Chapter Three: Control, Alt, Delete
Dot sat on one of the small benches outside of the main council hall. The council, as well as the trial, had adjourned for the second, but it only meant more seconds and perhaps up to a cycle of testimony. And they were only on the prosecution's witnesses. Dot rubbed her forehead, the signs of a large headache coming on. She had listened to Mainframer after Mainframer go to the witness stand and tell of a time she would much rather forget.
Letting out a sigh, she saw Bob coming towards her and smiled a little. If there was one thing she got from this trial, it was Bob's unwavering support. The blue guardian took the space his wife made for him and leaned back against the wall. The others were in their own little clicks, debating on what to do now. Kit and Jet both looked tired from the whole trial, their usual easy going manner replaced by one of frustration and hopelessness. Bob shook his head slightly.
It was only the first second of the trial and already his sons were feeling the pressure. It would be made worse by what he wanted to tell Dot.
"How ya holding up?" he asked quietly.
Dot sighed again, closing her eyes. "Like the weight of the Net has just been handed to me on a trash can lid." she replied.
"That good of a mood, huh?" Bob joked. Turning serious, he looked around to make sure only she could hear him. "I hate to be insensitive, darling, but our fellow Mainframers are feeling a lot of guilt right now."
She opened her eyes to look at him in concern.
"Everyone that's testified feel as though they're betraying you, like they shouldn't have said what they said."
Dot turned from him and whispered, "They shouldn't have."
Bob looked at her, a growing anger rising within him. "So our mighty leader would have her own citizens perjure themselves, just so..."
"No!" she exclaimed, a little louder than she would've liked. Matrix, Enzo, and the twins couldn't help but look over towards her. "No." she whispered. "I just...I just wish this would end, Bob. We get out of one scrape and we're thrust into another. Call me selfish if I just wanna concentrate on me and my family, our family."
Bob sighed and rubbed his face. "Baby, right now, we can't afford that." he said. "At least right now. The system's gotta come first, you know that, I know that. Everyone here is feeling pretty low." The guardian regarded the commander quietly, then asked, "You will talk to them, won't you?" the question coming out more as a statement and direct order.
Dot didn't miss the comment either. "If anyone's going to be giving out orders, Guardian, it's going to be me." she snapped, turning to look at him. "And yes, I will talk to them. I'll send a vid out to Phong tonight to see how the rest of the system is holding up." She turned from him to gaze out the open door. "I know my duty, Bob. You needn't have to remind me."
Bob stood up to go, but stopped short. "If you were doing it, I wouldn't have to remind you." he said, causing Dot's own anger to flare. The guardian walked away from her to meet up with the group Jet and Kit belonged. Dani was talking about getting rooms and a good meal for the night, while Kit was insisting he and Jet work on defense.
"Look," Kit was saying. "There's a lot riding on this. We can't just take time out whenever we feel like it."
"Hello!" Nikki replied. "Mainframe to Kit. The council obviously decided we'd be having a break, null breath. There's no reason you and Jet have to work non stop just to..."
"Do you want to see our parents go to prison?" Kit hissed, unaware of his father's appearance behind him.
"No one's going to prison." Bob replied, placing a hand on Kit's shoulder.
"Of course not." Kit said, his calm demeanor coming back. "Don't worry about a thing, Dad. Jet and I have everything under control."
"Well then, in that case, how bout we get some food and find somewhere to stay until this thing is over?"
"I was just making that suggestion." Kit replied.
"You were not!" Nikki scoffed. "It's just like you, Kit, to steal someone else's thunder."
"Uh!" Jet exclaimed. "Don't you people ever get tired of fighting all the time!?"
"Jet..."
"I will find us a place to stay if you need me." The teenager than stormed through the hallway, pushing past Enzo who had stopped to ask what was wrong.
"Way to go, Basic." Nikki mocked.
"If you say one more word to me..."
"Hey!" Bob interrupted. "Are you done? Are you through? If so, get your bitmap moving on this case." Turning to Nikki, he replied, "Go find your brother and help him look for a hotel."
"Daddy..."
"Now, Phoenix."
Nikki sighed, but did as she was told. As she left, she gave her older brother one last glare. Bob too started to walk away, but stopped when he noticed no one was doing anything. "I gave you something to do, right?" he asked. When the remainder of the group nodded, he said, "Well do it." With that, he headed down the hall towards the door.
