Chapter Seven: So We Meet Again
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"Oww…oh, Lord…!" The party had taken its toll on poor Tommy. After they returned, John had insisted on "celebrating" the victory.

"Ooh…I am going to KILL John for this, I swear…ouch…!"
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"HEY! BARTENDER! ANOTHER ROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The bar was alive with partying U.N. pilots. Rock music blared out of stereos brought in, and nearly every person present was either inebriated or very close to it. Tommy was drinking, too, but remained quiet.

John got up on top of one of the tables.

"Excuse me?! Excuse me!? HEY, SHUT UP, WILL YA!?" The cacophony only slightly weakened. John jumped back down to the floor. "Ah, close enough. Anyway, we're all here to congratulate our buddy here, Tommy Rickenbacker. As most of you already know, he just scored his first two REAL kills out there today! Let's all show him how proud we are!!"

Tommy went up to John. "Man, are you sure this is necessary…?"

"Aw, sure it is! Everybody, sing along with me!!"

"Oh, for the love of…"

Everybody sang.

"For he's a jolly good fellow;
For he's a jolly good fellow;
For he's a jolly good fellow…
And blew up a bunch of bad guys!"

Tommy sighed. John put his arm around him.

"C'mon, pal, at least show a little pride! C'mon…!"

Tommy couldn't help but smile a little. "…Maybe you're right."

"Hey, I think you're empty, buddy."

Tommy shook his bottle. "Hey, you're right." He sighed, then decided to go for it. "One more, bartender!"

John laughed. "That's the spirit, buddy!"
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Tommy struggled out of bed. "Why…why me? Why is it ALWAYS me-ouch, it hurts…!" He prayed to himself that the hangover effects would go away soon. He showered and got dressed, almost forgetting that he was off duty that day and nearly getting into uniform. He wisely decided to try and wait out the hangover before attempting to go anywhere.

At her own house, Kina was outside enjoying the fresh air.

"Mmm…nice day, nice day. It'd be a shame to waste it…I know! I'll go to the big park just outside of the town! I'll just take a few things with me and get in some nice downtime." She rushed inside.

A while later, Tommy was finally out of that blasted hangover.

"Damn…I really hope I don't run into John today…because if I do, I'll…say hello to him. Then, I'm going to tell him that I had a good time at the party…and then I'm going to strangle him!" He sighed. "Take it easy, Tommy. You just need a stress reliever…" Tommy paced around the room. "I know. I'll go to the park. Get myself some fresh air."

Unbeknownst to each other, Kina and Tommy arrived at the same time. Tommy decided to just take a stroll.

"I wonder when we're going to see more of the Hammerheads…and if so, what kind of hardware they're going to fling at us…"

Kina, on the other hand, found herself a spot and stayed put, getting in a couple of stretches before laying back and staring up at the clouds.

"What a view…I love it out here…!"

Tommy walked for several minutes, unable to get his thoughts off of the Hammerhead attack from the previous day. He eventually noticed a familiar sign hanging over a gate.

"ENTER AT OWN RISK."

Tommy stopped. "Hmm…I wonder…" He chuckled to himself, and then went in. Fortunately for him, there wasn't anybody around the gate area.

Kina sat up. She wiggled her feet a little and braced herself with her hands.

"Boy, does this bring back memories. It's just like when I was a child. I used to sit like this right in our backyard, doing nothing but thinking…!"

Tommy took a look around. He was just about to turn back when he finally spotted a familiar face.

"Well, it's nice to get a good coincidence once in a while," he thought to himself. "Hello over there!"

Kina turned her head in the direction of the voice. "Yes? Who's there? Hey, is that you, Tommy?"

"Yeah, it's me!"

Kina immediately smiled. "Hi! I was wondering if I was gonna see you again. Come on over!"

Tommy went up to her. "I was hoping I'd find you here. To be frank, I could use a decent conversation after last night…"

"What do you mean by that?"

Tommy chuckled. "It's a long story."

Kina smiled. "I'd be happy to hear it. Say, want to find a place where you won't get have to crane your neck so much while trying to talk to me?" she said, barely suppressing a giggle.

"Might help." She picked him up again, and carried him to one of the scaled-up park benches. He sat on the backrest of the bench, her arm outstretched behind him to keep him from falling backwards.

"So, what's up?" she said. Tommy proceeded to tell her most of what had been going on. Tommy was well aware of Kina's civilian status and, although he didn't like it, left out the part about the Hammerheads.

Kina took it all in with genuine interest. "Wow…that must've been some party to get a guy drunk THAT badly."

Tommy sweatdropped a bit. "Yeah…and I woke up feeling like my head had been beaten with a two-by-four for hours. Y'know, I think I'm gonna give up the bottle."

"That's always a good thing."

Tommy smiled. "Well, enough about me. What happened with you lately?"

"Not much, really. I guess I'm sort of grateful for it. At least I haven't had any more close calls!"

"Glad to hear that. Hey, is it me, or is it getting a bit cold out here?"

"I didn't notice…but since I'm a Zentraedi, cold doesn't register on me as much," she said with a sweatdrop of slight embarrassment. "This is going to sound silly, but…you'd be warmer in my hand."

Tommy blinked. "Uh…okay…" Kina carefully wrapped her fingers around him.

"How's that? Too tight?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks."

Kina smiled. "No problem. Uh…want to go on a tour with me?"

"Sure, I'd be glad to."

"Great!" She got up, and carried Tommy along with her. They spent the next several minutes talking with each other, becoming more familiar every minute. Eventually, they reached a section near a large lake.

"Wow…now that is really pretty," said Kina.

"The lake? Yes, it is. You do know why the planet's called Sweetwater, don't you?"

Kina blushed a little. "Actually…I don't."

"This planet's got a huge amount of limestone in its crust. That plus a lot of natural desalination agents in the rocks makes nearly all the water on this planet fit for consumption with minimal treatment."

Kina sweatdropped. "Uh…say what?"

Tommy smiled. "Sorry. Sweetwater is the only known planet whose oceans and major bodies of water are freshwater, not salt water."

"Freshwater OCEANS? I had no clue…"

"Yep."

"How do you know all that?"

"In the Spacy, when they assign you to a planetary base, you get a briefing on the terrain features of the planet you're going to be on."

"Oh, I see. Hmm…" Suddenly, at that point, somebody ran right into Kina from behind. It was a Zentraedi runner who had forgotten to look where he was going. Tommy went flying.

"AAAH! Kina! Help!"

"Tommy!" She jumped forward, making a diving catch motion. She barely caught him before he hit the ground. Unfortunately, she hit the ground herself with a hard THUD.

"Oof…that wasn't very pleasant…Tommy? Tommy, are you okay?!" She opened her hands. To her relief, he was alive.

"…Don't worry…I'm okay…whew…!"

"Oh…thank God!" Both of them were panting, trying to get their hearts to slow down. As Tommy got out of Kina's opened hands, he turned to look at her. They stayed like that for a few seconds. Then, something happened that nobody would've expected. They each began to snicker. Then they began to chuckle. Then, Kina rolled to the side, Tommy fell to the ground, and they both began to laugh uncontrollably. A few people looked at them like they were a couple of idiots, but they just laughed away. It took them a whole minute to stop.

"Oh…wow. I haven't had a really good laugh like that for too long! I forgot how great it feels." said Kina.

"Me too."

Kina rolled to her side, to face Tommy. "I'm really sorry about that, though."

"Don't worry about it. Blame that idiot who couldn't see."

"Yeah, where'd that guy go, anyway?" She looked around. The runner was far away, down the path. "Huh. Coward."

"Ah, forget it. I still had a great time."

"Me too! Y'know, Tommy, you're pretty cool. You're nice to me and you're the only person I know who can put up with my…coordination problems one hundred percent!"

Tommy blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah! Even my friend Aivea sometimes gets a little irritated…but you always take it in stride."

Tommy smiled a little. "Guess it comes from getting used to being bounced around in the cockpit." Kina chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess you've probably gone through a lot worse, huh?"

Tommy laughed. "Nothing quite THIS unique, but I've taken a fair share of poundings." Tommy checked his wristwatch. "Oh, damn…listen, I've got to go pick up some stuff from the supermarket."

"Oh, okay. I'll take you back to the gate, cool?"

"Sure."

"Uh…Tommy?"

"Mmm?"

"I'm really glad you showed up. Thanks for giving me some company."

"Oh, uh…yeah, anytime. That's what friends are for, right?"

Kina smiled. "Right!"

"I think I'm going to take a few more bumps than usual over these next few weeks…but it just might be worth it!"