A/N – I just want to state that I understand how some of the subject matter we've been touching on could be uncomfortable for some people. I initially planned out this arc back before my two year hiatus. And events I'm now finding myself write about reflect very real things happening in the world with the protests that really ramped up in 2020 and the large vocal community online over the notions of racism and deportation. Rather than shy away from this however I've decided to keep this section within my story. These are subjects that need to be discussed openly in many different settings. Including fiction. I do understand that this story could be used as an escape from reality though. So I apologize if recent chapters have made it a bit difficult. For your consideration please skip the section within the \\\ if it is too much. Make sure to keep yourself safe through media just as much as in real life.

The warning that Lea had given Lilo was greatly appreciated. And under normal circumstances that would be everything she needed to really start doing something, anything to stop it and save her 'ohana. Unfortunately, this time it wasn't enough. Before she had any time to prepare, any time to really contact a lot of the cousin's and warn them, Nani brought her the morning newspaper. Mrs. Byers was already enacting her plan.

\\\

Just a day prior, Mrs. Byers stood before the city council. Dressed to impress with her long black hair tied back and her red glasses set firmly on her soft face. A small briefcase was on the podium in front of her. Papers she had prepared in case anyone denied her claims. But she was certain that everything was in order. She didn't have a single doubt in her mind that this was going to go perfectly in her favour.

"Okay... Mrs. Byers?" the Mayor began as they shuffled some papers around. "It's been a long day so please be concise."

"Perfect," she thought, smiling to herself. She cleared her throat and began. "I'm sure you, the council, and everyone in this room are well aware of the aliens we have unknowingly had in our midst for many years now. They are everywhere. You can't throw a stone in town without one being nearby. For a long time we were lied to. Believing them to just be strange but helpful animals."

There were a few murmurs through the room and crowd. Of course they all knew. It was impossible not to know of them. Everyone had. The notion of them being lied to though? That wasn't something they had considered.

"Now I'm not going to go into any detail on the implications for this," she continued. "Personally I have heard people fear the thought of infiltration, abduction, and many other nefarious ideas. Of course I would never perpetuate these myself. But it is something we must all consider."

The city council as well as many others in the hall were getting visibly uncomfortable. These topics had so far been avoided or mitigated. Hoping that with time things would just smooth over. However it was true. The aliens on their island were here for a long time. And no one really knew where they came from or why they were here. It was obvious that some people would have negative thoughts or feelings about it. Especially learning that they were actually from outer space.

"You are digressing," the Mayor said after clearing their throat. "Please continue."

"My apologies." She waited a moment. Making sure everyone stopped before they continued listening to her. She already was starting to feel the power over them. "Motives aside, we cannot ignore the fact that they have come here illegally." Another pause. "While they might have been here before the mandates and regulations were put into place on alien immigration to Earth, the fact of the matter is that they are not official residents. And all of my research and investigations has lead me to believe that not a single one of them have the proper paper work or visas to be here."

"But they help so much!" one voice called from the crowd.

"Our community wouldn't be what it is without them." said another.

Pretty quickly the entire room was in uproar. As people began picking sides on this issue. It was already clear when Mrs. Byers was going with this. And the City Council was starting to suspect that they wouldn't be able to contain it now that the ball was rolling.

"Quite down! Quiet down!" The Mayor announced, bring the room back under control. "So what is it you are suggesting?"

All Mrs. Byers did was smile. "We cannot assume that each and every alien has good intentions for the Earth. It is practically impossible. And the fact that these particular ones on our island have managed to break the rules, and then not even try to amend things after the fact only paints a sour note unfortunately. As is dictated by the laws set by our very own Governments, they have to be sent back to wherever it is they came from."

"You're suggesting a mass deportation?"

"Yes. Unless there is anything that can be found within"- she taped her hand on her brief case -"this, the law states that they need a visa to be here. The amount of time it would take to gain one would be quite a while. But as they are not seeking refuge of any kind, they've been here for years for heaven's sake, they must go and come back if they wish through the proper channels."

The Mayor considered his next words very carefully. "You can't expect us, a single town, to do such a large scale change like that on our own. We can only-"

"Of course I don't," Mrs. Byers interrupted. "I have a copy of everything I have collected here for you. I have emailed copies to the City Councils on this island as well as to the Governor's office. I have come today to let you know of the situation. And that when everything falls into place that doing anything against it would be unlawful. It is very unfortunate." Her voice radiated as much fake concern as she could possibly put into it. The words falling heavily. "But the law is the law. I hope you will help continue support the community as you properly have to."

