Time and Tides Wait for no Man (or Robot)

Life (or my close approximation) must continue regardless of any romantic fancies.  Whitney remained totally focused on her mysterious project and I did my poor best to help her.  I was forbidden to try my skills on the workbench so I spent my time rummaging through the junk piles looking for usable scrap.  The blueprints sure did call for some very strange things.  Fortunately Whitney was skilled enough to craft nearly anything.

And finally - Success!  The only trouble being that neither of us really has a clue what exactly it's meant to do.  The instruction manual being a bit short on actual instructions.

In the end my beloved just decided to jump in and see if she could get something to happen by randomly hitting buttons.

The results were... unexpected.

For many attempts nothing happened but gradually she worked out what she believed was a pattern and one winter's day...

Oh My!

Whitney was ecstatic.

I rather less so. 

She makes light of the dangers of time travel but I'm sure it's not as safe as all that.  Just about every trip she comes back from needs time spent in the 'workshop' making repairs to the box.  Whitney says it is a case of improvements but I've seen all kinds of dents and scorch marks on that devilish box to make me feel very concerned.

I would prefer to go in her place but she admits that she has very little control over where the time machine takes her and there are definitely places in history where a rusty robot walking around would attract a great deal of attention.

So, I just get to sit in camp and worry about her.

My other fear is one I am almost too ashamed to admit even to myself.

What happens if she meets somebody?  She constantly brings back memento's from her travels, what if one day she brings back a lover?

I am her best friend and I should be happy for her, after all what can possibly happen between us even if I had the courage to tell her how I feel? 

Somehow though even with the best intentions I can't accept just waiting for this to happen.

When we aren't up at the junk yard making repairs or I'm waiting for Whitney to return from a trip we often spend our time together.  A lot of the time we have to stay indoors as rain and snow storms aren't that good for my circuits.

Whitney rearranged the room to make it more comfortable and a little more homey I suppose.

Deep breath Edwin.  You can do this!

Start by telling her how worried you are when she leaves on these dangerous trips.  How much she means to you and how lonely you'd be if anything happened to her and she never came back.

Oh, I don't know if she'd ever thought about that before; her mouth falls open a bit in shock as she loses a little colour, every cute freckle standing out across her nose and her eyes start to shimmer as though she wants to cry.

Don't cry darling.  Please don't cry.

I move over to hug her and she looks like she's cheering up.  At least that looks like a bit of a smile and, are her cheeks a bit flushed?  She seems to be refusing to look at me so it's hard to tell.

Maybe...?

Do you think...?

Oh.

My.