Author's Notes: Another day, Another chapter. Ughh...I hate driver's ed. I might write a chapter on how to drive a hovercar one of these days. ;) Anyways...here's your chapter! 1 other thing. Does anyone now of a computer camp in Massachusetts and the Bentley college of Video Game Graphics and the like? Emagination camp? If anyone has any info on it, let me know.
Chapter 36
Troubles at the Inn Part III
"Keira, are you ready?" Keira's Aunt Jackie called from the kitchen. "Dick, Betty, Joy and the boys'll be over in about five minutes!"
Keira headed downstairs. Anakin and Obi-Wan were down in the basement, getting (or figuring out how to get) their clothes on.
Keira was wearing a long red and green dress. It was something her aunt hadn't needed, but bought it for Keira and Keira guessed she might as well wear it.
"Oh, you look gorgeous!" her Aunt cooed as she saw Keira. "I knew that dress was for you when I bought it from the start."
Keira thanked her Aunt and then proceeded to help her get out all the appetizers.
If there was one thing that Keira knew about her aunt, it was that her aunt could throw the best holiday parties. Sports parties were just as good.
Just then, Anakin and Obi-Wan appeared from the basement.
"I think...we put this on right," Obi-Wan said, while trying to get the jacket fixed.
Keira nearly laughed when she saw the two. Obi-Wan's tie and jacket were all crooked, and Anakin's tie wasn't even around the neck. Anakin had given up trying to get the darned thing on, so he had it in his hand, his collar unbuttoned at the top.
"Want some help?" Keira asked.
Anakin rolled his eyes in an annoyed fashion, but complied.
Keira then ended up helping her father get his tie working.
"There," Keira said. "Maybe I could...ya know...program HOLLY to help you guys with this sometime," Keira said.
"Do you know how to program her?" Anakin asked.
Keira nodded. "I figured out that you can enter several memorized commands into her auto-drive via the datapad. I discovered it...last night. When I got bored."
Anakin let out a smirk, but quickly smashed it letting his amusement go down the drain. He was still mad at Keira for not telling him about his fall to the darkside (mostly) and wasn't really talking that much to her. Maybe a few words like, "Hi. Um, HOLLY made a mess again."
But Anakin didn't realize that Keira hadn't told him the whole story of how he fell to the darkside. She just told him he did, by being manipulated by a Sith Lord. She didn't tell him it was partly caused by a certain woman...named Padme. Or that the Sith Lord's name just happened to be Darth Sidious a.k.a. Palpatine.
Keira made sure to keep that part quiet until the proper time.
Ding, Dong, Ding, Dong! Ding, Ding, Ding, Dong!
"Could you get the door, Keira?" her aunt asked.
"Sure," Keira said, and ran to the front of the house, and opened the glass door only to see the Terrific (and Terrible) four.
"Hey Alex, Cory, Thomas, and Therese," Keira greeted.
Alex and Cory, the eldest, stepped through the door and immediately headed for the appetizers.
"Well, a 'Hello' would suffice," Keira muttered under her breath and then looked to Thomas and Therese.
"How are you guys doing?" Keira asked.
"Fine. Where's Ryan?" Thomas asked.
"Umm...in the living room, why?" Keira asked.
"I was wondering if we could play basketball in the back," Thomas said.
"Err...it's kinda icy," Keira said gently.
"None of us care. We always play basketball out in the back after presents," Thomas said, and then walked away.
Keira sighed and rolled her eyes. She then looked at the 9 year old Therese.
"How are you-"
Keira was cut off by an excited beep from HOLLY.
"HOLLY! What are you doing here?" Keira asked.
"WOW!" Therese exclaimed. "What is that thing!"
"Erm...it's a robot," Keira fibbed. It was a flying droid.
"Cool! Can I play with it!" Therese asked.
"Play with...the robot?" Keira asked.
HOLLY beeped angrily. One time of calling her a robot was ok. But twice? Twice was taking it a little too far.
Her name was HOLLY.
"Yeah!" Therese said.
Keira looked at HOLLY, and then whispered, "Try anything...and I'll cut you off from your power source."
HOLLY beeped, and Keira knew that she was terribly insulted.
But when Keira said that HOLLY could play with Therese, only if she behaved, HOLLY complied.
"Thank you!" Therese exclaimed, and she happily skipped away. HOLLY, beeping something incomprehensible, followed the hyper-active girl.
Just then, Joy, Dick, and Betty came up the platforms to the house.
"Well! I haven't seen you in a while! How're you doing?" Uncle Dick asked.
"Fine Uncle Dick," Keira exclaimed as she hugged him.
Her Uncle Dick kissed her head in a grandfatherly fashion, and then headed inside.
Keira was then greeted by Joy and Betty, who greeted her with equal sweetness.
Just then, Keira heard a yell from inside the house.
Keira ran inside just to find Alex and Cory staring wide-eyed at Obi-Wan and Anakin.
"Uh...Alex, Cory...I'd like you to meet my friends. You know how I was adopted right? Well, this man, is my father," Keira said, motioning toward Obi-Wan.
"Your father is Ewan McGregor?" Alex asked, still wide-eyed.
"Ewan M-who?" Obi-Wan asked. "My name is-"
"His name is...er...um...Ben! Ben Frost," Keira said.
Obi-Wan looked at Keira, obviously confused, but Anakin caught it immediately.
Keira was hiding their true identities. Anakin kept quiet about it.
"Ben Frost? Ben...Frost? So, you're really a Frost?" Cory asked.
"My last name remains Smith, Cory," Keira muttered.
"Oh," Cory answered.
