Chapter 2
"So Delbert, Amelia when's the umm, magic date" Jim said whilst stuffing chicken into his mouth. The pair stopped eating and looked at each other, Delbert picking up a napkin off the table and wiping his mouth with it
"We haven't decided yet have we Amelia? When we do it will only be a small thing" he said looking at her
"Delbert" She said stretching the word "You described the family gathering as small, how small exactly do you mean?" squinting slightly .
"Just a few close relatives, maybe a family friend or two, nothing much. Oh and of course you two" he said looking at Sarah.
"Anyway I don't think we should be discussing this at the dinner table" Said Amelia, again trying to change the subject.
"Ok, I understand, give you more time to think about it - Where are you going for your honeymoon then?" Jim said knowing he was pushing his luck
"Mr. Hawkins, did you not hear what I just said, I do not believe we should be discussing such plans at the dinner table." She coughed lightly and carried on "You should be getting your reply from the Academy soon, how do you feel about it" doing her best not to return to the previous subject.
"Yeah, I think its good, they were good about my past though, actually more than I thought they were going to be" Jim looked up at Amelia gave her a knowing look and a thank you in one. Delbert looked up and at the two and tried to decipher the looks they were exchanging but failed.
"Anyway Jim im glad you know what your going to be doing for the next 5 years, when I was your age I had no idea. Mind you in my day things were so much different and things just happened in such.."
"Delbert…please, you're making me feel old," said Amelia cutting in with a smile on her face.
"Hmm, yes, im just glad that you know where you're going in life" continued Delbert
"Me too, its strange to think that my little boy is all grown up, and now going to the interstellar academy!"
"Muuuum!" Jim whined whist his face slowly turned a red colour. "You always do that"
"Do what?" exclaimed Sarah knowing exactly what she was doing.
"Look It doesn't matter, just, can we please change the subject"
"Oh, Jim, one more thing, when do you go for your interview, at the academy I mean?"
"I've already been Doc,"
"Oh"
"went last week. I had to talk to a bloke called Roderick for half an hour"
"You don't mean Colonel Roderick do you, by any chance?" said Amelia very inquisitively.
"Yes, I think he was a colonel, he had loads of medals on his uniform and a slight limp in his right leg, not that makes him a colonel. Thinking about it yes he was, he said it when he introduced himself" Jim continued to clean his plate with his knife, scraping all the small bits if vegetables into a neat pile ready to be picked up with his fork.
"Hmm" Amelia mused
"Do you know him then?" said Jim hearing her
"As a matter of fact, I do, and if you would kindly call him by his full title I would be much happier. You see, it was my fault he ended up with a limp" She finished in a slightly triumphant tone. On hearing this, Delbert choked on the drink he was taking sips of and whilst wiping the escaping juice off from around his mouth he replied
"Amelia, dear, how exactly did you give him a limp"
"I really do hate to change the subject, but still, I don't believe subjects like this are best discussed about the dinner table" Amelia said with a sense of authority and control.
"Delbert, are you finished there" said Sarah ready to take away the used dishes
"Sarah, don't move, remember you are not at the Benbow at the moment, you are officially our guests. Delbert, if you would help me take out the dishes." Amelia said beckoning to Delbert. He took a few seconds to recognise the request but then stood up and picked up his and Sarah's plates and made a dash for the door to the kitchen after his faience that was already half way through the door.
~~#~~
Once the door had closed Delbert placed the dirty plates on the draining board of the sink and walked over to Amelia who was now placing spoons in the pudding bowls.
"Amelia, dear, what exactly happened with Roder…Err…Colonel Roderick, I mean you didn't actually cause the… did you?"
"Don't be daft, you don't think I could have done something like…! Do you really believe that I would do something like that? You do, don't you "
"NO, of course not, its just when you didn't give an answer back at the table, I thought, well you can understand why I thought, w-w-what I did, I mean it's a logical" replied Delbert getting very flustered and hot under the collar.
"Calm down, your becoming hot under the collar again"
"No im not" he said argumentatively
"Yes you are, your stuttering and mixing up your words, look, I understand, now you should understand that if it wasn't for me, Colonel Roderick wouldn't even have a leg to get a limp on" She said putting the four bowls on a tray. Doppler sighed and put his hand onto his forehead and leant against the wall.
"Im apologise, I mean, I apologise, hmm, I don't know why I could even think that you could do something like that" Delbert said in a very apologetic tone.
Amelia turned around and touched Delbert's muzzle transferring a small lump of cream from her finger to sit on the end of Delbert's nose. He twitched his nose before turning back to Amelia. "It's because you know I would," She said playfully. She looked at him in a very satisfied and confident way before picking up the tray.
"Open the door for me please dear"
"Amelia, when exactly are we going to get married" Delbert said in a semi-serious tone, with that Amelia stopped and put the tray down.
"We have only been engaged for five days, don't you think we should take our time over this. I want this to be perfect"
"You want everything to be perfect dear," he said jokingly
"And this will be no exception, now open the damn door" once again in a playful tone.
"Ok, ok, I can get a hint, but, one more thing"
"What is it now" she said and looked into his eyes
"Well, why did Jim look at you like he owes you something earlier?"
"When, I don't remember that"
"Yes you do, you do, earlier, something about his academy acceptance" said Delbert trying to present his argument the best he could quickly. Amelia picked up the tray and placed her back up against the door.
"My dear, you shall never know!" and with that she licked the cream of the finger on her right hand and opened the door by pushing it open with her back then doing a stylish twist making her face forward. The door closed behind her and she heard a loud "Hey!" from the other side of the door.
~~#~~
Once Delbert had followed Amelia into the kitchen and the door had closed Jim immediately turned to his mum and stared.
