Love and Burden
by The Great Red Dragon
***
Chapter 9
***
With one foot, Auron kicked the door open with a bang. Needlessly said, he had his hands full.
"Somebody help me!", he shouted out over another agonizing moan of the female Experiment.
He stepped further into the hallway, and heard commotion upstairs. The light came down from the top floor with a click, along with several pairs of feet.
Peka appeared first, followed closely by a not-so-awake Owen.
"Whassa matter?", he asked groggily, blinking sleep from his eyes.
Peka however, was more alert. As she saw the unconscious somebody in Owen's arms, she let out an audible gasp and her eyes went wide.
"Oh God!", she exclaimed, and hurried down the last few steps.
"I-I found her", Auron said as Peka came closer.
"Her ship crashed...I think she's hurt."
"It's a she?", Peka asked.
"What-"
She stopped dead, as her eyes fell on the female Experiment.
"What is it?", Auron asked anxiously.
"What's wrong?"
"That's...that's...", Peka began to say, but Owen [looking over her shoulder] answered for her.
"That's 471!", he said in surprise.
"You're right!", Peka said.
"It is 471!"
"You mean Experiment 471?", Auron asked in slight confusement.
"Yes!", Peka said.
"I knew her. We all knew her in Jumba's lab!"
There came another miniature thundering of the stairs, and Stitch and Twyla showed themselves.
"What's happening?", Stitch asked, helping Twyla down the last few steps.
Owen, lacking a feeling or seriousness for the matter [perhaps because of his sleepiness], and answered comically;
"Yo, 471 in da house!"
Despite the [already mentioned] condition of the situation, everybody managed to groan.
Another miniature thunder-roll broke out, and Lilo and Nani, wearing blue and pink nightshirts, came down the stairs.
"What's going on?", they asked simultaneously.
"Is this a get-together, or what?", Auron asked in tensed annoyance.
"She needs help!"
"Bring her in the living room!", Peka suggested.
Auron nodded and cleared his way through the crowd.
Peka lead the way into the living room, clicking on the lights as she did. She hurried over to the couch and cleared away the pillows as Auron approached, the other following him.
"Alright, I'd like to know what is going on!", Nani said earnestly.
"This is after all my house, and I think I have a right to know why there's another Experiment on my couch! First Auron shows up-"
"Oh, be quiet!", Lilo interrupted, and pushed her way passed her older sister.
She looked upon Experiment 471 with concern in her eyes.
"Is she alright?", she asked anxiously.
"How bad is she hurt?"
Auron pulled a tissue from a box on the coffee table and used it to gently clean the trickle of blood from 471's forehead.
"I don't know", he answered.
"I'm not a doctor..."
"That's it!", Stitch exclaimed.
"I'll go get Jumba! He'll know what to do!"
Auron decided not to respond to this, and rested his hand carefully on 471's forehead. Her temperature seemed normal.
*********
BANG BANG BANG!
The sound of someone hammering on the door woke Pleakley with the image of an axe-wielding maniac coming for him.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
He fell out of his bed with a crash as loud as the banging, and sat up straight in his yellow and purple-striped pajamas.
"Go away!", he shouted shrilly and shakily.
"You're not getting my wigs or umbrellas!"
From outside, Stitch called;
"Pleakley, it's me! Open up!"
The stinging of fear leaving his body and the humiliation made Pleakley shake as he got up.
"Oh-h!", he quaked angrily.
Walking in pink, fluffy slippers, he made his way to the door and threw it open.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?!", he fumed.
"There are other people trying to sleep here, y'know!"
Stitch growled in frustration.
"Come on, Pleakley!", he said through clenched teeth.
"Where's Jumba?"
"'Where's Jumba'?!", Pleakley repeated furiously.
"'Where's Jumba?' 'Where's Jumba?' All the time, people want to know where Jumba is! Why won't anybody ask where I am once in a while?! Am I not part of this family anymore?!"
Before Stitch could respond to this, a shadow in the shape of Jumba appeared behind Pleakley.
"Vhat's going on?", he asked, taking his nightcap from his hand.
"Vhat's wrong?"
"Jumba!", Stitch called, sliding passed Pleakley.
"We need you up at the house!"
"Vhat's happening?", Jumba asked as Stitch grabbed him by the hand.
"Vhat's the emergency?"
"We found...Auron brought...she's up at...oh, just come with me, would you?"
"Aright, alright", Jumba agreed, shivering as a cold night breeze swept into the shackhouse.
"Let me get my coat."
"Grab your medical bag while you're at it", Stitch suggested.
Jumba sighed with a 'who-got-beat-up-now?' expression and took the brown, leather-bound bag from the table and headed towards the door.
"And what about me?!", Pleakley raged.
"Am I excluded from this too?!"
Without answering, Stitch and Jumba shut the door behind them.
*********
Still on the couch, 471 [who had stopped moaning] was unaware of Jumba opening her eyelid to shine a light upon her purple-encircled pupil.
The professor let her eye fall shut again as he gently took her small, clawed hand into his own and checked her pulse. He nodded curtly after a while and let her go again.
"She's alright", he concurred to the anxious audience peeking over his shoulder while he removed a stethoscope from around his neck.
"Mild state of shock...a concussion perhaps, but nothzing life- threatening."
Everybody exhaled in relief and sat back. Stitch helped sidle Twyla into the cozy armchair, where she sighed heavily and gently felt her enlargening stomach.
"I think it's almost time", she whispered to Stitch as the others kept their attention on 471.
"Why would she be here?", Peka was asking.
"The last time we saw her was...well, back at the lab."
