danny requested this one. Here you go, Amigo! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I only own Rachel, the Jocklins, Sarah, and Eric. Martha belongs to newbienovelistRD. Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man of Action.

Science Comes In All Forms

The rocking chair moved gently back and forth as Rachel sat in it, mending one of her shirts as Rook lay on the bed, reading a book. Every now and again, Rachel would glance up to see her fiancée reading the story intently and would smile, returning to her mending as she felt Rook glance over at her now and again, thinking she didn't notice, something that made her smile.

"There." Rachel held up the shirt to be examined. "That's mended."

Rook looked up from his book and watched his fiancée put away her sewing basket. She felt his eyes on her and sighed lightly. "Oh, I'm such a mess," she said, glancing at the mirror to see her curly hair was all messy and she was about to put it in a ponytail to make it look a little better when a hand stopped her.

"You look beautiful, Baby," said Rook as Rachel saw he had come up behind her. She leaned against him with a happy sigh and he wrapped his arms around her, gently pulling her back to the bed as he lay down again and invited her to join him. She lay down beside him and snuggled up to him as he wrapped his arms around her again, tilting her face a little and kissing her on the mouth. She let out a happy moan and kissed him back. They stayed like that for a little bit before she broke off and snuggled back down into his embrace.

Both enjoyed the quiet as Rachel smiled, listening to Rook's heartbeat as he lovingly stroked her blonde hair, breathing in the perfume mist she always wore.

Giggling interrupted the silence and both lazily raised their heads toward the open door and heard a young voice giggle crazily.

"No! Tickles!" the voice giggled and Rachel immediately recognized Sarah's voice. The little-five-year old had come to the mansion after her parents had died and Russell Jocklin had been named her caretaker as he was her uncle. The three Jocklin brothers had welcomed Sarah into the family and Rachel enjoyed having a little cousin/sister in the family. Then another voice was heard. "You can't escape," it chuckled as a hissing sound was heard and a moment later, Sarah erupted into loud giggles again, giggles that became loud laughter, giving Rachel a hint that Sarah was being tickled by only one alien that had that kind of voice.

"Gutrot," Rachel now said to Rook. "He used nitrous dioxide to make Sarah laugh before he tickled her now."

"Nitrous dioxide?" asked Rook. "Laughing gas. But, isn't that what they put in the whipped cream cans to propel the whipped cream out of the can?"

Rachel smiled. "That's nitrous oxide," she explained. "It's missing that second oxygen atom to make it laughing gas."

"Oh," he said. "That makes sense, but how did you know that?"

She chuckled at him. "I took Chemistry class, silly," she said. "We often had to go over the number of atoms in some mixed gases. I don't remember a whole lot of them now, considering it's been a little while, but I do remember how to read them and determine how many atoms are in some of them. Although being a walking laboratory, Gutrot knows more about science than I do."

Rook chuckled. "He's smart, yes. But I'm smarter," he boasted lightly, although there was a hint of playfulness in his voice that Rachel picked up on and she smiled, deciding to play along.

"Smarter in battle tactics, but in brains? You only use ten percent of your brain, so you're lacking," she said.

Rook gave her a look. "I use much more of my brain that than," he said.

"Prove it."

Rook was about to meet her challenge when she surprised him with a big kiss and then she pulled back quickly, leaving him stunned. She grinned. "See? You just lost your mind," she teased him.

"Oh, that's it," he said as he tried to catch her, but she sprung back before he could. Rook then chased Rachel around the large room and she dodged his attempts, laughing as he just grinned at her. Making one last effort to put some space between her and her fiancée, Rachel climbed up on the bed to get to the other side, but before she could make it, a hand grabbed her leg and pulled her back, making her laugh again as Rook quickly pinned her to the bed and successfully held her down as he playfully tickled her. Rachel laughed and tried to get away, but Rook wouldn't let her up. He soon stopped and after a few moments, Rachel caught her breath and closed her eyes, a smile on her face.

