(Author's Note: This is my second work of erotica, I hope you enjoy it! As before, please note the tags for the story; if you are uncomfortable with non-consent, non-human, impregnation, knotting, etc., you are unlikely to enjoy this)
There was nothing remarkable about that Tuesday night. Gwen's father was pulling an all-nighter at work, her mother was at a spa with some girlfriends for a few days, and Gwen had the apartment to herself. That was just how she liked it. She could order pizza and stay up the whole night watching movies in the living-room with no one to judge her for not having a job yet, for deferring her college enrollment. Well, Guard was there, but he didn't really count.
They'd had Guard for nine years by then. He was of a discontinued range of multi-purpose robots, though his main function was guarding their home. He was all of seven feet tall, his silver-tinted body built to resemble a muscular man, but his face had no features but for the two glowing blue eyes. When she was nine, she'd been terrified of him, but after he'd stopped an attempted break-in during his first year, Gwen had come to regard Guard as her personal protector.
'What kind of pizza should we order?' she asked him, as she always did, though he couldn't eat. His voice-box, situated where a mouth should have been, responded with the low, soothing voice that her friend Laryssa insisted was a total turn-on.
'What would you like, Gwen?' he asked, the two orbs of blue focused on her. He stood erect, one muscular arm reaching for the phone, and though his limbs were built to resemble a man's, his movements were still vaguely mechanical.
'Hmmm, what about a barbecue chicken tonight? That sound good?' She plopped down on the sofa and began flicking through the channels as Guard ordered the pizza. She smiled as she heard his short 'yes', 'no' responses, so nearly human.
'It will arrive in fifteen minutes,' he informed her when the call had ended. As he always did, he came to stand beside the couch, watching the television as though he had any interest in the sitcom with its annoying laugh-track and tired jokes.
'Guard, please sit down,' Gwen said, changing the channel again. She hated it when he hovered so ominously, even if he was just doing what he'd been programmed to do. But they'd had the conversation many times, and Guard acceded, gracefully sitting down on the sofa next to her.
'Oooh this is good, it's David Attenborough!' she told him. 'You stay here and watch and learn all about naturey things and I'll come quiz you when I'm done.' Listless, she hopped off the couch and made her way to her room, calling, 'Please pay the pizza guy when he comes, and don't scare him. I mean it, Guard, be nice!'
Once in her room she set about tidying her desk, then began sorting her laundry into separate hampers according to color. These minor chores taken care of, she ran her shower and stripped off, hoping to be done before the pizza arrived.
She had just finished rinsing her hair when she thought she heard the front door close, and not for the first time thought how useful it was to have Guard around, even if only to receive the pizza.
***
Thirteen blocks away, Gwen's father, Raymond, sat in his corner-office. A successful patent lawyer, Raymond spent more hours in that building than he ever spent with his family, and that was just fine by him. He loved his wife and daughter, but he loved the demands of his job more, and he seldom regretted the sacrifices he made.
His secretary knocked on his glass-panel door, and he gestured for her to enter.
'I'm off,' she said, then grinned as she saw the bottle of champagne on his desk.
'Well you certainly have the right to celebrate tonight.'
'We did good, didn't we?' he agreed. 'Care for a glass?'
'I can't. Dinner plans. But you enjoy that.'
'All right then. Say hi to Nick.' He watched her leave, then poured himself another glass. He'd finished the first bottle already, and that was just fine, too. He'd earned it. Only that morning, he'd managed to squash a patent infringement claim for their biggest client, GorgonGrey Tech. He felt a little bad for the claimant, Paul Maxwell, whose technology really was being used in the manufacture of top-range robots by the giant corporation. He snorted to himself, thinking of the irony that he even had one of Paul Maxwell's designs guarding his family.
A message flashed on his screen and he opened it, idly sipping champagne as he began to read.
'You'll regret what you've done.
You lawyers are always clued up on your Latin, so here's a little conundrum for you: quis custodiet ipsos custodies?
-P'
Raymond stared at the message, his mind fuzzy. 'Who watches the watchmen?' he murmured to himself. Was the message referring to him? He was sure it was from the justifiably-bitter Paul Maxwell, but Paul was very much mistaken if he considered Raymond some sort of law-enforcing figure. Raymond laughed at the thought. He'd felt a little guilty about screwing Paul over, but as he sipped his champagne and deleted the message, he felt only pride at the day's victory.
***