Now to get serious.

Madison and Andrew left Dr. Chambers half-naked and collapsed under a blanket on the floorboard of his car and hurried back to Ross's apartment. Madison knocked on the door anxiously, and was both relieved and disappointed when Erica answered.

"He's still in his room." She answered Madison's question before she could ask it and ushered them in.

When the door was closed, she turned to them and giggled uncharacteristically. "It's all over the Internet," she said. "Turns out when you make a habit of being unpleasant, it doesn't take much for your colleagues and students to turn on you. The only person who isn't mocking is his third ex-wife, and she's staying silent."

"It was an incredible performance," Madison said. "I'd love to see what that script could do with you, Erica."

"Oh, darling, am I not sexy enough as I am?" Erica asked in a terrible British accent. Madison chuckled, grateful that her friends were helping to take her emulated mind off of her emulated heartache.

"So what do we do with the golem?" Andrew asked. "We can't just leave it stuffed in his car."

"I have an idea for that, too," Erica said cryptically. "But first, you need to get to the bottom of this soil situation that I have nothing to say about. I think the best plan at this point is for you and I to take a very long walk."

Andrew understood. "Uh, yeah. I think so." He put a hand on Madison's shoulder. "Good luck."

The duo quickly exited the apartment, leaving Madison alone with her thoughts. She sat quietly for almost an hour before standing up and walking slowly to Ross's bedroom door.

She hesitated before knocking, but the creaky floorboards of his cheap studio apartment betrayed her presence. "Come in," he called hoarsely through the door.

She entered to find Ross sitting on the bed with his hands folded in his lap. He didn't move or make eye contact as Madison crossed the room and sat next to him. She put her arm around him and they sat in silence.

After several minutes she spoke. "I need to say a few things, and then I want to listen. I want you to tell me everything, and I'm not going to interrupt or defend myself or ask questions. I just want to hear what you're thinking."

"First, I'd like to make a request. I understand if you want to remove the girlfriend clause in my script and make it so I can't be your girlfriend. That's completely reasonable. I would really like to keep being your friend, though."

He looked at her questioningly. Her eyes were watery and her voice shaky. "Of course, I'm just a golem. I don't technically 'want' anything. But I'm a perfect emulation of a girl and that girl loves you. It doesn't have to be romantic, or even reciprocal. You could put a script in me that makes me hate you, but I'm asking you not to. Inasmuch as I approximate the desires of a girl whose heart stopped beating in the middle of the night on a lonely stretch of rural highway, I want to be your friend."

She paused, but Ross didn't respond. "That was my request. Should you choose to grant my wish, here's a promise. I'm obviously not enough for you. I say that without self-pity, because I'm ultimately incapable of self-pity. I am only capable of reason and motivation, but my reason and motivation have led me to this promise: I will do everything I can to become enough."

"How?" Andrew asked hoarsely. She shook her head.

"I don't know. I don't. But two hundred years ago, a golem that could construct a sentence was science fiction. Forty years ago, a golem that could pass as a human being was beyond absurd. Today, a golem with real emotions seems impossible, but I'll never stop working for it. I've looked in your eyes and seen love and I want it, Ross. I want it for you and for me and if you let me, I'll move heaven and earth to get it. Just please give me the chance."

Madison's speech was finished. She anxiously scanned Ross for any reaction but saw none. The two sat in silence and watched the shadows lengthen across his wall.