She then felt Rook's lips on her own, kissing her deeply. Letting out another happy moan, she kissed him back as he rolled over on his back again and she was snuggled up against him once more. Sarah's giggles had died down and it was now quiet again.

"Rook, did I ever tell you how I met Gutrot?" Rachel asked him.

"No, you didn't," he answered. "How did you meet him?"

Rachel smiled and snuggled closer as she rested her head against his chest. "I had volunteered to help the chemistry teacher…,"

Rachel made her way down to the basement in the school after classes were over. She had volunteered to go down there and set up the Chemistry lab for the next day. Rachel loved Science and while Chemistry was a little hard for her, she did enjoy it, unlike most of her fellow classmates. Eric was excellent at Science and often helped Martha, who was better at Math, which wasn't Rachel's strongpoint, and Eric liked dancing, but didn't do so well in it, so Rachel helped him out with that. The three were best friends and by helping each other, their friendship bond grew every day.

Rachel now turned on the lights and looked around to see the layers of dust and equipment lying around. "Looks like no one's been down here for a while," she said to herself as she checked to make sure the water was running in the sinks. To her delight, it was and she at once grabbed some soap and a sponge and towels from the cleaning closet and got to work. An orange bandana covered her mouth and nose as she worked to get the lab clean, starting first with the sink and then moving on to the glass jars, beakers, and other equipment, making them sparkle as they set out to dry while she vacuumed the inside of the cabinets and drawers, making them look like new.

After all the equipment was placed away safely in the drawers and cabinets, Rachel moved on to clean the counters and then moved on to sweep and vacuum the floor, mopping the linoleum to make it sparkle.

"Whew!" she said, looking over her work, which had taken about three hours to complete. "Well, at least it's ready for tomorrow."

"It's ready for now."

Rachel gasped as she turned around to see a strange man walk up to her. He looked old and wore some odd contraptions around his chest, eyes, and head. The antennae sticking up from the helmet made Rachel look at him confusedly as he reminded her of a mad scientist. "Who are you?" she asked, certain she had never seen him before.

"I am Dr. Animo!" he proclaimed. "And you are my audience to witness my most spectacular creation."

A giant frog blocked Rachel's path to the door as the mad doctor moved to the tables, about to pull out some of the equipment when it suddenly became dark. "What in the world?" Rachel asked. "I just put in a new light bulb. There's no way it could've burn out that fast."

"You foolish girl, someone turned off the lights!" the doctor said. Rachel would have kicked him for that statement if she knew where he was. "I'll have to fix that."

"You're not fixing anything."

The new voice made Rachel freeze as she noticed something glowing green that silhouetted the mad scientist's figure and she saw him turn to look behind him. The new voice spoke again.

"How about some nitrous dioxide?"

Rachel's eyes widened and she quickly turned the other way, pressing her bandana to her nose and mouth to prevent herself from breathing in the gas that she could now hear being spread.

"Nitrous dioxide? But that's…," Dr. Animo didn't finish his statement as he then erupted into loud laughter.

"Laughing gas," said Rachel to herself, remembering what her teacher had once said. She then heard loud footsteps and suddenly, both Dr. Animo and the frog cried out in pain over their laughing. Their cries made Rachel run for the stairs that she could now see, but something stopped her and she turned to see that greenish glow again, but as the lights came back on, she saw what he truly was and it scared her to where she shook his hand off her shoulder and ran, but suddenly a new gas surrounded her and got into her eyes, making them burn.

"Tear gas," she now said, stopping to try and clear her eyes out with her bandana, but then another new gas surrounded her, making her lightheaded as she then slumped to the floor, falling asleep.

When she woke up, her mind felt foggy and her limbs felt very heavy. She opened her eyes to see the strange being kneeling over her as she was on the floor. "You're awake," he said.

She tried to move away, but couldn't. "That last gas I sprayed has slowed down your response systems," she heard him say. "It's not permanent."