***
Jet left the big convention center, took out his zipboard, and cruised around. The system of Trison was like a mini Super Computer. It was fairly big, perhaps a third bigger than Mainframe, with mostly large skyscrapers in the air. It reminded Jet a lot of Wall Street back home. Buildings upon buildings, with tons of activity going on. It seemed the system was made up of industrial sectors, with a few minor recreational ones.
He was in the downtown sector, as he had been told when they first arrived. Surely there would be a hotel somewhere in the area. On his search, Jet was more preoccupied with the recent fighting that seemed to be developing. True, his family was like any other ~to say the least~ and had their share of fights, but within that one second, one second their arguments had really gotten out of control. He remembered something from long ago that Phong had told him.
Take heart, young Jetison. Remember these words I once told your brother. In unity, there is strength.
The wise sprite had told him he was the ruler of the elements, those in which he learned were his own family. He wasn't the leader of the group, like his mom or dad and he wasn't the oldest like Kit, but Phong had almost assured him that when the time came, he'd rise above everyone and take control of the situation.
Jet wanted this trial to be one of those times.
Where are you? A voice called to him. Dad's totally pissed.
Yeah, well so am I. Jet snapped back.
No need to get snippy. Dad just wanted me to help look for a hotel.
I think I can find one on my own, thanks.
I'm just trying to help.
Well, don't. If you haven't noticed, I'm a big boy now. I think I can manage to find a hotel.
Nikki huffed and rolled her eyes. Fine, be that way. I bet I find a much better hotel than you will anyways.
Nikki, have I ever told you how annoying this mind thing is?
If you don't like it, why don't you disappear? Oh, that's right. You haven't controlled your powers. Ha!
Log off, Nikki. I'm sure you won't have trouble finding someone to help you.
Jet ignored the harsh words his sister was now yelling at him and concentrated on the problem at hand. So many times during the course of the second, he wanted to close his eyes and disappear. He had control over his powers now, which meant daydreaming could not happen whenever he closed his eyes. He wanted to get away from the whole incident, but he knew that wasn't an option, not when his family could be torn apart.
On the edge of the downtown sector and what looked to be another business
sector, Jet found it. Or rather, what he thought would be a perfect place
to stay. It was a two story, little bed and breakfast house. It stuck Jet
as odd, this little hut in the midst of all the higher buildings and such,
but to the teenager it seemed the perfect place to hold residency. Flying
down near it, he saw the vacancy sign and decided to go in.
"How is the trial coming, my daughter?"
After being informed by Jet a place to stay had been located, Dot got around to calling Phong, who was holding down the fort back in Mainframe. The wise sprite could see it even in her eyes that his commander in chief was not handling the second well. "If it could wrong, Phong, it did." Dot sighed. She began to explain the first second of trial, involving the reappearance of Alexander Gain and the beginning testimony of the last viral takeover in the system.
"Oh dear." the wise sprite replied, remembering that moment well and knowing how Dot hated to be reminded of it. All it did was feed into those insecurities she hadn't felt since the seconds of Megaframe. "I sense that is much conflict in the system you are now in." he continued.
Dot sighed and sat down on her bed. "Conflict to say the least." she said. "It's been one second of trial and already everyone's at each other's throats. My oldest son has lied to me, my brother was the leader in an assault, both brothers were the ringleaders in another viral takeover, which nearly cost the very system I love and lead, my husband and I aren't talking to each other, Roscoe and Sabrina aren't talking to each other and I can just see Matrix and AndrAIa blowing apart...oh Phong." she sniffed, wiping back a few tears. "When did things go from bad to...horrific?"
"It is not my will to say, child." Phong responded. "For your family, those that are with you and those that are still here, you must pull yourselves together. It seems as though this is just an attempt to pull you further from those you love."
"Phong..."
"As for the trial..." Phong tapped his chin and sighed. "Others might not and sometimes will not, understand the actions taken by the few in order to save the many. You and I know, Dot, we have suffered a great deal in our time and had to do things that we now wished we had not done. But when you look back, there...was no other choice. You make decisions based on the resources you have at your disposal."
"I wish you'd say that to our prosecutor." Dot joked. Her small grin turned back to a grimace. "I feel like I've lost control here, Phong."
"Some things you can not have control over, Dot." Phong replied. "Haven't we had this conversation before?"
"Yes." she said, rolling her eyes. "But sometimes..."
"Sometimes Dot, having control can not solve things." he interrupted. "Remember, it is that very control that leads to a virus' downfall and ultimate deletion."
Dot sighed, thinking about what he had just said. He was right, of course. "How're things in Mainframe?" she asked.
