A/N:  Since everyone was so patient with me in waiting for chapter seven, (and I do heartily apologize for that, life just came and bit me in the ASCII for a bit) I went on a writing marathon and have FINALLY completed this fic.  I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as I've enjoyed pulling it out of my twisted mind.  And thanks again for all the reviews.  I love to have feedback so I can tell if it's still quality or if it's gone down the tubes and I should just put the pen down for a while.  Let me know, I can take it.

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Mouse, Ray, Matrix, AndrAIa and Enzo all sat in a window booth.  Mouse took the side facing the door to Dot's office to keep an eye on what was about to go on in there.  She knew there was going to be tears and possibly screaming.

***

Cecil hated this time of the day.  Customers were coming in left and right now since it was close to dinnertime and to make things worse, the surfer and Enzo were still there with the hacker, along with Matrix and AndrAIa.  She still seemed to be off in her own thoughts somewhere.  Here he was, rushing around and taking orders like a common waiter and it was getting harder to see if she was looking at him or not.  If this kept up, he would have to get the Madame's help with the crowd.  He hated to do it, but he couldn't keep up with his duties and watch the hacker at the same time.

***

Matrix could feel Cecil staring in their direction constantly.  He tried to stay interested in the conversation that Ray, AndrAia and Enzo were having about circuit racing strategies, but the hair on his neck would rise and he would get the most uncomfortable feeling that Cecil was watching him.  And every time he looked up to see if it was just his imagination, it wasn't.  Cecil was staring directly at their table.  He tried to ignore it, but it was no use.  He tried to find something of interest to focus on, or maybe even get Bob's attention, but it was too late.  The door to the office had just opened and Bob was now talking to Dot.  There was no getting his attention now.  Things looked pretty serious over there.

***

Dot opened the door to her office after hearing the urgency in Bob's voice and observed him standing there looking panicked and dejected.  "We need to talk," he said as he came in, closing the door behind him. 

"I know," she said as he passed her and sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk. 

"So I take it you talked to Mouse?" he inquired nervously.

"No," she said looking down at the floor, "I haven't.  I think she's avoiding me."

"You mean she didn't tell you?" he said almost enthusiastically, but then mentally kicked himself for saying it, knowing that she would wonder what he was taking about.

"She didn't have to," she said still looking at the floor, "I found out anyway."

"How?" he said, surprised, "how did you find out?"

Dot looked sheepishly toward Bob not really knowing how he would react.  "Ray," she replied nervously, "he slipped me a note earlier today…" she interrupted her own train of thought, "Does Mouse know about this?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he said bitterly.  How could she go behind his back and tell Matrix and then Ray?  All this time, he thought that he could honestly trust Mouse, and now he was starting to see a side of her that just didn't fit.  He never thought that she would be the type to spread things around like this.  He never believed that she would get Ray to do her dirty work for her either.  That just wasn't like her.  Normally she faced things head on.  This just wasn't her.  Why was she doing this to him?  Was she still mad about the time he and his roommate put her underwear in the freezer and just waited until now to get even? 

Dot was hurt to hear that Mouse knew about Ray's crush on her.  She must have been way too upset to talk about it yet.  She felt so terrible about it, and she hoped that Mouse didn't blame her for Ray's feelings.  She must have been absolutely crushed to find out.  She knew that there was more to her feelings for the surfer than she had let on and hoped that there was someway that they could work this out.  But when something like this happened, there wasn't much chance that they could.  Now she worried about Mouse leaving Mainframe and losing her best friend over something that wasn't anyone's fault.

Bob and Dot's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.  "What now?" Dot thought out loud as she went to open the door.  "What is it Cecil?" she said as she saw the dedicated server on the other side. 

"I'm terribly sorry to disturb you Madame," he began nervously, "but ze diner, she is beginning to get busy, and I could use your help in taking care of ze customers."

"Alright Cecil," she said with a sigh, "I'll be there in a nano."

"Merci, Madame," the server said with a bow as he went back to his duties. 

Dot turned to Bob with an apologetic look and said, "We'll have to talk about this later Bob.  I have work to do." With that she walked out the door and left him in the office.

***

Mouse watched closely as she saw Dot come out of her office.  She looked saddened and aggravated at the same time, but she hadn't heard any screaming or crying.  Just like Dot, she thought, to hold it all in until she was alone and then let it all out.  The poor woman must be screaming inside.  She wanted more than ever to talk to her now, but she still wasn't sure how to approach the subject with her.  What would she say?  'So, did Bob tell you that he's in love with me?'  That was just ridiculous.  She hoped that Dot would come to her when she was ready.  She didn't want to lose the only real best friend that she ever had over something like this. 

A nano later, she saw Bob come out of the office looking very distraught.  He glanced over to the booth where their party was seated and quickly turned away to sit on a stool at the end of the counter.  He must not be able to face anyone right now after what he just told Dot, she thought.  He must feel terrible breaking her heart like that.  It broke her heart just to see it happening.  She never wanted anything like this to happen between them, and she certainly didn't want to be caught in the middle like she was.  She didn't want to cause problems for either of them and if it would fix things between them, she would decide to leave Mainframe and let them get on with their lives.

 It suddenly hit her that the idea of leaving Mainframe hurt more than she could have imagined.  She had grown so close to all of the people here.  But if it would help her friends to live their lives in peace, she would make the sacrifice.  She decided to talk to Bob about it to find out if that was what it was going to take to make their lives easier.

"Excuse me for a nano, would you darlings?" she said as she uprooted Ray from his seat to slide out of the booth.  She walked over to where Bob was seated and sat on the stool next to him.  He didn't look up at all, just kept staring at the counter with a frown on his face.  Mouse broke the silence finally by asking, "You wanna talk about it Sugah?"

Bob now glared at the counter, wanting to turn that glare on Mouse, but he wasn't able to even look at her right now.  He felt so betrayed by her.  "Yeah," he said bitterly, without lifting his head, "let's talk about how Matrix and Ray found out about this, shall we?"

"What?" Mouse's eyes widened and a feeling of horror overtook her.  "Ray knows?" she asked in shock.  "How?  I thought you and I were the only ones that knew."

"We were the only ones that knew Mouse," he said, finally raising his eyes from the counter and looking at her, "and I certainly didn't tell them, so how else could they have found out?"

"What are you saying, Bob?" she asked, still in shock, "You don't think that I told them, do you?"

"Oh, cut the innocent act Mouse," his voice was beginning to rise, causing people in the diner to look in their direction, "when two sprites are in an elevator and one of them cuts one, it's not a big mystery as to who did it."

The rest of the customers were now staring at the two sprites arguing at the counter.  The four sprites that had previously been sitting with Mouse immediately turned their attention from their conversation and wondered what could have made Mouse and Bob argue like this.  Dot, who had been taking orders from the rest of the customers, turned her attention to the squabbling pair.  She was horrified to hear Bob yelling at her, as if their situation was all her fault.  She hurriedly walked over to the two, determined to end the Tiff.

"I swear to the User, Bob," she heard Mouse exclaim as she rushed to them, "I didn't tell anyone!  I would never do that!"

"What in the net is going on here?" Dot asked as she reached the end of the counter.  "Bob, why are you yelling at Mouse?  It's not her fault that we're in this situation."  She glared at Bob, wondering how he could be so callous to her when her heart was being broken at that very moment. 

Mouse was more that slightly relieved to hear Dot say that.  She knew now that she was angrier with Bob and didn't blame her for the way that Bob felt about her.  Of course there was always the chance that she would still harbor some resentment toward her for this whole mess.  But she had to admit that it made her feel a little more at ease around her. 

Ray was more worried about Mouse now than ever.  Maybe this had something to do with how Mouse was acting this cycle.  It seemed like something had been eating at her and was now finally coming to a head as she and Bob blew up at each other. He excused himself from the rest of the confused sprites in the booth and carefully made his way to the quarreling trio.  

"Well it might not be her fault," Bob continued, "but she certainly isn't helping matters any with her big input!" he glared at Mouse accusingly.

"Big input?" Mouse retaliated, "I never breathed a word of it to anyone, and I'm not the one who caused this whole mess either.  If anyone should be blamed it should be you!"

"Would you two please stop yelling at each other?" Dot called out.

"Could someone tell me what the Dell is going on here?" Ray interrupted the verbal bashing and looked between the three sprites, confused and utterly floored by the way Mouse and Bob were behaving.

"As if you don't know," Dot huffed at him.

Ray almost felt as if a knife had been stuck into him.  The accusation hurt even more when he realized that he still had no idea what this was all about.  "Hey, what did I do?" he said innocently to Dot.

"Yeah," Mouse jumped to Ray's defense, "what did he do?"

"Oh, please," Dot began as she pointed off to Ray, "we wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for him."

Even Bob was looking confused now as Dot went off on her tirade at Ray.  "I don't think there's any need to kill the messenger here, Dot." He said raising an eyebrow to her.

"Would you care to fill me in on exactly what I did to make you so angry?" Ray was now beginning to shout as all the voices were being raised to new levels, "or what this mess is that you keep talking about?"

"People, please," Cecil was now interrupting what was quickly becoming an all out war, "zer are customers leaving."  Cecil was starting to panic.  "Could you please take zis somewhere else?"

Matrix, Enzo and AndrAIa were now more than a little curious to know what had gotten their friends and family to argue like this.  All three approached the others cautiously, intent on finding out.  Matrix was the first to address the issue by saying rather confusedly, "Uh… what's the problem?"

"Dot?" a small voice could be heard under all the shouting, causing everyone to quiet down.  Dot looked down at Enzo, who looked up at her with tears in his eyes.  "Why are you all fighting?"

Just as everyone began to look at the floor with guilt in his or her eyes, the door of the diner burst open, and two large bots, along with an old and wise sprite, entered the building.

AndrAIa bit her lip nervously and ducked behind Matrix slightly as she saw Phong come into the room.  She never expected to see the old sprite here.  He hardly ever left the Principal Office.  Was he looking for her?

Matrix noticed the change in AndrAIa's disposition.  She all of a sudden looked like she had seen a ghost.  "Are you ok?" he whispered to her.

"Fine," she replied, "I think.  It just threw me a little to see Phong come in."

"I know, it's not like him to leave the P.O." Matrix answered.

"Greetings and salutations." Hack began.

"He means hello." Slash chimed in.

"I'm sure they knew that." Hack commented

"I was just helping," Slash replied, "they're big words, you know?

"I'm not so sure that fixing your voice was such a good idea now."

Slash hunched over slightly and replied, "That was mean."

"Aw, c'mon pal," Hack chided, "it's time to celebrate."

"Yeah," Slash began, "you're right, let's party."

"You're ok, and you have your voice back."

"Yep, good as new."

"Greetings my children," Phong said smiling as he wheeled over to the now very angry and slightly guilty looking party, "why the long faces?  We should all be celebrating."

"If it's all the same to you Phong," Bob began, "we really don't feel in much of a party mood right now."

"Oh," Phong said, rather disappointed, "that is too bad, my son.  Slash has had quite the comeback from his condition this morning, and I thought it befitting to commemorate the occasion."

"Why?" Enzo was rather curious as to what had happened to the bot, and also to maybe change the subject so that the people he loved would stop fighting, "what happened to him?"

"It's actually a rather harrowing, if not an amusing story," Phong began, "it seems that Slash set himself on fire this morning.  He lost his vocal circuits in the flames and had to write a note to let Hack know of his predicament." He concluded.  Everyone present to hear Phong's tale shuddered briefly at his mention of the word note.

"Dude," Enzo replied to the story, "he wrote a note?  How basic can you get?  Why didn't he just hit him or something to get his attention?" They all turned their attention to the two bots at the other end of the counter.

"Why would you put the bendy end of the straw into the shake?" Hack inquired.

"Why not?" the blue bot replied.  "It works, doesn't it?"

"Well, it's wrong, that's what it is.  The bendy part is supposed to go at the top."

"Then how do you get the little bits of shake that are left in the corners?"

"Oh, I give up." Hack turned away from Slash and held up his hand.

"Uh… " Enzo continued after witnessing the bots' exchange, "Never mind.  What did the note say?"

"It's funny you should ask that, young Enzo," the old sprite continued, "I was going to bring the note with me, but it seems to have disappeared from my desk.  Apparently the wind must have taken it out the window or something." Phong shook his head as he realized that the window was not open, but forgot about it as AndrAia cleared her throat and stepped forward a bit.

"Uh… Phong," she said with a sheepish look, "do you remember by chance what that note said?"  She prayed to the User that this would be the same note that she had found on the desk.

"Ah, yes child," he began as he focused his processor to recall the words written, "I remember it almost sounding like a love note."  At this point all ears were on Phong.  "It said, 'I am not able to speak in words, so I am writing this to tell you how I feel'."  Jaws began to drop at hearing those all too familiar words and the sprites all started looking back and forth to each other, trying to come up with the explanations they so desperately needed.  "My temperature is rising," he continued, "and I feel like I'm on fire.  I need you now or this fire will consume me.  I'm burning so very deep inside of me.  Please help me to put out these flames."

"I will surely delete without you." The small group finished the note in unison, all of them being far too familiar with it now.  They all still looked at each other, wondering how in the net it had all come to this.  Phong also stared in amazement that they all knew how the note ended without ever seeing it.  He hoped that this would be explained to him in due time.  His thoughts were soon interrupted by a sniffling sound coming from behind him, where he saw Slash crying into a handkerchief.

"That was beautiful," Slash began, "so heartfelt and full of pain."  He blew his nose loudly into the handkerchief.  "He must have truly been in love for it to be so passionate." 

"Slash," Hack corrected him, "you wrote that."

"I wrote that?"

"Yes, you did."

Slash thought about it for a moment and said, "Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I?"

The small group looked around at each other for answers but was at a loss for words.  They didn't know where to begin or where to start apologizing.  Bob finally broke the silence by speaking the first words that made complete sense to all of them.  "We are to never speak of this again."  Everyone nodded in agreement and went their separate ways about the diner.

***

Several nanos went by and the diner was uncharacteristically quiet.  Mouse and Ray sat in the corner booth that they had occupied that morning, holding hands and sipping java to calm their nerves.  Matrix and AndrAIa sat side by side in another booth, she, leaning on his shoulder and he, staring out the window.  Bob and Dot sat quietly at the counter listening to Enzo having a conversation with Hack and Slash.  Phong left early, as he wasn't accustomed to being out this late in the evening.  The regular customers had gone and they were all that remained in the diner with Cecil, who now moped about his job again, realizing nothing would ever change. 

The silence was almost unnerving, but a few short nanos later, a small chuckling could be heard from over at the counter.  Everyone looked over to see Dot trying to contain a small laugh.  It wasn't working though; her face was turning redder and redder.  Everyone looking on was curious to know what she thought was so funny and reflexively started to giggle with her.  They were still watching her as she burst out into full laughter that she just couldn't hold back any more.  As everyone watched her, they all realized what it was that she was laughing about.  They had all been arguing over a note written by a robot that set itself on fire, and as the realization hit them, none of them could hold it back any longer, and they all burst out laughing. 

Enzo watched all the adults cracking up over something that was totally over his head.  Here just a little while ago he had almost seen them tearing each other's heads off, and now they were all laughing hysterically for what seemed to be no reason.  He would never understand grownups for as long as he processed.

The riotous laughter was joined by a maniacal cackle that they all knew, and startled them momentarily.  They all turned toward the counter to see Hex, who had popped herself in unexpectedly and was lying there on the counter laughing hysterically with them. 

"Oh my," she said once the laughing had died down a bit, "what fun we're having.  Is it a private party or may I join in?" she asked with a wicked grin.

"Sure Hex," Bob stated, "why not?"

"Ooh, goodie!" Hex exclaimed with a squeal.  "I do so love a good party." She said making her way over to Matrix and sitting on the table in front of him.  She seductively ran her finger down his arm and said, "And I do so love a good party favor too," earning her a glare from AndrAIa and a nervous gulp from Matrix.  "Don't you agree, Lover boy?  Is your temperature still rising?" she said with an ear shattering cackle.

"Oh no," Matrix let out a sigh and a shrug, now realizing where the note went after Frisket had chased Skuzzy.

Epilogue:

Ray and Mouse sat back in the cockpit of Ship taking in the night air.  It had been a long second and they hadn't really had much time to spend together alone.  Now finally they could relax and just be together without having to worry about anybody loving them but each other.  They sat together in one seat in the dim, waning light overlooking the waves of the energy sea. 