"What?" was the reply to his stare
"Why do you always do that, especially in front of the Captain?" he exclaimed in a very annoyed tone
"Do what James, don't know what you're talking about" but she knew perfectly well
"You always embarrass me, and doing it in front of the Captain, that's just great, she must think im a ten year old. She notices and hears everything, I want to make a good impression in front of her and it's a little hard with you calling me a little boy!"
"Look Jim, no matter how old you are you will always be my little boy, building solar surfers and generally causing trouble. Ha, you have changed so much since the last time the police bots gave you a 'lift' home."
"Yes, I have changed, im 16 now and your still coming into my bedroom at night to tuck me in, its not necessary anymore, its just, well, embarrassing."
"Only just 16 Jim, look you're all I have got left, when you leave all I will have is Ben and although he is nice company, he is not my little boy" she said lovingly
"I know but that's just it, im not a little boy anymore mum. I have grown up, I will be off to the academy soon and.."
"I know, I just don't want to loose you, it seems all your life you have got yourself into situations where I thought I might loose you. First it was trouble with the police, and then it was going to treasure planet in which I still don't think you're telling me the whole story. I can't believe that the pirates just gave themselves up like that. Anyway, and now your going to the academy for five years. What am I going to do without you?" She said sadly
"Ahh mum, you'll do just fine without me, when I was there I was always getting myself into trouble anyway. I will write every week" said Jim trying to make Sarah feel better.
"Promise?"
"Promise" replied Jim
"And you'll stay out of trouble?"
"Yes - Promise" he said with a whine
"And you'll tell me if anything's wrong"
"Muuum, you're doing it again"
"Ok, so the tucking in thing can stop, but I will never stop loving him" she replied
"Huh?"'
"What, What have I done to embarrass you now?" she said annoyed
"You said 'never stop loving him'"
"No I didn't, can't have done"
"You did, you said loving him, loving who?" said Jim getting interested
"I meant loving you, that's what meant to say, look, its late cant I make a mistake?"
"Not like that" Jim said emphasising the last word.
"hey"
They both turned around after hearing a muffled sound behind them and saw Amelia walking towards them with a smile on her face and carrying in the pudding bowls.
"I have made rather large portions, I hope you don't mind but they just look so delicious I couldn't help myself" Jim looked at the extremely large portions of strawberries and cream just managing to stay inside the bowl, a surprised look followed as he never though Amelia ate so much. Then he turned to see the disgruntled doctor following her.
Both Sarah and Jim gave a short sharp laugh after seeing Delbert sit down and covered their faces trying so disguise their smiles.
"What, what is it, why do I seem to be the joke around here, first I don't know what's going on and then im being laughed at."
"Oh calm down dear, your not the joke and will never be and the only reason that you don't know about jims interview is because it was a surprise for all of us." said Amelia noticing the small bit of cream still happily sitting atop Delbert's nose, and as did the others, she let out a small laugh before trying desperately to cover it up
"What's so funny now?" Delbert said getting annoyed
"Nothing, honestly" Amelia said whilst handing around the pudding
"As long as that is it, im too tired for all this today"
There was a long silence and Amelia, Jim and Sarah all looked at each other knowing all that he had done that day was to sort out some books from one pile in the hall into another pile, and the only reason he had done that was because Katherine had had a go about it.
"Shall, we start then" said Sarah trying her best to break the very awkward silence, the conversation slowly built up and the rest of the evening continued with light deliberation on subjects that were of no importance. Of course not going near Amelia's private life for fear of being snapped at.
The evening went past as all the others had done the past 3 days.
"Good night, Amelia, Delbert, see you tomorrow, sweet dreams" said Sarah following Jim up the stairs
"Night Sarah, Jim, early start tomorrow" Amelia replied
"Yes, Goodnight Sarah, Jim, see you tomorrow" Delbert turned to Amelia as the two gave a short laugh and continued walking up the stairs to the guest room "What is it? What have the three of you found so irresistibly funny that you have had to laugh about me and actually in front of me. Is it something I have said, if so please tell me now before I really get worked up"
"Don't get so worked up about it Delbert, you haven't said anything wrong" Amelia said pushing the chairs under around the table.
"Then what is it, it has to be something, all three of you cant be laughing at something right in front of my nose, its physically impossi…" Delbert stopped and thought about it, his eyes then slowly focussed on the now partially runny drip of cream comfortably sitting on his nose. Amelia came up and with a handkerchief wiped it off his nose. Giving him a neat kiss on his cheek she put the handkerchief back in her pocket.
"There ya go, spic and span" She laughed and headed towards the stairs flicking the light switch off as she went past, plummeting the room into almost total darkness. The glow from the open fire cast a large shadow of Amelia's stunning figure on the wall as she stood on the bottom stair of the grand staircase. Delbert just stood there and admired the woman that he had fallen in love with as she looked back and admired him.
"Im having a shower, coming?" Amelia said playfully
"Umm, yes I think that would be a very good idea, I mean we have worked very hard today and it has been very hot out. Yes a nice relaxing show…" Amelia now looking at him with a playful frown "Oh, Oh well, Yes, definitely, hmm, coming" he said realising what she meant and then correcting himself for sounding too eager.
Delbert took Amelia's hand and the two of them walked side by side up the stairs, Delbert completely forgetting the embarrassment Amelia subjected him to earlier that evening.
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Ok, ok, I know not a lot happened in that one but, BUT you have to set the foundation first right? I know where this story is going and I might change the genre, I dunno, things may change. I also thought it was a bit long so this chapter has now become 2, you'll have to wait for the other half though. Please, please, please review, otherwise I will probably die (well nothing quite as drastic as that but I will feel hurt). One thing that I think would be a good idea on this site is a 'recommend to a friend' option, I dunno, just an idea!
Keep Smiling ~ Robbie.