Phong smiled slightly, though inside he was concerned. He had watched all these sprites grow up and face their own inner demons to live full lives. It was things like this that always made them back space. "Things here are fine, Dot." he said, choosing to attend to her question then to give her a long lecture. She would come to him if he was needed. "We of course, wish for your speedy return."
Dot nodded. "I'm thinking of sending Alex back." she said. "She's due any second. I don't know why she didn't just stay in Mainframe."
"She wanted to be with Enzo." Phong replied. "And I'm sure our young guardian wanted her there as well."
Dot again nodded.
"You'll be glad to know Mouse will be coming back."
"Good." Dot said. "I feel better if Mouse was there with you." At that, Phong gave her a look. "Not that you can't handle the system yourself." she recited. "You're more than capable of handling things. I just like knowing you and Mouse are there keeping the system safe, that's all."
Phong smiled and nodded. "I admit it will be good having the hacker here." he said. "I do miss her charms and wit."
Dot couldn't help but smile herself. "Then I'll trust the two of you will stay out of trouble."
"Of course, of course."
Being infected is like nothing else in the Net, especially when you've never been infected before. With Daemon's infection, things were clear, calm. Those who were infected by her said they never felt more at peace. This was true especially for Matrix. His life had been wrought by disaster and turmoil and finally, it seemed all of that left him. He could see things clearly now. Things he had taken for granted were coming into focus.
His love for AndrAIa.
The lost hope he felt with Dot.
The second chance he would never have with Enzo.
The guilt he felt over losing that game.
Matrix had a building hate inside for everything he wasn't and couldn't be, but being infected by Daemon seemed to bring an end to this. Oh, he still had his problems sometimes, but after Daemon he knew what he had to do in order to change his life around. And he did. He made things better for his little brother, he asked the love of his life to marry him, best of all he talked things out with Bob and Dot. In his opinion, though he would never admit it out loud, being infected by Daemon was the best thing that ever happened.
The same was true with Dot. She had never been infected before Daemon and the super virus made her see just how much she loved Bob and needed him. Oh, she had known when she thought he had been lost, but once he returned, she wasn't sure if things could ever be more between them. What if he had met someone in the Web Riders? What if his feelings had changed or if they had never been there. She shouldn't have worried. Bob couldn't, wouldn't stop loving her no matter what and Daemon had brought her to that realization.
It seems each virus has their own style of infection. With Megabyte, his was a control infection, a domineering infection. Those subjects were either under his control or loyal to him. No matter what, Megabyte had the power. Daemon had a gentle infection, one that brought peace and understanding to it's slaves. She too had control, but it wasn't as harsh as Megabyte's. So it seemed Alexander Gain had his own infection as well. One that craved power...and destruction...
And revenge.
In other distressing news, his daughter didn't seem to be in the mood either. And when Matrix came up to Roscoe and yelled at him for hurting Sabrina, the sprite just nodded. The renegade didn't think he did a very good job with the yelling. Normally Rosoce jumped when he heard his name being called, but the boy didn't seem to be in the mood and Matrix just wasn't feeling the whole 'yelling at the daughter's boyfriend' routine. He was preoccupied himself.
Ever since Gain took the stand and basically revealed what had happened on the way to the Principal Office some time ago, AndrAIa had stopped talking to him. He had managed to pull her over at the end of the second's session. The small discussion was put on hold in order to avoid an argument. So, Matrix let it go, at least until he got to their room. Which was where he was pacing, waiting for her to return. She and Sabrina had gone shopping and sightseeing. Of all the times for them to be shopping, he thought bitterly.
The sound of laughing and the turning of the door knob signalled his wife and daughter's return. AndrAIa stood at the door, talking to Sabrina. "We'll talk later, okay?" she said. Sabrina nodded and continued down the hall of the second floor to her room. AndrAIa walked in, closing the door behind her. She went past Matrix with out a word and stepped into the closet. Matrix looked at her and sighed.
"I take it you're mad at me." he said.
"What was your first clue?" she asked, sarcastically, not bothering to turn away from the closet and putting her things away.
"Do I get a reason for the hostility?"
AndrAIa turned and looked at him in amazement. "You...you want a reason?" she asked. She closed the closet door with a loud slam and stared at him. "How about this for a reason? You were the leader in an assault. Nevermind you involved your brother and nephew, but our children, own our children, Enzo. And because of it, you may have cost your daughter whatever dreams she had of becoming a guardian one second."
"Hold it, hold it right there." Matrix said, trying to calm his own anger. "I didn't spearhead anything. That virus got what was coming to him."
"Matrix, how can you even say that?" she exclaimed.
"Do you have any idea what he did to me?" Matrix yelled. "To Enzo? What he was planning on doing to you, Sabrina, Nikki, and Dot? Let's not forget who the real victims are in this instance, AndrAIa." The two stared at each for a nano, before Matrix replied with, "Don't worry. I can almost guarantee you nothing is going to happen to Sabrina's guardian honor. Not when her uncle is Prime Guardian."
"Did it occur to you that's all the more reason to be worried?" AndrAIa asked.
The couple stood in silence until Matrix grunted and headed for the door. Opening it with gusto, he soon closed it again. "AndrAIa..." he whispered. "About what happened in Dellpac..."
"That was a long time ago, Matrix." she said.
He turned slightly towards her. "Kit's gonna make you testify, isn't he?" he asked.
The game sprite shrugged. "I don't know." she said. "And if he does, I'll just tell the truth."
Matrix looked at her. "It was an accident." he said, his fist clutching the doorknob. "You know that."
AndrAIa looked back at him, not once flitching at his rising temper. "I never said it wasn't." she said.
Matrix's jaw tensed and he once again opened the door. "I will say this." she said behind him, stopping his leave. He didn't bother to turn around. "I'll protect you and defend you on that for as long as we live. And anything else for that matter. But the incident with Gain...you're on your own, Matrix."
Mattrix seethed inside, knowing that his own wife...he walked out, slamming
the door behind him.
The blue guardian had organized a small meeting at Al's Wait and Eat, the closest place he could think that none of the Diner 'regulars' would be there and he'd be able to tell his suspicions to those he needed to tell. "Keep it down, please." Bob chastized. "I'm trying to keep this between us. If you go blurting it out, it won't be a secret any more."
"Dre's right." Alex said, taking a sip on her enegry shake. "I'll admit the boys going postal on you today was weird, but do you really think they're infected?"
"You'll need a big court to prove that in, Darlin'." Mouse replied.
"Look girls," Bob said. "I'm not saying it's true. I'm just saying I think they could be infected."
"Well then if that's the case," Alex said. "By who? And when?"
"I...I don't know." Bob sighed. He looked at the girls, who were giving him looks that told him they weren't buying it. "Look, so I didn't think this through all the way." he admitted. "But even you have to admit this just isn't like them. Not at all."
"And I will be the first to agree with you, Guardian." Mouse said. "But saying they're infected is a whole lot different than provin' they're infected."
"And I say they're not." AndrAIa said.
"I agree."
"Fine." Bob huffed.
"Now, wait a nano, Bob." AndrAIa said. "It's not that we don't believe you. We totally agree this is way out of behavior for Matrix and Enzo, but..."
"But you're not gonna go as far as saying they're infected." Bob concluded.
"Sorry Blue Boy," Mouse said, apologetically. "Way off the scope for us."
"All right." the guardian replied. "I guess I'll have to take that. What we need to do is find out what's going on."
"I think Dot's doing a good job of that right now." Alex joked.
"If anyone's gonna get the truth from those two, it'll be Dot." Mouse laughed.
Bob smiled at the comments, but something in his processor was telling
him different. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew the brothers
were infected and the knowledge that they had left Dot with them only caused
him to worry more.
Kit sat reading in the Trison library. It was still afternoon and practically empty in the large building. Most binomes and sprites were outside, swimming or running around outside in the cool breeze. Kit, though, would rather be there. In the library. It brought back fond memories of the Science Institute and studying in the lab, whether by himself or with Dani and some friends. The quiet suited the young doctor, who concentrated more when there weren't any outside distractions.
Of course, he was just fooling himself.
He had been staring at the same page for the past fifty micros, the setbacks of the trial replaying in his processor. He was beginning to doubt the effectiveness of his counsil and it had only been one second of session. The big problem, other than the fact that he wasn't a lawyer, was the fact that he didn't have the witnesses, expertise, or even resources that the prosecution had. The council consisted of him, Nikki, Jet, and possibly Roscoe, but with his troubles with Sabrina, that seemed to be a distant thing. He and Nikki were getting on each other's nerves, as were he and Jet, so their council wasn't working too well.
And then there were his witnesses.
He didn't have any.
He knew putting his family on the stand would only cause more damage and point to thier guilt. What he needed to do was cross examine the prosecution witnesses. But he didn't have anything on those witnesses, with the exception of Gain. The binomes and sprites from Dellpac obviously had in their minds what happened to young Cody Richson and Kit certainly didn't want to badger his own system's citizens, so that left him where? Absolutely no where.
Kit sighed and closed the large law book he had been staring at and put his head in his hands. He could feel the headache coming on and the endless yelling and explaining that would be taking place soon enough. He knew his parents were disappointed in him. He was disappointed in himself. He couldn't believe he had let himself get so angry, so enraged that he would willingly and purposefully attack and assault someone, even if it was Alexander Gain. Kit had so many conflicting emotions running through his body. On one hand, at one time, he had believed his father's belief that there was good in everyone. That was disproved during Kit's unwanted stay in the UFL.
On the other hand, Kit couldn't help but believe his mother's views, one that she shared with both brothers, that viruses were evil and only out for one thing. Power. That was proven by Gain himself. Kit had almost forgotten that night and no one else had talked about it, almost like it was something normal and natural and something to be forgot about. So forgotten, that when it came up in testimony, it was like a ghost coming back to haunt those involve and seemed to give the council a general idea of what was going on with the Matrix siblings and their families.
"Well, Mr. DA himself." came a voice behind him. Kit closed his eyes, knowing the voice.
"Peters." he said, turning in his chair.
Peters stood, arms folded across his chest and a cocky smirk on his face. "Studying up on your law exams?" he asked.
"This is a library, Mr. Peters." Kit retorted. "Not the system data dump. Surely you can find somewhere else to...bring your kind of...foul odor."
Peters glared at him, but then smiled. "No need to be snippy, Mr. Lan." he said. "If I were you, I wouldn't worry about sending my parents, uncles, siblings, cousins and who ever else I love to prison. I'd just worry about how they'll hate me when they are."
"Isn't there an ambulance you need to be chasing?"
Peters dropped his arms to his side and straightened out his suit. "Try and hold on, Mr. Lan." he replied, with a smirk. "This will be a bumpy ride, I assure you. There's a reason why the council picked me to be the prosecuting attorney. I haven't lost a case yet."
"First time for everything." Kit said.
"This isn't your little back water hole of a system, Lan, you just remember that." he snapped. "We here in the big cities conduct business a little differently and a lot more...discreet and more dignified. We tend to throw our viruses out, rather then beat them to a pulp like a family get together. And our sprites certainly don't try taking over the system."
Kit had had enough. He jumped out of his chair and lunged for Peters, grabbing him by the jacket lapels. The commotion caused some of the library patrons to look towards their direction. "My, my." Peters said. "Temper, temper. I'd watch it if I were you. That could be looked badly upon if you were in court."
"The key word being if." Kit growled. He glared at Peters before finally letting him go. "And if anyone's gonna watch it, it should be you. You won't like me when I'm angry."
"Is that a threat?"
Kit shook his head. "A warning, if you will." he said. "Now, if you don't mind, I believe I was trying to get a bit of reading done. If you'll excuse me." Kit took his seat and once again opened the large book. Peters continued to glare at the back of his head, before turning and leaving.
Kit waited until he was sure Peters was gone. He then expelled the breath he had been holding while the prosecutor still stood behind him. He was right. If that had been before the council and the spectators, it would prove to do more harm than help. Kit started his breathing exercises, something his father had taught him in order to control his budding temper and keep a lid on revealing his powers when he didn't want to. Kit needed to keep a hold on his, and everyone else's, tempers in order to keep the case flowing in their favor.
Which wasn't exactly much of a flow.
It seemed Gain had picked the perfect pair to carry on his infection.
Only those close to the Matrix brothers would notice any difference in
their regular behavior and even that was ever so slight. So when their
sister Dot Matrix was infected, their family seemed more on heighted alert.
But there was nothing they could do. Bob had his suspicions, but he couldn't
prove they were infected and even still, couldn't prove who had infected
them and when it had happened.
He just had suspicions.
And suspicions couldn't save a system from a viral coupe.
Enzo looked at Dot as she blinked a few times. Some part of him knew what he was doing and knew it was wrong, but it was like he was trapped. Trapped inside of his own body, feeling and knowing what he was doing, but helpless to stop any of it. "Now, that didn't hurt, did it?" he asked, once Dot looked back at him.
Dot stretched slightly, testing her limps. "It tingles." she said.
"Kinda like sticking your finger in a light circuit?" Matrix asked.
Enzo and then Dot looked at him.
"Not that I would know anything about..." the renegade corrected. "Why're you looking at me like that?"
