Here's Chapter 9! Sorry for not updating sooner. I had a very bad week (the only highlight being the new episode of Glee). Whom of you watched "Dream On" last week? It was so heartbreaking! That's definitely my new favorite episode! I couldn't stop watching Artie's Safety Dance video haha :)

Chapter Nine

Artie felt himself zone out from sleep mode. There was a faint throbbing on his nose bridge and he groaned.

Eurgh, I slept with my glasses on again.

However, he was a bit taken aback to find that he was not, in fact, on his bed. And even with his glasses on, his vision was blurry and dark... with yellow stripes...

AAAHH! I'M BLIND!

But wait! He soon came to realize that he fell asleep on Tina's lap and instead of facing the sunny window in his living room, he was facing something that no man without a wife or girlfriend should face. He felt his face heat up and he got up and adjusted his legs to a sitting position.

He saw Tina sleeping on the couch's armrest, her neck craning to the right as far as it would go. He took note of her uncomfortable position and tried to pull her to a more promising one. He tugged lightly on her arm and used his other hand to guide her head so she can lie down fully on the sofa. As he was doing this, he marveled in seeing her sleeping form. It was something you never get tired of. His conscience chose to speak to him at that moment.

You're not supposed to like her! It's wrong!

But I do... he countered.

But you can't! Last time you tried dating, she lost her family, her house, and almost lost her friends! What more could she possibly lose?

Artie sighed in defeat. Perhaps his conscience was right. He's not supposed to like her. If they date and it didn't work out, what would happen to her? She was living with him. She needed him right now. And that's not supposed to be ruined by their relationship. She couldn't possibly lose anymore than she already had. She was too good for him anyway. She would only break his heart.

He continued moving her, though she countered his acts by snuggling to him unconsciously, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her head on his shoulder.

Artie wanted to groan—from pleasure or annoyance, he didn't know.

This was going to be harder than I thought.

-O-

He decided to just wait for her to wake up. He leaned his head on hers and while he was doing that, he did the one thing he usually does—think. Though usually he would think about this week's homework or the Big Bang theory or something as nerdy as that, today was different. Today he was thinking of the sad realization that there was a girl, who was in fact wrapped in his arms at the moment, that he could never have. It was depressing, wallowing on something like that. Forbidden love? He didn't know. Didn't care. He never understood what girls found so romantic in forbidden love. They think it's so Romeo and Juliet. Yeah, it was romantic. They died.

Tina stirred and took in her surroundings. There was something on the top of her head and she was leaning on something that smelled like cinnamon and apple juice. She then opened her eyes and groaned as the sunlight streamed on her face.

"Oh!" a voice exclaimed and a pair of arms unwrapped around her. "I-I'm so sorry, Tee! It was just, you looked uncomfortable so I tried repositioning you a-and we... ended up like this," Artie bowed his head to hide his blush.

"N-no, it's okay, Artie," she smiled at him. He slowly but surely looked up to meet her eyes.

She started to lean in closer with an unreadable expression on her face. Artie's conscience told him to pull back, his typical hormonal teenage boy self telling him otherwise. He felt her breath on his lips and he had the urge to close his eyes. When their faces were only inches away from each other's, she sniffed.

"Artie, you smell good," Tina said, and quickly cupping her mouth with her hand once she realized how strange that sounded.

"I-I do?" he asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, you smell like apples... and cinnamon," she admitted shyly, "Is that weird?" she quickly added, making him chuckle.

"For me it is. I'm allergic to cinnamon,"

"Yeah, but you smell like it," she ruffled his hair (like she always does) and stood up from the couch, stretching.

Last night's events suddenly went in Artie's mind as he was replacing himself on his wheelchair and he groaned.

"I can't believe I slept through the middle of The Hangover! That was the greatest movie of all time!" he slapped his face.

"Well you've seen that movie, like, nine times already. Don't you think that's enough?"

"Still, the ferocity in their attitudes are somewhat educational," he countered.

Tina rolled her eyes at him. Only Artie Abrams can watch a movie filled with four drunk guys doing things such as pulling their own tooth, stealing a tiger, and peeing in a pool and still call it educational.

They went in the kitchen to find Jill already in there, cooking some eggs.

"Good morning, kids! How was your night?" she greeted upon seeing them.

"Great. We slept on the sofa," Artie answered, almost sarcastically.

"What?" Jill said, looking at them with a shocked expression on her face.

"Yeah, didn't you see us?" Tina asked, confused.

"Well, I had a busy night and this throbbing head ache won't leave me alone so I only had my mind set on the pack of Tylenol in the medicine cabinet," by the time she finished saying this, she had already put the eggs and bacon on two plates and served them to the two teenagers.

"Mom, what are you gonna eat?"

"Oh, I already ate something. Right now, all I wanna do is head back to that bedroom and get some sleep!" Jill kissed Artie briefly on the cheek and ran out of the room.

Artie and Tina started munching on their breakfast.

"I can't believe I didn't notice mom in the kitchen when I woke up," Artie mused.

"Well that happens when you're thinking deeply about something," Tina answered him, smirking.

Artie raised his eyebrows at her.

"So what were you thinking about?" she asked curiously. Artie felt uneasy all of a sudden.