\\\

As Lilo read each and every word. She was horrified. She crumpled up the paper and threw it as hard as she could. It hung on the wall for a moment in impact before falling.

"What am I supposed to do about this?" she asked.

Nani didn't really have a good answer for her.

"I don't know much about politics," she said. "But you do a bit. At least more than me. You're Ambassador right?" Lilo nodded. "Maybe there's something you can do as Ambassador?"

"I can contact Turo," Lilo said as she considered her options. "But if this has already been pushed to the Governor... I guess all I can do is try."

To say Keoni was nervous was an understatement. He always tried to present himself as a cool and collected person. Someone that general every day life did not faze at all. In any way, shape, or form. That was far from the truth however. There was a lot of pressure from his dad to succeed. Which he felt deep down that he was failing in with his inability to gain a scholarship. He really wanted to excel in skateboarding. Have it, like so few before him, rocket him to success and somewhat stardom.

Not out of any desire to be famous. He saw how something like that could really affect someone through Lilo. Who, maybe wasn't actually famous yet, but could very well be if any of her secrets really got out. She didn't want her friends and family getting hounded by news outlets, the paparazzi, or general public. And he didn't really either. But he loved skateboarding. And he wanted that to have a hand in his future.

But it didn't look like that was going to be the case. He was long passed the chance at getting a scholarship, and with his refusal to have his dad help him with finances. There were few options for school. He got himself a job, giving him less time to do the things he loved, and gave him less time with the one he loved. But it had to be done. There were some hefty loans in his future and any little bit helped keep those low.

The bright side of getting a job was having a lot of time to think. His previous ventures in trying to figure out how to surprise Victoria with the news of her scholarship didn't go too well. But now there was plenty of ideas rolling to help keep his mind off of the monotonous task that was his job.

That too brought about more nerves however.

"What if I totally misread her?" he asked the wall of cans he was stocking. "Maybe she loves photography but not enough to actually make it a career?" He placed a can a little too hard, hearing the loud ting reverberate through him. "And then I would have put my cousin in a huge mess for nothing, embarrass myself with the announcement, wasted all this time, dad wouldn't be happy"- he dropped a can that clattered to the floor- "I'd just generally be a fool and have to hide for years."

He stood in silence. His eyes darting back and forth, hoping that no one heard the little rant. It wasn't a large grocery store by any means. And he wasn't sure how loud he was being. A little cough on the other side of the the shelf told him everything he needed to know.

"You uh," the light voice started saying, "okay over there, dude?"

Keoni was sure his ears were bright red. As nice as his coworker was, he definitely didn't want her to hear that. He tried his best to keep to himself most of the time.

"I'm okay, Nikki," he said to her. He wished he was anywhere else. "Just got a lot on my mind."

"I can tell. The can's didn't do anything to you though."

He paused for a moment.

"Sorry."

She made her way around to his side of the aisle. And that managed to make him feel even more embarrassed. Despite being the same age as him, she barely made it up to his shoulder. Nikki had short black hair parted to one side and curious green eyes, and a soft voice that was calming but some how could be laced with sarcasm.

"Did you want to talk about it?" she asked while grabbing some cans off of the cart and placing them on the shelves. "No rules against talking as long as we're working."

"I probably shouldn't," he said.

His hand paused on one of the cans, wondering if maybe he should. It might make him feel better. But Nikki was just a coworker. Basically a stranger. He felt her place a hand on top of his, waiting a moment before pulling it to back and grabbing another can. Keoni didn't notice the slight blush on her face while he was lost in thought.

"I really don't mind."

Keoni had used Jam as his therapist from time to time. And while having your best friend to talk to at any given moment. His inability to vocalize any thoughts or helpful advice or insight certainly didn't give him everything he needed. So maybe this would do him so good.

"I feel like maybe I'm in over my head a bit," he said with a sigh.

"With being a fool?"

He noticed she didn't laugh, which made him feel a bit better.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I've planned this huge surprise for my girlfriend-"

The sound of a can being dropped stopped him. Nikki quickly picked it up and apologized, allowing Keoni to continue.

"So anyway," he continued, "I've been planing it for so long that I'm not even sure it's a really good idea anymore. And I'm kind of worried she's gonna either hate it or not care. Which isn't like her at all. But I'm just really worried for some reason. Like something's going to go wrong."