Enzo just shook his head. "Just ignore him." Enzo told Dot. "I usually do." He turned away from his siblings and started to pace. "Now, about our plans..."
"Excuse me?" Dot asked. "What is this 'our' business? There's only one planner in this group and that's me."
Enzo glared at her. He then sighed and said, "Well then. Get to planning."
"Don't rush me." she sneered. "Besides, we have a lot ot plan. I mean, why just take over this little hole in the wall, when we could have bigger things."
"Oh, not the old 'let's take over the Super Computer' plan." Matrix groaned. "That's been done to deletion. Deletion!"
"He's right." Enzo said. "Everyone and their mom has tried for the SC and failed, with the exception of Daemon and even in the end, she couldn't beat us." The young guardian was silent for a while. "I think we all know who our... benefactor is." He closed his eyes, as though in some slight pain or even conflict. He opened them again, the green highlights in his eyes shining brighter. "We're following orders." he continued. "And those are to seek and destroy."
"No one gets out of the system alive." Matrix commented.
Dot flinched slightly, waging her own personal battle inside. Deep
inside her, she knew this was wrong, against everything she had ever wanted,
but a much stronger force was telling her otherwise, telling her this was
the right thing and the best thing to do.
Nightfall in the system of Trison was relatively quiet and in the Happy Moon bed and breakfast the same was said to the only occupants in the place. The caretaker, though very friendly to the sprites, was slightly disappointed when his other guests left, knowing that the most wanted sprites in the Net were sleeping right next to them. That left more vacancies to be filled and the Mainframe group filled most, with rooms to spare. Which was good, considering.
They all sat around the large dining table in silence. The caretaker, Mr. Snipes, had the cook prepare dinner for his guests and said dinner would be at 1900. From the outside, the place seemed small, but the inside interior made up for that assumption. The dining room alone was large, almost like a banquet hall. The kitchen adjoined by a door, and the stairs leading to the second floor. The second floor had about twenty rooms, ten on each side. Large bedrooms, with a kind size bed, a large bathroom, just about everything for the comforts of home.
So the group of heroes and warriors sat around in silence, eating the food from their plates. Dani noticed Matrix playing with his food, as was Kit. Dot ate slowly, while Bob half-heartedly stabbed at his steak. Chip, who was sitting next to Dani, tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned, he brought her attention to his sister and her boyfriend. Sabrina sat catacornered from Chip, who was in between Dani and Matrix. Next to Bri was Roscoe, who hadn't touched his food and was busy making airplanes from the napkins.
"How was shopping?" Dani asked, causing most of the table to look up at her.
"It was fine." Sabrina said after a micro, realizing it was she who was being addressed. "Did some...shopping, sightseeing. You know."
"Right." Dani said, smiling. Chip smirked as well, especially when everything went back to silence.
Leaning over to her, he asked, "So how long do you think you can keep this up?"
"Long as I have to." she whispered back. "Kit, I passed by the Trison Musuem today. We should check it out while we're here."
Kit, who sat next to Roscoe, didn't seem to hear the comment. "Kit?" Dani called. "Christopher!"
"What?" he asked, looking up.
"Did you hear what I said?"
"Oh," Kit said, slightly embarassed. "No, I didn't, sorry darling. I've got other things on my mind."
Dani just nodded and went back to her food, ignoring the look Chip was giving her.
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" Alex exclaimed. "This has got to be the most boring, one sided, low density dinner I've ever attended." Standing and taking her plate in her hands, she declared, "I'm going upstairs. I'm sure I can have more entertaining conversation with myself."
She waddled herself from the table and slowly, but determinedly, started up the stairs. Enzo, feeling guilty and cringing under the looks everyone was giving him for not getting up sooner, also picked up his plate and left the table. "Hey, sweetie, you want some help?" they heard him call.
"Get away from me!" came the reply. "It's your fault I can't get up the stairs in the first place!"
"Hey, I'm not the one who tackled me in the sand, now am I?"
"Don't you dare blame this on me!" she shouted back. "For someone who's having your child, you just don't love me anymore!"
"What?"
Chip and Nikki couldn't stop their giggling as the couple made their way upstairs. Their giggling caused Dani to try and surpress a smile, with no such luck. Soon the three were laughing, causing everyone else at the table to smile. "Okay, cool it." Bob said, trying to calm everyone down. It was good to see everyone is a somewhat better mood, not that it last long. As soon as the trio calmed themselves, the group was back to eating in silence.
