Mikey had a very restless night in Aperture. Even though he knew that Amelia was okay, he still worried about her getting caught. He constantly waited for some kind of call over the communicator from Amelia saying that she was in trouble. He managed to drift in and out sleep for a few hours as he slept in the lobby under a desk.

Why are all of my thoughts constantly about Amelia? he wondered. Then he answered himself with, Because most of my life has revolved around her. My life has been all about trying to impress her, trying to talk to her, trying to make her happy, trying to be around her as much as I can without bothering her. Is that pathetic? Is something wrong with me? Most people don't hold on to a childhood crush well into their twenties…right?

He remembered having a similar thought when he was a teenager. He and all of the other teens had been taught by a handful of uncertified "teachers" that they had in the compound. Most of them didn't know how to teach a bunch of kids but they eventually got the hang of it.

A particular memory floated into his mind. He'd been sitting in the designated cafeteria for the schoolkids. It had been (and still was) just a room away from the normal cafeteria for everyone else.

He'd been staring at Amelia from afar as he leaned against his elbow on the table. Even then, he'd been a little bit of a creep with how often he stared at her. He hadn't gotten used to it by that point, though, so he felt a painful longing towards her. It hadn't been too long since she had disowned him as a friend—only a handful of years.

Then she'd suddenly looked around and her gaze landed right on him. He'd known that there was a dreamy look on his face and she had to have noticed it. Quickly, he'd looked down at his open book next to his food tray and pretended to have been reading all along. He'd known that this couldn't have fooled her, though.

He'd looked back up to see her still looking at him. She'd given him such a sweet, shy smile. He'd offered a nervous one in return.

Then she'd stood up and approached his table.

Oh god, why is she coming over? he had questioned in his head as she'd made her way around all of the other tables. Did I make her uncomfortable? Is she coming over to tell me to stop staring at her or to ask why I was staring at her?

He hadn't watched her as she approached his table. He'd looked back down at his book, still pretending to read.

"Hi," Amelia had greeted him quietly.

"Oh, um, hey," Mikey had said, acting as though he hadn't noticed her until she'd spoken.

"How have you been?" she'd asked, sitting down across from him. Back then she hadn't started wearing her hair back in a bun but instead, a more casual ponytail.

"I've been okay," he'd answered. "W-What about you?"

"I've been okay, too." Her smile had faded, making Mikey nervous about what could have been going through her head. Maybe she actually had come over to tell him to stop staring at her. "Um…..Sorry about your mom."

Mikey's eyebrows had risen at this. "Oh, yeah…..Uh…..Yeah….."

"Sorry I brought it up," Amelia had said, starting to stand. "That was thoughtless—"

"Wait! Don't go!" Mikey had pleaded. "Don't feel bad about it. It happened a couple of years ago. Plenty of people have died during scouting missions." He'd felt bad about saying this, thinking that it sounded like he hadn't cared about his mother's death.

"I still shouldn't have brought it up," Amelia had said. She'd sat back down, though, and had laced her fingers together on the table. "It's just…..I can't exactly say that I know how you feel because our circumstances are different…But I know how it feels to lose a parent." Her voice had gotten very quiet with this last part, and her gaze had fallen down to her folded hands.

"Yeah, um, it's okay," he'd said. "Really. Uh, so how have you been doing on homework? I'm not doing so great in English."

"Oh?" Amelia had looked back up at him with a spark in her eyes. "English class is my forte. That and art. I can help you with English if you can help me with…..math." She seemed to have struggled to think of a subject, and Mikey had immediately become apprehensive of this.

"Sure," he'd said. "If you wanna get your homework out, I can help you right now if that's okay."

Amelia had rummaged through her backpack that sat next to her on the long bench until she'd pulled out her math book. She'd opened it up to a page that was held by loose-leaf paper with some problems already done. She'd moved it across the table and sat next to him. His heart had pounded so hard in his chest as he felt her so close to him. He could've practically smelled the shampoo she'd washed her hair with.

"Uh, w-what do you need help with?" he'd asked her while trying not to seem like such a spaz.

"All of it."

Mikey had studied the problems that she'd already done. "It looks like you did these first few correctly."

"Well, I need help with all of the other ones."

It was at this point that he'd been sure that she hadn't needed any help with her homework. Still, he'd gone through a few of the equations and showed her how to solve them. It seemed like she'd barely been listening, though. He'd started to wonder if maybe she'd just wanted an excuse to be around him.

Hell, I'll take it! he'd thought.

Mikey was wrenched out of his trip down memory lane as the lobby door opened. He hurried out from under the desk and was greatly disappointed to see that it was only Grant, Trent, and Sophie. Grant looked around and the hope fell off of his face.

"I'm guessing Amelia hasn't shown up yet," he said.

"No," Patty said. "Sorry."

"I'm sure she's fine," Grant said. "I'm just a little anxious about it."

"That's perfectly reasonable," Patty said. "You raised her for practically her whole life."

Grant sat down on the dirty floor and leaned back against the wall. Sophie and Trent picked random spots to sit in the lobby. Sophie chatted with Patty about different parts of the facility they'd seen. Trent was a pretty quiet guy so he just sat in silence. There was a moment where he met eyes with Mikey and just nodded in acknowledgment. Mikey nodded back.