakes."
I shrugged. The mind of a pregnant woman is confusing, let alone the mind of a woman. "Anyways, I'll always love this place. While most restaurants have all android staff or automated ordering systems, this place still has mostly people. It just feels more… homely."
Lana nodded. "I don't mind the android staff, but the lack of interaction really bothers me. It takes some of the spark out of going out to eat. If I just wanted food, I'd order delivery."
I chuckled. "Indeed. It still blows my mind that the delivery drones these days are faster than getting food in a restaurant most of the time."
At this time, the waitress walked up to the table, carrying two cups. She placed the iced coffee in front of me while placing the tea in front of Mark. She smiled. "Enjoy. The food will be right out." She then simply walked away.
I sunk into my seat slightly, disappointed in my intuition. "Ugh, you win."
Lana did a little victory shuffle, taking my phone. She unlocked it with her fingerprint and transferred 5 dollars into her personal account from mine.
We both have personal accounts for when we want to set aside money for something special. For me it's usually some gadget and for her it's often clothes or jewelry. Most of our money is kept in a shared account. We trust each other enough to allow for this arrangement.
Mark then spoke up, which is unusual when he gets tea. He typically remains silent, carefully analyzing the scent. "Police activity indicates that there is an armed bank robbery occurring less than a mile from here."
I waved my hand, not concerned in the slightest. "NYPD will handle it. Let's just enjoy our meal."
Glancing up towards the TV's mounted around the eating area, I noticed that every single news station was covering the robbery. There were no police on the scene yet but somehow, news drones were already swarming the place. It was only a matter of time before an aerial law enforcement unit dropped down and controlled the situation.
I sighed. This was supposed to be a safe area that I chose to raise my child in. There was a good private school within walking distance, great police presence, and it was only a 30 minute commute to Southrop's building in Manhattan.
Complaining was something I couldn't really do though. In the past few years, the crime rate has been slowly rising across the country. Although concerning, there wasn't much I could do about it. Regardless, my wife and I had plenty of protection between the shadows that Arthur put on us and Mark. In addition, I was pretty sure that I could handle myself.
After going through this thought process for a few minutes, I was knocked out of it by the smell of food. I looked over and noticed the waitress pulling along a hovering tray of food. She placed down three plates of food for my wife and one plate accompanied by a bowl for me. She smiled. "Let me know if you need anything."
I nodded excitedly, salivating from the smell of the food. "Thank you."
The sandwich looked heavenly. It was steaming slightly and the kaiser roll looked perfectly toasted. Not being able to resist, I lifted it up with both hands.
As I was about to take the first bite, Mark said something that worried me greatly. "Lana, get under the table."
I frowned. He would never say something like this, especially to a pregnant woman, unless it was serious. Before I could even say anything, the door to the diner smashed open.
"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone