"Okay, let's take a break here," I sighed out tiredly, me and Aiden falling onto the couch.

"Good," Nate said, collapsing beside me too.

"Well I'm out of ideas," Shane said, sitting on the other couch. "Ash are you still sleepy?"

I yawned. "No different from when we started, Shane. If anything, I'm more exhausted from our little in-home adventure."

Aiden yawned too, still being the little kid he was. "What time is it, Nate?"

Nate looked at his watch. "3:00AM. Maybe this is as far as we should go. We all need our sleep."

Shane nodded with a big loud yawn that was frankly disturbing. "Alright."

"Hey, look," Aiden said to Shane, looking at me and pointing. "Ash's asleep now. And her head's on Nate's shoulder."

Nate blushed and looked down, seeing me right on his shoulder. Strange snores were emiting from my mouth unconciously. Shane couldn't help but stare at the strange picture. "Um... cute," he said with less meaning. It was weird, Shane seeing the tall and might Ash Drame, snoring.

Nate blinked, slowly moving his head to see mind. "How did I not notice that?"

"I guess Iyou must be getting used to the feeling," Aiden answered with a slight laugh.

After Nate sent a short glare he stood up, picking me up as well. But truth be told, he was entirely shocked and weak in the knees that he didn't even feel my head on his own shoulder. "We better get to bed now. Come on, Aiden. You're coming with us."

Shane nodded as the three of us went towards the elevator. "Once she's in bed, come back downstairs, check up on Jason."

-NATE'S POV-

Once I laid Ash down in my bed, she had a look of peace on her face, like she always would have. I didn't have the heart to put her in her uncomfortable sleeping bag on the floor. And strangely enough, I didn't notice myself smiling until Aiden snapped me out of it.

"You're starring at her," Aiden sang amusingly.

I gave him a 'keep quiet' look and we headed to the fire pole in the middle of the bedroom, sliding down to the living room. We took a turn and went to the control room with Shane, seeing Jason for the first time all day, reading the monitors.

"Oh hey guys," Jason said, seeing the door open. "Anything happen? Ash better?"

"A lot," I answered. "And here's one important lesson I learned: never go with Shane's plans."

"Hey, at least it gave us something to do," Shane shrugged.

"... Okay I'm just gonna assume she's not okay?" Jason said. "So where is sleeping beauty? She's not asleep is she?"

"Upstairs. We had Nate bring her up there to rest from today's unpleasant activities," Shane answered. It was then Jason's eyes widened dramatically. I blinked, unsure of why he asked so alarmed. "Why are you opening your eyes bigger?"

"Oh boy," he said, going back to the computers.

"W-Why? What?" I asked, getting worried.

Jason pressed a button and a bunch of stuff popped up on the screen. "I think she's been injected with some kind of sleeping poison."

"Sleeping who now?" Shane asked, rushing over behind Kevin. "'Cause you know that was a highly detailed and unexpected answer for Nat's question."

"So what does this mean, anyway?" Aiden asked, no longer sleepy by worried.

Jason had a serious look on his face. "Bad things. It sorta brings the victim into a deep sleep, which, obviously Ash has been doing lately. It was being tested as a new tranquilizer by the government, but it was never finished. That must have been the thing the girl was robing from the lab a few missions back."

"And Ash was hit in the shoulder with that needle," I said, remembering the scene on the mission.

Jason nodded, seeing we got the idea. "Which is bad. But because it was still in the building stage, it takes a while for the person to actually fall asleep permanently."

"Permanently?" I repeated.

"He said permanently," Shane repeated as well. "Please tell me permanently means this is nothing to worry about."

"Then it shuts down the entire immune system, which was also really bad." Then his head jumped, slowly turning towards us. "Luckily for us Ash hasn't fallen asleep again."

"Um, Jason-"

I was already out the door, cutting off Aiden's statement. I went running up the stairs, seeing as wasn't gonna wait for the elevator.

"She fell asleep didn't she," Jason said upsettingly, Aiden and Shane looking as panicked as ever.

"Ash!" I yelled as I neared my bedroom on the staircase. I had that feeling again, to be scared for Ash. If what Jason said was true, Ash might have been asleep forever, dieing. "Ash!" I ran into my room, seeing Ash in the same position as before. I ran to her and held her hand. "Ash, Ash wake up." I shook her a little bit, trying to wake her back up. I felt her face and rubbed her hand. No reaction. "Ash, Ash wake up. Come on Ash."

She still wouldn't move. I felt a very faint pulse, her breathing normal. But still.

"Ash wake up," I said, sitting her up. She was like a rag doll now. She laid against me as I continued shaking her. "Shoot."

"Is she okay?" Shane asked, running in from the elevator.

Jason ran to where we were and felt Ash's pulse. "How's she doing?"

"I don't know," I said, trying to keep calm. Failing. "She's not waking up."

Aiden held onto Shane scared for Ash as well. "Are we too late to save Ash?" Aiden asked in a quiet voice.

I held onto Ash tight, my arms around her from behind. I felt like I never wanted to let go until I knew she was awake.

"She's okay for now, still alive," Jason told. "Luckily, I think I saw something about an antidote back in the lab. You guys better come help me."

"Right," Shane said, getting up.

They left me here, probably because they knew I wanted to stay here with her. My best friend, asleep forever. Even though I knew Jason was on the way with an antidote for her, I was scared to death right now. My eyes were trying to leak out tears, but I blinked them away.

"Ash?" I asked, trying to wake her up quietly. "Ash, if you can hear me, please don't give up on us yet, okay? Jason's gonna make something to wake you up. You'll be just fine, okay?" I layed my chin on her shoulder, hugging her. "Don't worry Ash. I'm your best friend and I'm not gonna let go of you that easily. I promise."

-ASH'S POV-

"Please get an A, please get an A," I chanted with my eyes shut, fingers crossed.

Nate laughed and then Mr. Wilson came, giving us a paper with an A on it.

"Yes!" I said to myself, my hand in a fist. "I got magic powers yeah!"

"You seem happy," Nate laughed, looking at the paper on our table.

"Well duh, we didn't fail!" I cheered with a small laugh. "But because of that stupid sleep poison, you were left with all the work while I probably dreamed of counting sheep."

"Don't worry about it, Ash. Besides, it's one Biology grade. We're still partners, so there'll be more things for us to work on."

I smiled, hugging him. "Thanks so much."

Blushing he instantly put his hands between us, trying to push me back. "Okay okay let go or Mr. Wilson will see us."

I smiled let go, punching his arm. "Just be glad I'm no longer dozing off most of the day. I like being awake."

And it was true. Staying up late was fun, but I really do need to sleep more often if I wanna stay active. I mean, being sleepy was soooooo annoying! Whenever I get sugar rush, I'm twice as exhausted when it's over, and I keep messing up missions. Plus my grades had fallen during the course of time... okay like that makes a difference. Not to mention Nate kept worrying about me, trying to keep me up during my classes, asking if I was alright. But hey, Nate's my best friend. I'd expect those kinds of questions when I was in that state. But that goes to show how much he cares about me. I could have sworn that while I was asleep, I heard him say, "Don't worry Ash. I'm you're best friend and I'm not gonna let go of you that easily. I promise."

Of course I could have been dreaming. I wonder if it meant something, though... Hm... Oh man, I'm dozing off again!

"Ash," Nate said, waving a hand in front of my face. "You sure you aren't sleepy anymore?"

I laughed and swatted his arm away. "Oh quit it." The bell rung and we started getting our books together.

"Hey Nate, Ash," Jason said from the door.

We looked up. "Hey Jason!"

"Guys you've gotta see this," he said smiling and almost laughing.

Nate and I looked at each other and followed Jason out of the classroom. The three of us ran down the halls and out the cafeteria doors. There by one of the tables we saw a bunch of students with signs and shirts, protesting.

"What the," Nate said, blinking.

"See?" Jason said with a small laugh. "Is this awesome or what?"

"Is this gonna be a good thing or a bad thing?" I whispered suspiciously to Nate, feeling the wind go through the loose ends of my hair under my hat.

"A good thing my dear Ashley," Shane answered for Nate, appearing behind me and Nate then coming inbetween us. Shane draped his arms around our shoulders with a grin. "Me and a couple of the others started up a protest against the uniforms."

"Wow," Nate said, seeing how many students there were as more signed their names on the petitions at the table. "That's, a lot of people you managed to get to cooperate together... How?"

"Oh little brother, all it takes is a little hard work, some good leadership, awesome hair, and, perhaps eh, a little bit of bribing to probably seventy percent of these kids," Shane said, proud of himself, that is, until the doors opened.

We all looked, seeing Ms. Autumn bringing out Principal Koel. "This is where all this noise is coming from," Ms. Autumn said.

Shane's face sank as I glared at my one hated teacher. "Figures she'd be here to ruin it," I muttered under my breath. Oh if only I had laser vision...

"What in heaven's name is going on?" Principal Koel asked, stepping up with his arms crossed. He saw the signs people holding. "Ah, the uniform dilemma I see."

"You should all be suspended!" Ms. Autum added, pointing an arm at every single of us.

I looked up and saw the peach tree, that gave shade to the entire place. It was weird how it was still growing so healthy in such cold weather. Deciding not to think about the job of a plant expert I saw a peach right there and smirked, aiming my watch discretely.

Nate looked at me. "And what are you doing?" he whispered, knowing I was up to trouble.

I chuckled, having my aim perfect. "Saving Shane's protest." I fired the tiny laser and it the peach's stem, making it fall right onto Ms. Autumn's head. A bunch of students 'oooh'ed and some laughed. Eventually another student threw one of their lunches at her, starting another food fight. Then again, what else is new? Jason pulled us behind a table so we wouldn't get caught in the cross fire.

"Figures you'd be the one to start the food fights," Nate mumbled, making me grin sheepishly. All the students were laughing as Ms. Autumn was the main target, rather than Principal Koel.

"Alright alright! No uniforms!" he shouted.

Ms. Autumn looked at Principal Koel in shock. "What did you-" She got hit in the face with a mayonnaise covered sandwich.

"Score!" I said with a grin, punching the air.

Shane high fived me as we continued throwing random stuff from lunch.

Jason shook his head. "At least things are back to normal, Ash being all active."

Nate nodded, seeing Shane and I join the food fight. "I guess it is. Thanks for making that antidote for Ash. You had no idea how worried I was."

"Yeeaah I think I do know," Jason laughed, making Nate roll his eyes.


NEXT CHAPTER..

"We have to supervise his daughter's concert," Jason explained to me.

-

"I just realized my true love," Nate sighed out, making me spit out my water while the guys' jaws dropped. "I'm telling you guys, it's like we were born to marry."

-

I sighed, admitting defeat. "I guess you're right. I am worried about Nate. I mean, he just said he wanted to marry her!"

Jason turned his head towards me. "Do you not want him to marry?"

I didn't respond for a moment and whispered, "No."

-

She smirked. "Nate, be a gentleman and finish off your best friend here?"

He smiled. "Anything for you."

"NATE!" I screamed, shutting my eyes.