Thanks to all reviewers!!!!!!!! There's still more story to come!!!!!!!

Nik lay in her bedroom late at night, staring up at the ceiling of her room and pondering the events of the day. All the talk of her parents had brought back floods of memories - some good, but most bad. She could see herself as a seven year old, right after her mother died, running towards her father.

"Daddy!" The happy little girl hugged her father's leg.

He brushed her off. "Not now, Nik. You know Daddy's busy. Not now."

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Daddy, you're always too busy. Don't you have time for me?"

He rolled his eyes and strode off. "Not now, Nik, not now."

"But Daddy!" she cried. "Don't you love me anymore?"

The only answer was the slam of the door.

Nik frowned at the memory, then tossed off the covers. Her gaze settled on the holopictures of her mother that she'd set on the end stand.

"Mommy." Nik muttered softly. "Why did you leave me with that....monster?"

Hot tears rolled down her cheeks and puddle on the floor. She had no idea how long she sat there, but eventually, sleep came and covered the agony or memories.

Nik awoke the next morning to a heavy knock on the door.

"Come.." She mumbled groggily as she sat up and rubbed her bleary eyes.

The door swung open, and in walked Jim with Morph at his shoulder, followed closely by a jabbering B.E.N. Nik's face flushed red and she snatched up her robe from a nearby chair to cover her pajamas.

"Good Morning, Nikki!" B.E.N. greeted her in his usual hyperactive tone. "I've got a surprise for you!"

Nik turned and shot a questioning look at Jim , flushing an even deeper red when she saw he was staring right at her.

"Here you go!" B.E.N. thrust a tray into her hands. "I made you breakfast in bed!"

Nik smiled politely. "Thanks, B.E.N." She turned to set the tray on the end table, only to find Jim examining the photo of her mother. She opened her mouth to object, but bit her lip quickly, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"You're mother?" Jim asked.

She nodded.

"She was very pretty." He set it down and flashed her a charming grin. "Not unlike you."

Nik rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She turned back to the robot. "Why the breakfast, B.E.N.?"

"Ohhhh, no special reason. Just cause you're special!" He elbowed her in the ribs, and again she gave Jim a quizzical glance.

"No idea..." Jim shrugged and sat on a nearby chair. Morph floated over to where Nik sat with the tray, and stared down at the food greedily.

"Oh no you don't!" B.E.N. attempted to wave him away. "I didn't make that for you!"

Morph blew a raspberry at him and snatched a piece of toast, chortling happily as the robot again snatched at him.

"Don't worry, Nikki, I'll get you a new one in a jiffy!" B.E.N. disappeared through the door and left Nik and Jim alone to watch Morph munch his prize.

"Sooooooo..." Jim said at length, leaning back ion his chair and raising his eyebrows.. "How is your day going?"

Nik shrugged and offered Morph another bit of the ill-prepared food. The little shape shifter snatched it up greedily. "You've been here for all of it so you should know."

Jim bit his lip. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Uhhhhhh..listen, would you like to try soloar surfiung with me today? Just for a variety?"

Nik's head jerked up as Morph continued to devour her food. "Solar surfing? You do that? And you're still ALIVE???"

Jim looked confused. "Yeah, why?"

Nik blew a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and shook her head slowly. "Back home it was illegal because of the low gravity. You get going to fast and too high..then WHOOSH, you're floating free in space - a dangerous thing to be doing."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience."

She looked up sheepishly. "I am. My best friend tried it once...almost got herself killed. Two weeks later her family moved away, they blamed me for it."

Jim wasn't quite sure what to say. "I - I'm sorry...I take it that's a 'no' then?"

"You bet it is." She stroked Morph gently, and the little blob purred happily and rubbed against her cheek. "Jim, why is it that you want to help me so bad?"

"It's nothing, really. There was this one time a man named Silver helped me, and I want to return the favor."

"So why now help him?"

"I can't anymore...but I'll tell you about him later. I promise."

"Alright."

Jim yawned. "Well, than what do you want to do? I mean you have to do something more than just spend the day reading and chatting with B.E.N."

Nik's eyes widened dangerously. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, I just figured that you'd rather do something fun with me than stay here all day."

"You figured."

"Yeah..." His voice trailed off. "Is there something wrong?"

"You never asked, you just figured. Never considered I might LIKE staying here, never asked my opinion, just figured I'd rather spend my time with YOU."

Jim opened his mouth to speak but closed it again slowly, thinking better of what he had been about to say.