"Who's this?" Alex asked, pointing to Anakin.
"Um...A-a...um...Ace. Ace Christiansen," Keira replied. "He's...uh...working under...my...biological father. He had to come up here with him."
"How good are you at basketball, Ace?" Cory asked.
"B-basketball? Um...not that good," Anakin said.
"Really now," Alex said. "Come on. Anyone can play basketball."
"Well, I haven't-"
"Look you guys," Keira said. "He comes from uh...Canada. It's too cold up there to play basketball...so...just...leave him alone, ok?"
"Well then, if you can't play basketball, you can at least play us at a tournament for Halo 2," Alex said.
"H-halo 2?" Anakin asked, grimacing.
"Oh yeah! Have you heard of it?" Cory asked.
"No," Anakin replied.
"It's where you get to shoot a bunch of aliens who are trying to destroy the galaxy...so on and forth. You basically get to join an army and shoot the stupid things," Alex replied. "Man, where have you been for the last 3 years?"
Anakin was about to reply, "Coruscant," but Keira stopped him.
"Look you guys," Keira said. "Just leave him alone, ok? He doesn't know how to play. I'll play myself."
"No, you suck!" Cory said. "We kill you every time with the rocket launcher. Let's see how Ace does with the controls. For all we know, he could be a natural."
Keira rolled her eyes and then looked at Anakin who seemed to be having a hard time deciding what to do. But he eventually took the bait.
"Alright, alright. Teach me how to play," Anakin said.
Cory and Alex quietly lead Anakin down to the basement of doom.
Keira growled under her breath, made her way to the vacant parlor, and pounded her fists onto the wall.
Suddenly, Keira felt her head spin. She gripped onto the wall's molding, and luckily for her, that allowed her to keep from falling to the ground.
She took several deep breaths before regaining some strength and stood up.
What in the world had just happened? Keira suddenly felt torn.
She felt...empty. Like the life had just been taken out of her.
She tried to reach out with the Force...but nothing. All she felt was nothing. She couldn't feel the Force.
"I think we've been here too long," Keira murmured under her breath, before hearing a couple of yelps from the basement.
Keira was steadied in a flash as she hurried towards the basement door.
She then opened the door, ran down the steps, only to find Anakin curled up at the bottom of it.
"What happened!" Keira demanded Cory and Alex.
"W-we don't know! We heard him groan and then we saw him tumble down the steps," Cory said.
Keira bent down to level with Anakin.
"Cory...go get Uncle Roger, Betty, and Aunt Jackie. Tell them Anakin passed out. And...if Ben Frost's available, get him too," Keira commanded.
Cory was gone quicker than one could imagine.
Meanwhile, Keira tried to wake him.
"Um...Ace...Ace?" Keira said, lightly shaking Anakin's still form.
Anakin eyes flew open.
He groaned and then put a hand to his head.
"I'm bleeding," he moaned, showing Keira the blood that was on his scalp and now in his hair.
"Alex, go get a towel from the bathroom and help me stop the bleeding," Keira once again commanded, then thankful that the command was obeyed.
Keira took the towel from Alex's hands and then pressed it lightly on Anakin's head, recieving a hiss of pain from Anakin.
Anakin would've been fine if it weren't for his sudden panic.
"The...I can't feel...it..." Anakin moaned, eyes flashing.
"Sshh...shhh," Keira soothed. "I know. I noticed that too."
"Why?" Anakin asked.
"I don't know. Echh...where's Cory!" Keira growled looking towards the stairs.
As if right on cue, Cory came running down the steps with Jackie and Betty.
"What took you so long?" Keira demanded, suddenly realizing she had sounded like her father.
"Ben passed out in the livingroom," Cory said. "Did they get sick suddenly or something? Was it something they ate?"
Keira groaned mentally before answering, "I guess."
"He's bleeding Aunt Jackie," Keira said.
"Looks pretty bad too," Betty commented, investigating Anakin's head. "We should take him to the emergency room. I'm guessing he hit his head on that sharp wooden corner."
"What about...Ben?" Keira asked.
"I think he'll be ok," Betty said. "Some rest should do him good. No need to take him to the emergency room. Already checked him over."
Keira nodded. "I'll check on Ben and then I'll get Uncle Dick to carry An-...I mean...Ace to the car."
Jackie and Betty nodded at the same time and watched Keira run up the stairs.
Once Keira got to the livingroom, she saw Joy fussing over Obi-Wan like a broken doll.
"Do you need some more water?" Joy would ask.
"No, I'm-"
"It's alright. Here, take a sip," Joy would say, and then bring the glass to his lips.
Keira finally intervened much to Obi-Wan's relief.
"How're you doing?" Keira asked him.
"Better. Is...Ana-...erm...I mean...Ace panicking?" Obi-Wan asked.
Keira was glad that her father got the point, but was also glad her father had not panicked when the Force mischieviously left him.
"He was...but he got over it. He needs to go to the hospital though. He was on the stairs when he passed out, and he cut his head badly on his way down," Keira replied.
Obi-Wan slowly sat up and then got up from the couch. He shook his head madly from side to side, and then told Keira he was coming with them. Whether she liked it or not.
Keira nodded and then lead Obi-Wan, her father, to the garage.
Once in the now-warmed car, Keira, Obi-Wan, and Anakin were taken to the Cincinnati Methodist Hospital.
Author's Notes: Hope you liked this rather neutral chapter. The next chapter will be called...We Must've Overstayed Our Welcome. MUST READ AND REVIEW! MUST GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT! Lol. Hoped you liked this chapter. Thanks, much!