"Why?" she managed to croak out as she waited for her head to clear.

"I didn't want you alerting others about me," he said. "My name's Gutrot and I've lived down here for a while now. I've scared off others who have come down here to either cause trouble or tear this room apart, but when you came down and I saw you cleaning the equipment, I couldn't bring myself to scare you as I could clearly see you were setting up the room for experimenting."

Rachel woke up some more as the fog finally cleared, although she still couldn't move her arms and legs. Gutrot reached for her and she flinched. "What…what do you want with me then?" she asked.

The Brooklyn-accented voice spoke again. "I'm rather curious about something and need a human test subject to find the answer," he said. Rachel's eyes went wide and he chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. It won't hurt you. I think you'll enjoy it a bit."

Rachel futilely tried to get away, but with her limbs feeling like cement bricks, she was helpless as Gutrot reached towards her and some gas was sprayed a few inches above her face. She closed her eyes and couldn't prevent herself from breathing it in.

She then felt the uncontrollable urge to laugh and in an instant realized he had sprayed her with laughing gas. She laughed hard, unable to stop. Then, she felt large fingers poking her sides and prodding into her stomach, which made her laugh harder as the laughing gas seemed to make her already ticklish spots much more sensitive.

"Hmm," she heard the gas-mixing creature say. "It seems my theory was right. Nitrous dioxide does make a human's ticklish spots more ticklish."

He sounded amused as Rachel kept laughing from both the laughing gas and him tickling her. Gutrot had even lifted up her shirt a little to tickle her stomach, which got the loudest laughter out of her.

"Please," she laughed out. "I can't…heeheehee!"

Hearing her begging, the creature stopped and Rachel noticed how the laughing gas was wearing off, since he had only sprayed a little at her. Still giggling a little, she began to calm down as she finally stopped laughing, although she couldn't really move still.

She felt the large hands pick her up and hold her. "Just rest, Rachel," she heard Gutrot say. "I'll take you home."

Rachel realized she was too tired to argue with him and so closed her eyes, hearing him chuckle as she fell asleep.

"When I woke up, I was at the Grant Mansion and Gutrot explained that he was an alien and had known about me from listening to me speak to my teachers," Rachel finished.

Rook rubbed her back, making her snuggled deeper into him. "That's quite a story," he remarked. "But I'm glad that we have so many allies on our side."

"Me too," she said.

They were quiet until Rachel smelled a whiff of nitrous oxide that made her chuckle a little. "If you're trying to sneak up on us, you shouldn't be mixing chemical gases and releasing them," she said, without turning around, as she knew Gutrot was behind her and Rook.

"Who said I was sneaking up on you two love birds?" the large alien retorted back teasingly as he then tickled not only Rachel, but also Rook, with his large, white hands.

Rook let out a shout of surprise as he then joined Rachel in on laughing as she tried to get away and he almost succeeded in escaping, but Gutrot was too quick and had them both laughing as he tickled them faster, making them both squirm harder to get away, their laughter mixing with his own. Finally, he stopped and the two lay there exhausted. Gutrot then helped Rook to lay down in a more comfortable position and then helped Rachel to lay down beside Rook. The lovers snuggled closer and sighed happily. Gutrot chuckled as he then affectionately patted Rachel on the head and grabbed a blanket that was nearby, covering them both up kindly. "Thanks, Gutrot," Rachel yawned as she closed her eyes. Rook echoed her statement as he rested his head on the pillow, both of them falling asleep.

"You're welcome," said Gutrot softly as he then quietly left the room, leaving the two lovers to their peaceful and happy dreams.

The part where Gutrot explains that the gas slowed down Rachel's response system was a line from the movie "Spiderman" (the first one, not the remake). Also, a big thanks to Wikipedia for the information on nitrous dioxide. I don't really know if nitrous dioxide does make ticklish spots more sensitive, it was just something I came up with for this story.

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