Nik stood and walked to the door, swinging it open and glaring at Jim. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Hawkins, but I think It's about time for you to leave."

Jim's jaw dropped slightly, but he allowed her to usher him out, with Morph trailing a few feet behind.

As the door closed behind him, Jim sighed. "She forgot to call me 'Jim'."

Morph floated near his shoulder and chirped. "Jim!"

He smiled. "Thanks Morph, now go tell her that."

"Okay, aye, aye!" Morph zipped under the door before Jim could say a word in protest.

"Morph!" Jim slapped his hand on his forehead. "It was a figure of speech." He sighed and headed down the stairs to the kitchen, where he found B.E.N. singing happily and washing dishes.

Jim listened to the song for a minute, then frowned.. "B.E.N., what are you singing?"

"Oh, hi Jimmy! It's just a song. Why, do you like it?"

Jim snickered and snagged a slice of toast. "Yeah, sure."

B.E.N. stumbled through a few more verses, happily scrubbing away at dishes during memory gaps.

"B.E.N.," Jim said around a mouthful. "You don't know that song very well, do you?"

"Of course not, Jimmy. I don't know it at all, yet. I'm making it up as I go along!"

Jim swallowed. "That's what I though."

At that moment, Morph zipped into the kitchen, followed shortly by a disheveled Nik.

"Come back here you little blob!" She snatched at him, but he slipped through her fingers and chortled happily.

"Little blob!" He echoed as he squeezed between B.E.N. and Jim.

Nik stopped just short of knocking down the robot and glared at Morph. "Someday I'll get you back for that." She smiled as he floated back over to her and cooed as he nuzzled her cheek and tangled himself in her shoulder length hair. "Oh, suuuure. You think I'm a pushover, don't you?" She tickled him with a finger and he chirruped happily. "Okay," She nodded, "So maybe I am, but don't spread the word."

Jim studied her as he chewed his last bite of toast. "Hey, uh, Nik I'm sorry. What I said back there was kind of selfish."

She raised an eyebrow and smirked ever so slightly. "Is that all you ever do?"

"What?"

"Apologize. You ask forgiveness for everything you say. Did it ever occur to you that I might have been the one at fault?"

Jim started to speak but she cut him off.

"Forget it, Jim." She laughed at the bewildered look on his face. "Is there anything I can do to help around here?" She looked over to where B.E.N. was standing and washing dishes, or trying to wash dishes. "Would those maybe get done faster if I helped?"

Jim shook his head. "No, you don't have to-"

"But I want to." She slipped over to B.E.N. and took the scrubber from him. "Here, I'll do this. Go have some fun, do something enjoyable. Break something and put it on my tab."

Both Jim and B.E.N. now wore bewildered looks.

"Wow....." Jim grinned. "What a change."

B.E.N. was ecstatic. "Oh thank you, thank you Nikki-"

"Nik."

"-Nikki! No one's ever wanted me to have fun at their expense before! I'm so.touched." He wiped an oily tear from his eye with a metal finger. "Awwwww! I just wanna hug you!" He launched himself at her and squeezed her tight, yanking her arms from the sink and sending soapy water and the scrubber flying right into Jim's face.

"Jim?" Nik said uncertainly as B.E.N. cried into her shoulder. "Uhhh."

He grinned as he threw the scrubber back at her. "He does that all the time, get used to it."

"Yippee." She rolled her eyes and tried to dodge the scrubber, but B.E.N. prevented her from moving very far in any direction. "Okay, B.E.N., you can let go now."

"Oh, sorry." He straightened up and looked at Jim. "Jimmy, how'd you get wet?"

Jim sighed as he stepped up to where Nik was eyeing the robot carefully.

"B.E.N.," She said. "Don't ever do that again, okay?"

But B.E.N. was already out the door.

She picked up the scrubber off the floor and plunged her arms back into the sink full of dirty dishes. Jim peered over her shoulder as she hummed a tune. After a moment, she turned her head just enough to get a clear view of his face, and grinned.

"Jim, if you don't move, I think I'll feel obliged to splash a little of this water on you."

Jim's eyes grew playful. "You already did.but you wouldn't dare try it again."

"Oh, wouldn't I?" Her eyes assumed a look nearly identical to his as she sent a handful of water flying his way.

"Hey!" He jumped back and armed himself with a half full glass of water that was sitting on the table behind him. He cocked and eyebrow slightly and swirled the water in the glass. "Bring it on."

Sarah Hawkins sat chatting pleasantly with the Dopplers in the dinging area when she heard the gleeful shouts and splashes from the kitchen.

Dr. Delbert Doppler leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "I just left my children with a babysitter, Sarah. I'm not going to go check on yours."

Sarah sighed and Amelia perked up her ears as the shouts grew louder. "I'd rather like to see what's going on in there. It must be an all out skirmish by the sound of it. Come along, Sarah, let's, as they say, 'crash the party'."

They rose and made their way to the kitchen door. The moment they stepped through, the water fight inside stopped.

Both Sarah and Amelia looked at the two sopping wet people and burst into laughter.

Sarah shook her head as she watched them both shrug sheepishly. "Let's get back to breakfast, Amelia." The captain slipped through the door first, and Sarah turned to look at them both before she left. "Was that fun?"

Both nodded.

"Good." She smiled. "Because guess who gets to clean it up?"

Their moans followed her back into the dining room.

Nik leaned on her mop as Jim flopped onto a chair.

"This has been a fun morning, huh?" Jim chuckled.

Nik dropped the mop into the bucket and sat across from him. "Actually, yeah. I haven't had a chance to enjoy myself like that for a long time." She paused and peered around the kitchen. "Where's Morph?"

He gestured towards the door. "In the dining room begging for food. That's where he always is at meal time. It's B.E.N. I'm worried about."

"Don't be." She grinned. "I have enough upstairs to pay for anything he could possible break."

Jim smiled. "Ready for some lunch?"

"I'm not really all that hungry."

"But you didn't even eat breakfast!"

She shrugged. "I don't typically eat that much. And when you're trying to shrink back to normal size, foods' even less important to you."

Jim frowned. "Well as long as you're here, you're going to eat. And don't worry about you hips, you've only been here a week and already they're smaller. They were never that big to begin with."

She perked up. "Really?"

"Yeah." He stood and stretched. "I'll toss something on the stove, then I have something to tell you."

"Whatever." Nik sighed and sank back happily into the chair.

A minute later, Jim returned and resumed his seat. "This is good news." He smiled. "Remember when I promised to tell you about Silver?"

"Yeah." She opened one eye and peered at him.

"Well, I think you should know that Silver is the last remaining member of Flint's crew."

That got her attention. "How do you know so much about him?"

Jim smiled sadly. "You remember that incident a few years back when Treasure Planet was found?"

Nik nodded.

"Well that was me. I was the boy who saved the ship.and Silver.well, I was the one who let him go."

"What?" Nik frowned and sat upright.

"He- he was like that father I never had, Nik. He's a good guy, really. You've got noting to worry about. Trust me."

She studied him for a moment, then smiled slowly. "I will."

"Good."

Just as he turned back to the stove, B.E.N. burst through the door, waving a letter.

"B.E.N., you're back!" Nik stood. "How much did your morning off cost me?"

The robot hurried across the room and shoved the letter into her hands. "There's not time for that now! You got a letter from the Academy!"

Nik's brow furrowed as she tore open the letter to find another one enclosed inside. She glanced down at the manuscript and frowned. "It's been forwarded by the Academy. Someone sent it to them so they could sent it to me."

With trembling fingers she pulled out the sheet and read its contents. As she read, her face paled, causing Jim to wipe his hands on a towel and rush over. Before he reached her, she slammed the letter down on the table and glared at him.

"Safe, huh? It sure looks like that now."

Nik fled the room and Jim stared after her, puzzled. He glanced at B.E.N., then at the letter, finally picking it up.

"Nikole Solo," He read aloud. "Don't get too comfy and relaxed, we're onto you. Count every minute as your last..."

Jim sighed and looked to B.E.N. and sighed. "Things are really starting to get interesting around here..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's my sad attempt at a cliffhanger.

Thanks to all reviewers.

Winchester: Shhhhhhh don't blab :- )

Wolfarine: Thanks so much! I actually have lots of trouble writing Jim...

Alyde11: Yay Kudos! :- ) I still need to R&R your newest chapter..

Chef13: Bring on your next chapter! Can't wait for it!

Happylittlemorph: Using my story to recruit for an RPG.tut tut, well actually it's a good RPG so I'll forgive you. :- )

Glad to know you all actually like this story! I was a bit worried for a while there! Anyone else who has a story they want me to R&R just tell me and I will. Thanks a bunch guys!!