"Well..." Nikki seemed unsure of what to say. "You really love her?"

He nodded.

"...and she loves you?"

He nodded again.

"..." she paused for a long time. "Well then I think you're probably just being silly. You're doing something super thoughtful and that itself should make her happy. And if she doesn't like what it is exactly then at least the act is good and should make her happy." She paused one more time. "And if that isn't good enough then she's the fool for not appreciating you."

Keoni stopped stocking. He didn't really look at it that way before. Being so caught up in the scholarship itself, he never considered that just his plan was probably the most important part of it. It made him feel slightly better. The nerves were starting to go away. And he was happy to continue talking to her over his worries. Glad that he had someone at work he could talk through this with.

Mertle nervously looked at her watch. She had been waiting at the cafe for nearly a half hour, though they were only meant to meet about two minutes ago. Still, she was barely containing herself. A barrel of jitters and she hadn't even had a coffee yet. Desperately looking out the window to see if Jimar was coming, she caught a look at herself in the reflection. She decided to wear a dress today, something she didn't normally do. Something light and airy since the weather was starting to pick back up again. As well as tying her hair back into a ponytail. Though she felt like her more curly hair didn't work tied up as well as Victoria's did. Still, her friend managed to give her some tips to make sure it both looked nice and was comfortable.

Finally she saw him jogging down the road. He was clearly in a hurry and she pretended not to see him compose himself before entering.

"Sorry I'm late," he said as he approached the table against the window. "Hope I didn't make you wait long."

"Just got here myself," she lied happily.

"The usual?"

She nodded and tried not to let herself get tongue tied when he smiled at her before heading off to order. It wasn't long since they first came here together. She needed someone to talk to after everything went down with Lilo and Caitlynn, and he was happily there for her. Since then they'd have coffee together every couple of days. The baristas basically new their orders by heart at this point. And as embarrassing as that could be, Mertle found herself desperately looking forward to these visits.

"So," he began as he sat back down, "everything smoothed over with Lilo now?"

"They are," she said with a smile. "It's been a little awkward."

"I said it would be."

"You did," she giggled. "But it's been good. I honestly think we're even better now than we were before. She even gave me tips on how to slap even better."

Jimar just laughed. "I bet she did. Remind me not to get on your bad side."

"Not possible."

As the two continued to converse, Mertle tried her best not to think about how much Jimar was staring at her. She figured it was just her imagination.

That was until he said, "you look beautiful today. Is that a new dress?"

Everything seemed to slow down as her mind recognized him calling her beautiful. Words seemed to get tied up in her throat. And the way he smiled certainly didn't help anything. She somewhat cursed how radiant he could be.

"Um, yeah," she said when her overly dry mouth started working. "Just got it the other day. I know it's not really my style but-"

"I think it suits you very much."

Mertle tried to shake the compliments out of her head. He was always nice to her. Even when she didn't feel like she deserved it. It didn't mean anything more and she didn't want to let herself fall down that path. No matter how often she wished she could. They were just friends. Spending time together mostly because of Gigi and Puddles. Even if they were spending more time together as of late. That didn't mean anything. Not to him at least. She was certain.

Jimar didn't seem to mind her being stuck in her head.

Jimar never seemed to mind anything. Always understanding and happy to help her or even just be there in her company.

Eventually one of the baristas brought over their drinks as well as a small cake for them to share.

"Drink's for the happy couple," she said while placing them down.

"Or we're not"- the barista was already walking away before Mertle could finish -"dating."

"Aren't we?" Jimar asked.

And Mertle was fairly certain her heart had stopped. What was probably only a second of silence felt like an eternity.

"That's not very nice," she said as she grabbed her cup.

"What's not?"

"Teasing me like that." She pouted. "You know I've had a thing for you for a while. Though I try not to show it."

"You don't really hide it well," he said before taking a sip of his drink, ignoring how red her face became. "That's one of the things I like about you. Always wearing your heart on your sleeve. Well I guess you don't have sleeves today. But you know what I mean."

"Even more reason not to tease me then."

"I'm not." He grabbed her free hand, not letting her pull it back when he felt it twitch. "Maybe I misunderstood what we're doing. Sorry. I shouldn't have assumed. But I know you've got a thing for me, and I kind of got a thing for you. So how about an actual date? Next weekend."

The answer was so obviously yes. He knew that the moment he asked. It just took a moment for Mertle to pull herself back together. And for the rest of their coffee visit, both of them had trouble keeping eye contact for long.