"Oh, errm—uhhh, just... this weeks homework and the Big Bang theory," he explained lamely. To his surprise, Tina laughed.

"You're such a nerd!" she kept laughing and choked a bit at a piece of bacon. She sipped some water to down it.

"Haha," Artie muttered sarcastically.

-O-

A few hours later, the pair found themselves in an ice cream parlour. She had a nice coffee-flavoured ice cream and he a banana split. It was through boredom that they found themselves there. This day was uneventful so they decided to head outside to hang out.

Tina scooped another spoon of ice cream in her mouth and moaned at the taste. Artie chuckled.

"Enjoy it for now. Let's be glad not to have these cold treats dumped on our heads," he said, "I propose a toast!" he lifted up his banana split container into the air in front of him. Tina got into a fit of giggles and lifted up her ice cream container too.

"Yeah, to not having these cold treats on our faces!" she said and bumped her glass with his.

They laughed some more and went back to eating their ice cream.

"Well," she mused, "except for this—" she dipped her finger in her ice cream and smeared it on Artie's cheek. He was taken aback in surprise. She laughed even more.

"No fair!" he pouted and dipped his finger in his ice cream and tried to get Tina's nose, but she turned aside and he hit her hair instead. Tina faked a gasp.

"You did not just touch the hair, Abrams," she said fiercely.

"I believe I just did," he smirked.

"Oh now it's on!" she exclaimed and grabbed handful of ice cream to dump on Artie's head. He did the same and smeared some more on her nose and chin. She squealed and got some on his neck. Both were in uncontrollable fits of laughter.

It was then that they noticed the stares they were getting and suddenly remembered that they were in an ice cream parlour having a full out ice cream war, both their faces covered in the sticky goodness. Luckily they made no splats on the floor and wall.

They both stared back nervously and Tina began to take the handles of Artie's wheelchair and lead them to the sinks in the corner of the building where they both cleaned off.

"I can't believe we had an ice cream fight in an ice cream parlour!" Tina exclaimed, throwing a crumpled piece of paper at Artie, but still with a smile on her face.

Artie laughed a little. "But you gotta admit, it was fun," he beamed at her.

Tina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it was," she admitted, "but now I have to wash this ick out of my hair,"

"Me too, you know!" he said and once they were clean of ice cream (their hairs not included), they headed out of the building to go back home.

On their way out, Tina couldn't help but feel as if a pair of eyes was watching her. She ignored that feeling, though and pushed Artie out the door.

"Wait here," she suddenly said, "I gotta go to the bathroom," she let go of his handles.

"What is it with girls and bathrooms?" Artie asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Girls don't have bladders as strong as boys do!" she explained and ran back inside.

Artie chuckled then sighed.

"Artie Abrams?" a female voice said from behind him. He turned around to face a woman with pale white skin, wearing a business suit, her hair tight in a bun. She looked like someone familiar...

"Mrs. Chang?" he asked, thoroughly surprised. And all of a sudden, he was nervous.

"Yes, it's me," she smiled weakly at him.

"W-what are you doing here? I thought you moved?" Artie asked.

"We're moving later. I have to talk to you,"

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to Tina? She's just in the restroom..." he trailed off when he saw Mrs. Chang shake her head and sigh.

"She hates me now. But I just can't leave without knowing how she really is. Is she living with you?"

"Y-yeah, she is," he answered rather nervously.

"Does that mean you guys are—"

"NO! Oh, I mean, no, Mrs. Chang. We're not... err... what were you going to say?" his breathing started to get heavier. The woman sighed and smiled a knowing smile at him.

"Okay," he confessed, "I like her. But she doesn't feel the same way anyway,"

She nodded, tears starting to form in her eyes. Artie was starting to get shocked.

"Just please, Artie, I beg of you," her weak voice said as she kneeled down on the floor, "Please take care of her. I love her more than anything in the world." She gave him a pleading look and the woman kneeling in front of him took Artie aback.

It was at that moment that he just knew that he would go to great lengths just to make sure she's safe.

Artie nodded in determination.

"Thank you," Mrs. Chang said heartily, standing up straight once again, her hard demeanor nowhere to be found, "I knew I could trust you."

When Artie shot her a confused look, she explained. "I saw your ice cream fight," she smiled and laughed a little, "I've never seen her so happy," tears started to roll down her cheeks. "Well, that's all I have to say. And I would appreciate it if you would keep this between the two of us, okay?" He nodded. "Thank you again," she hugged him briefly and walked away.

"You take care, Mrs. Chang," he called to her and she just gave a smile and waved goodbye.

"Ready to go? Sorry I took a while. Bimbos in the bathroom," Tina asked him a few minutes later. Artie, who was still quite shocked, could only nod.

They started walking homeward.

"Artie? Hell-ooo! Earth to Artie! Are you there? What's up with you?" she called out, playfully knocking on his head.

"Ouch! Jeez, Tina, cut that out!" Artie swatted her hand away and rubbed his temple.

"Good to have you back," she said to him.

"Yeah, sorry, was just thinking about stuff again,"

"Let me guess, this week's homework and the Big Bang theory?"

"You could say that."

Quite a long chapter there, that's a treat for you guys :)

I say, nothing beats motherly love! Woohoo!

Anyways, please review! Anyone who does gets a cyber hug! Haha :P