Chaptah 2

"Happy Birthday Nigel!" the KND shouted happily, presenting their leader with a large cake and gifts. They knew this was going to be the hardest birthday they'd deal with before decommission; Nigel had broken up with Lizzie the week before. Nigel grinned and blew the candles out.

"Whaddya wish for?" Kuki asked, bouncing around. Nigel looked up at her unexpectedly.

"Uh, I- uh... It's a secret." He replied. Abby raised an eyebrow at his discomfort and turned to Hoagie.

"Shall we cut the cake?" she asked.

"Oh, please, we shall." Hoagie replied, cutting a large chunk for Nigel. "Here ya go boss."

"Thanks!" Nigel said, accepting the cake and taking a bite. "Coconut cream, my favorite!"

"Told ya it was his favorite." Abby whispered, nudging Hoagie in the ribs. Hoagie gave her an annoyed look and just replied, "Rub it in already, please."

"So you aren't going to tell me what you wished for?" Kuki asked Nigel in the background. Hoagie handed her some cake as she danced by.

"I'll tell someone... just not right now. The time isn't right." Nigel said, finishing off his cake.

"Let's dance!" Kuki said as she turned up the volume on their stereo. She pulled Wally off the wall and swung him into the center of the room. He blushed but started dancing. Everyone raised an eyebrow to the scene, but they understood the meaning.

"Come on guys, it's not so bad." He called from the dance floor. Reluctantly, the other three kids joined their coupled friends. Hoagie and Nigel tried not to laugh at Wally's obedience to Kuki, while Abby was smiling secretly at one of them. It was a fun day for the crew. They danced until Hoagie got hungry, and then they ate pizza for dinner. When they finally got tired, they turned out the lights and mumbled a 'happy birthday boss' on their way into their rooms. Five minutes later, Nigel snuck out of his room and crept into Abby's.

"Numbah 5, you still awake?" he whispered.

"What is it Numbah 1?" she mumbled, sitting up and turning on her bedside lamp.

"Uh, erm, I, uh..." he stammered. Nigel, don't back out now you coward. He thought to himself before saying out loud, "Couldyougrantmybirthdaywish?"

"Uh, yeah sho Numbah 1." She replied sleepily. Nigel leaned over her face and softly pressed his lips against hers. He drew back and left after saying, "Thanks."

Into the empty night, Abby whispered, "I agree boss."

The next morning around five Wally was jolted awake by his alarm clock. He slammed his fist on the top of it and got up to take a shower. Thirty minutes later he was out the door and headed into Kuki's room. For a month they had been going through her diary, a couple entries a day, so he could catch up with her. He had decided that her idea was genius and he had started his own journal.

"Kuks?" he called into the room before entering. He entered when he got no reply. "Wake up Kuks, we have work to do!" he happily said, sitting on her bed. Wally was a morning person. Unfortunately, Kuki wasn't.

"Go away you stupid spider!" she voiced, swinging at the air. Wally laughed and grabbed her hand. She woke with a start. "Oh, it's you." She mumbled. "Five thirty already?"

"Yep. So let's get going and you can go back to sleep." He playfully said, poking her in the arm. He knew she didn't go to sleep after he woke her up. They would often talk after he was done writing and then they'd make breakfast for the rest of the team.

"Alright, fine you dork." She goofily said as she went into her bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. It's a wonder I don't scare him with my hair each morning, she thought as she brushed the dark locks.

"You ready yet? I want to get cracking." He asked. In response, she came out of the bathroom and pulled out her diary.

"Today was the day you broke Mr. Huggykins." She said flatly, wondering how he could possibly enjoy the morning so much.

"Really? We're that far along?"

"Yeah. I still need a new Mr. Huggykins, you know."

"Yeah... I'm sorry about that." He said as he wrote. He looked up and gave her a heart-warming smile and continued to scribble on the pages. About ten minutes later he looked back up at her and asked, "So what's after that?"

"Well, I have to skip a few pages here, I wrote a lot about how mean you were." Kuki answered, grinning slightly. "Ah, here we go. Seems the pop factory was after that."

"Thanks." Wally wrote a couple sentences down and glanced at the clock. "Oh, it's time to make a little breakie."

"Okie." Kuki said as she slowly woke up and became chipper again.

"Pancakes?" he asked as they entered the kitchen. She nodded and got some ingredients from the refrigerator. She set the eggs and milk on the table and turned to the blond boy.

"Wally," she started. "When you're done with your journal, are we going to go back to how it was before?"

"Before?" he asked.

"Yeah, where we'd always fight and you'd yell and get mad at me." She softly said.

"I think we're going to fight less, definitely." He said, flipping a pancake. "And I'll try not to yell at you, I promise. I know you hate that."

"Thanks." She said smiling.

"What are you two smiling about?" Abby said sleepily. She sat down at her chair and grabbed a plate from Kuki. "How can you be so happy, it's seven o clock. Don't you know people should be sleeping at this hour?"

"Well we've been up for a while." Kuki said.

"Mhmm." Abby knowingly said, eyeing them a little.

"Not like that!" Wally exclaimed, blushing some.

"Mhmm."

"Mmm pancakes!" Hoagie said as he pulled up his chair.

"I hear ya Numbah 2." Nigel said as he too took a plate. Five minutes later the entire team was chowing down to the delicious hotcakes.

"Did you hear Numbah 1, three and four were up early again." Abby commented as she took a second pancake. Nigel raised an eyebrow to his two blushing teammates and replied, "Is that so?"

"Oh yeah. That's so." She replied muffled by the bite she'd just taken.

"Well, what have you two got to say for yourselves?" Nigel asked, turning to Wally and Kuki. They nervously looked at each other.

"Eh-"Kuki started, but Wally interrupted.

"No, it's alright Kuks, we might as well tell them." Kuki's eyes got large and she shook her head no. Hoagie mouthed 'Kuks' to Nigel as Wally continued. "We get up every morning to feed you sorry dingos, and for a thanks you keep your minds in the gutter. I'm ashamed of you all."

"Oh." Nigel said as he, Abby, and Hoagie hung their heads in shame. Wally gave Kuki a wink and began cleaning up the kitchen. "Well team, let's get ready for today's mission."

A/N: Woot, Innocent fun for me... twa-la-la. More soon from your writing extrodinaire, Signy