The summer that Kaidan turned six was the best he could remember. Both mommy and daddy were home, and everything was great. They'd been here for the longest he could ever remember. Maybe he could even make a friend. He was used to playing by himself, he made up stories about spaceships and the stars and saving the galaxy all the time. But it would be nice to have someone to play with…

By far Kaidan's most favorite place was the group that mommy took him to every day. It had toys, and games, and other kids to play with. There was a rest area where they took naps, and a huge screen where they could watch vids. Of course it wasn't all perfect, his mommy stayed and talked to other mommies and kept an eye on him, but it was still great.

That was where he was now, in a corner, surrounded by plastic blocks of all sizes and colors. He was diligently building, a spaceship this time, frowning in concentration, when the door opened and another mommy walked in. He looked up briefly, saw the mommy was carrying a little girl, and dismissed them. He was just at the tricky part of getting the wings to stick but they always fell off…

Carmel Alenko was the first to greet the newcomers. Putting on her best smile, she welcomed them to the group, cooing over the little girl, who squirmed at the attention. Her mother let her go, and she immediately scurried off to play with toys, while the adults settled on a sofa and talked over coffee.

Kaidan scowled as the little girl approached him and clung onto his block. She plonked herself down in front of his spaceship and watched him with wide eyes, sucking on her thumb. He glanced up at his mother, who smiled encouragingly at him, and continued to build. In the background he could hear the mommies talking, but he tuned them out.

…"she's a beautiful little girl, such gorgeous big blue eyes. I love how you've put her hair up! How old?"

"Just turned three."

"Oh, that's a great age. They're really responsive then!"

"I think the term you're looking for there is 'destructive'."

They all laughed, and started comparing stories.

He had started putting the wing in place and had discovered that if he concentrated just so, he could make it stick better. So he did, holding his breath as he gently placed the wing on the body of his spaceship, anchoring it with a block and just a hint of that funny blue sticky stuff that he could make. He heard an "ooooh" from his audience and looked up, concentration broken. And then the wing snapped off, again, and he threw his block down in disgust.

"Why'd you do that?" he demanded. "It's broke now. Your fault!"

"Not!" said his tormenter.

"Is!"

"Not!" she replied, lip starting to quiver (what he could see of it behind her thumb, anyway).

Alarmed at her incipient tears, Kaidan looked up at his mommy, who hadn't noticed anything yet. He sighed. "Okay, okay. Not your fault. Okay?"

She sniffed, and nodded. At least she wasn't crying. He started to fix the broken wing. There was a block missing. He was sure it was just here…

"Here go."

He looked up. She was holding the block he needed out to him. He looked at it, then at her, then at his spaceship. She was annoying, but he did have to make his spaceship… He sighed and accepted the block. "Thank you."

She smiled up at him and scooted in closer, pointing with one small pudgy finger at where it should go. "Here!"

So he put it there, and it fit. He grinned down at her, and they settled down to rebuild his spaceship.

"'M Kaidy," he said to her, pointing at himself. "What's your name?"

She removed her thumb from her mouth and considered him seriously. "Din-en."

"That's a funny name."

"Is not. Is my name."

"Okay," he shrugged. "Din-en."

She sucked on her thumb for a bit, watching him.

"You shiny."

"No I'm not."

"Were!"

"Oh. Yeah. But it's secret, okay?"

She grinned. "Okay!"

Together they fixed the wings onto his ship, and she "oooohed" again appreciatively as he concentrated just so again to make them stick on better this time. They admired their handiwork, and he was congratulating himself when they were interrupted, again.

"Playing with babies, Kaidan?"

He looked up and scowled. Before him was one of the few reasons he didn't like this group, Kaine Reynolds, the group bully, and his friends. Kaine was seven, and the biggest boy there. He was also nasty and mean, and went out of his way to pick on him. Kaidan ignored him as much as he could normally, and wasn't going to change that now.

Turning to face away from Kaine, he started making minute adjustments to his spaceship, but was pushed aside by Kaine as he reached in and grabbed the ship. He held it up and looked at it derisively. "Pfff. I could make better!" and he threw it over his shoulder, where it landed and cracked open, hopelessly ruined.

Kaidan sat there, his mouth open. His ship!

Kaine smirked, and moved to the little girl, pulling cruelly on her curly black hair, laughing when she cried out. "Baby!" he teased. She jumped up and whacked him with her hand. "Meanie!" she said. Kaine blinked down at her, and pushed her back. She landed hard on her bottom, and started to howl.

Kaidan jumped to his feet and screwed his face and hands up. "I hate you!" he yelled, and pushed at Kaine. There was a jolt as his hands glowed blue and Kaine flew to the other side of the room, striking a shelf and falling heavily. He stared back at Kaiden in astonishment and promptly burst into tears, at which point all the mommies arrived and things went from bad to worse.

Kaidan's mommy took him by the shoulders. "Kaidan, I've told you. Don't do that! Never do that again!"

He hung his head. "I'm sorry mommy," he whispered.

"Wait until I tell your father about this," she replied, lips compressed and brow drawn. "We're going home. I think you've had enough for one day." She took him by the hand and led him to the door.

Din-en was crying hysterically as her mother held her, trying to calm her. When she noticed Kaidan leaving, she reached for him, screaming. "No, Kaidy! Noooo!" But his mother dragged him out before he could say anything. He could hear Din-en calling his name all the way to the transit back to his house.

He pouted, and crossed his arms, but it was three days before his mommy let him go back to the group. His new maybe-friend was no longer there; gone, they said.

He sighed, but he was used to playing by himself. He went back to building his spaceships and dreaming of flying among the stars, and within a month he'd forgotten her.

Within a year everything changed, and he never went back to the group again anyway.