"Ray?" Mouse said, breaking the silence, "do you ever think about… you know… us… in the future?" she asked nervously.

Ray took in a long, deep breath and sighed.  "It's funny you should mention that tonight," he said taking her hand in his and kissing her softly on her hair, "there's something I've been meaning to tell you all cycle."

***

Matrix lay in bed waiting for AndrAIa to come out of the shower.  After the long cycle they had just had, he was surprised that he couldn't get to sleep.  He lay there awake and wondering at all the things that everyone had been fighting about and he seemed to be totally clueless as to what was going on.  He had to admit though; it was a huge relief finding out that Cecil still actually detested him.

"What are you thinking about lover?" AndrAia called out from the bathroom door as she headed over to the bed.  She lay down next to him and put her arms around him and kissed his chest, as he laid farther into the bed.

"I was just trying to figure out this whole mess with the note actually," he said as he held her closer to him, "I figured out that all that fighting had to have been because of that note, but I was just trying to figure out who thought it was from whom?"

"It doesn't matter now, Lover," she said stroking her hand across his chest, "it's in the past and none of it meant anything and we shouldn't think about it anymore."

"Yeah," he sighed, "You're probably right."  There was a nano of silence before he asked, "Who did you think it was from?"

"Matrix," she giggled, "Just go to sleep."

"I can't sleep," he said, "not until I know who you thought it was from."

"Matrix,"

"C'mon, you can tell me."

"Alright," she giggled, " but you have to tell me who you thought it was from too."

He let out a breath and replied, "Fine."

"Ok, but you promise you won't laugh?"

"Only if you promise not to laugh at me." He said with a smile.

"Agreed," She said with a grin and took a deep breath, " I thought it was from Phong."

"Phong?" he said, starting to laugh, "You thought it was from Phong?"  Matrix couldn't hold it back any longer, he laughed so hard it shook the bed.

"Hey," she said swatting him playfully on the chest, "you said you wouldn't laugh.  So," she continued as he kept laughing, "who did you think it was from?"

Matrix stopped laughing almost as soon as she asked him.  "I… I thought…" he stuttered.

"Yes?" she prompted him to continue.

"I thought it was from Cecil."  He said cringing at the memory. AndrAIa put her hand over her mouth and tried to hold it back as much as she could.  "Go ahead," he said as he watched her struggling to contain it, "let it out, you're going to anyway."

He rolled his eyes and sighed as she finally let it out and he got the reaction that he had expected her to give him all cycle.  He picked up a pillow and smacked her playfully with it as he said in mock disgust, "Just go to sleep."

***

Bob and Dot were cuddled on the couch in her apartment after putting a very tired little Enzo to bed.  The lights were dimmed and the quiet was soothing to their frazzled nerves.  Having already confessed to each other whom they thought the note was from, there didn't seem to be anything left to worry about or get into a deep discussion over, so they just relaxed and held each other.

Bob started chuckling after a long period of silence, causing Dot to come out of the half sleep that she had fallen into.  "What's so funny?" she asked.

"I was just thinking about the way you tore into Ray at the diner," he said grinning, "I didn't know you could be that vicious."

"And you thought that was funny?" she said with a confused look on her face.

"Well, not the vicious part," he said, chagrinned, "I just thought it was pretty alphanumeric that you could be so protective when something threatened to come between us."  He cuddled her closer.  "I guess I'm just one Dell of a lucky sprite to have such a wonderful, loyal, trusting, faithful…"

"Do continue, please." She giggled.

"I mean it, Dot," he grinned and looked down at her as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, "Just to think that you wouldn't even think of ever running off with someone else, no matter how suave or debonair he is, makes me the luckiest sprite in the net."

Dot shifted around to face him and brought her mouth close to his and whispered with a wicked little grin, "Who said I didn't think about it?"

Bob chortled at this for a moment while she shifted back around to lie beside him again.  "You didn't." He grinned as he playfully nudged her in the side and she giggled.  A nano of silence passed before he asked, "Did you?"

She made no attempt to answer or even acknowledge that she had heard the question.  "Dot?" he tried to get a response.  "You better be sleeping," he grumbled as a giggle escaped her lips.  "Dot?"