"It's a perfect rain, Jonassen." Mitchel said to his wife.
Without hesitation, she raced to the door. She burst outside and cupped her hands to catch the rain. Raindrops left a water trail on her arms softly, and it trickled like grass brushing against her skin. A smile stretched on her cheeks, he was right. It was a perfect rain.
Laughing, they pushed and pulled each other out the door, until their bodies wrestled beneath the grey sky, and their soaked skin clung to each other. And there, in the middle of the rain, they kissed, like it was something that could create a child.
"Let's bring her outside," Mitchel whispered. He pressed her palms in his palms, where Jonassen nodded.
She stood in the mist of the rain while he turned back inside the cabin. After a while, the hatch buzzed open. A wheelchair rolled out, its motors humming as Mitchel guided it behind him.
It carried a young woman. Her hair was dark as the night, and her eyelashes were drawn like painting strokes. She was a delicate product of their love, an art creation to patch a their hollowed hearts.
Jonassen dropped to her knees as the chair came closer, she held its fingers, and pressed her lips to its knuckles. She didn't feel the synthetic skin in that kiss, she only watched its closed eyes, and thought of it as a newborn child.
"Let her speak," Jonassen begged her husband.
Mitchel moved quickly, activating the panel on the back of her neck. As the system booted up, Jonassen felt its skin on her lips, where it warmed not of electricity, but of life.
Her breath trembled when its fingers twitched. A jolt ran on her back, she had waited all her life for this. And then, its eyes opened.
"Tell me, sweetheart. What is your name?" she whispered. She waited for her mouth to move.
"Mitsy," the child said. "My name is Mitsy."
Tears joined the trails of rain on their cheeks. Jonassen inhaled the scent of her organic skin and cupped the child's hands even tighter.
A memory flashed on her, a fragile girl in a wheelchair, her hair short, her bones light, her limbs thin. She had basked in sunlight while she still could, while they loved her as long as it could.
"I have a dream. A dream of sun behind the clouds and rainbows after the rain." Mitsy said, and it was no mistake. She is their daughter.
It may not be the same meadow, but the rain felt warmer than it ever had.
Their arms wrapped around their child. This time, they would not let her go. This time, she would last forever.
Mitchel held an arm to her, as she gently stepped away from the chair. When she finally stood they danced together under the rain.
× × ×
"Scrtccch" a sharp screech snapped in Up-City's skyline, as the billboard screen glitched.
It lit in the rain, bright and blue. An aethereal music starts to play
"Welcome to Dreamware Corporation, where Creativity, Pleasure and Ambition are just within the reach of your hands. Delve into the world of your own desires, where you can: Dream Big. Dream Wild. At Dreamware."