"I zhink", Jumba said.
"The only true answer ve vill receive iz vhen she vakes up."
He reached into the med-bag and brought out a small tube full of a light- colored liquid. Along with this came a shot, with an empty body used for inserting a tube like the one mentioned.
"What's that?", Lilo asked curiously, leaning forward.
"A little cocktail", Jumba answered.
"She probably vhas in hyper-sleep for zome time. She needs nutrition."
Handling her as gently and carefully as any parent would, he took her arm into his large and, and inserted the needle into the vein in her inner- elbow.
He injected the substance, pressed a small wad of cotton against the insertion point, and pulled the needle back out.
"There", he said, band-aiding the area.
"Now...all ve have to do is vait for her to vake up..."
He stood up and zipped his bag closed professionally.
Nani nodded in her own assent.
"Right", she said, turning to Lilo.
"You're going back to bed."
"Huh?" Lilo said in disbelief.
"I have to go to bed now?"
"That's what I said", Nani replied.
"We're both going back to bed. March."
"But I wanna be here when she wakes up!", Lilo objected.
"You're going to bed now", Nani insisted.
"Tomorrow's a school-day."
"I have to go to school?!", Lilo asked in her premature outrage.
"What about her?"
"The others will be here to look after her", Nani answered, getting tired of the argument.
"Now move it!"
Before the discussion could get ugly, Stitch stepped [verbally] in between them.
"We're going to bed too, Lilo", he told her.
"And if she does wake up, we'll let you know. And you'll see her in the morning too, right?"
Lilo contemplated this matter for a moment before replying with a simple;
"Okay..."
Nani lead her towards the stairs. Before ascend them, Lilo looked back at the crowd...and began counting carefully on her fingers.
"What are you doing?", Stitch asked.
After a moment, Lilo replied;
"There's six of you altogether; three boys and three girls."
"What about it?", Stitch inquired.
Lilo shrugged her shoulders.
"I just noticed that now everybody can have a girlfriend", she answered.
"You and Twyla, Owen and Peka, and Auron and 471."
Everybody waited for Lilo to disappear upstairs before they turned to Auron and started sniggering.
In a way, Auron didn't know why this was so funny...
***
Owen yawned widely and slid down from the chair he and Peka were sharing.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to make myself a sandwich and go back to bed", he announced.
"Anybody else want one?", he offered, scratching his side.
Everybody shook their heads: Owen's nighttime snack was always a quart of Tabasco over peanut butter-covered ham.
Owen shrugged his shoulders.
"Suit yourselves", he said simply, and made towards the kitchen.
Peka leaned back in her chair, and brought her eyes back to 471 on the sofa. She smiled softly.
"471 was always a bit rowdy", she recalled.
"It seems just like her to arrive with a bang."
Auron looked at Peka.
"Didn't anybody else hear or see the crash?", he asked.
Peka shrugged.
"I guess not", she said.
"We were all asleep."
Stitch nodded earnestly.
"It's a good thing you found her", he told Auron.
Auron nodded curtly and leaned forward onto his knees.
"Do you think anybody else will find the ship?", he suggested.
"I couldn't have been the only one to have seen it."
"I dunno", Peka said, shrugging again.
"Tomorrow, we could go out to the site and...uh, 'clear out' what we can."
"'Clear out'?", Twyla repeated.
"How in the world are we gonna move an entire spaceship?"
Peka smiled assuredly and looked fondly at Auron and Stitch.
"Well, you seem to forget who we have with us", she said confidently.
"With these two studs, we'll be right in business."
"Hey, don't you go saying nice things to my man", Twyla said humorously, putting her arm around Stitch and making him blush.
"You'll give him weird ideas with those compliments."
"Yeah yeah, so we got those two", Said Owen, returning from the kitchen [with a big sandwich in hand].
"What about me? What am I good for?"
"You can push the wheel-barrow", Stitch suggested evilly.
"Har har", Owen said sarcastically as he climbed back into the chair next to Peka.
He offered her a bite ["No, thank you"], and took a huge bite before asking [with his mouth full];
"Y'know, I never really knew 471. What was she like?"
Peka leaned forward [while Auron leaned back] and re-collected her memory.
"She was one of Jumba's favorites", she began.
"Probably one that he was most fond of. Sometimes, he'd even let her eat with him."
"Then again", Twyla inserted.
"Just about anybody could eat with him at least once if they complained long enough; nobody liked the cafeteria very much."
"As I was saying", Peka said in regain.
"She had a lot of privileges that not even Twyla, Stitch, or me had. It's not that she was spoiled...she wasn't seductive or sassy either, but she could usually get anything she wanted from Jumba."
"Sounds like a senior heartbreaker", Auron said, wondering exactly who he had rescued.
Peka shook her head.
"No, not at all", she said.
"I think that Jumba allowed her a lot of things because he liked her very much...probably because she liked him very much. They were very close."
Auron nodded.
"Do you have any idea where she went after the lab?", he asked.
"I don't know", Peka said, scratching her head.
"Twyla and I knew her pretty well, but there was always something secretive about her."
"Before the lab was exposed", Twyla began.
"Jumba had taught us many times what to do if that should happen. Every Experiment had a certain 'escape plan' and a haven prepared where they could flee to. Some of them were teamed up to work cooperatively in this situation...but I'm not sure if 471 ever was."
Auron nodded with interest.
"What do you mean by 'escape plan' and 'haven'?", he asked.
"Well", Peka said.
"It's what the name says. Every Experiment had a way to get out of the lab and out of the vicinity. The 'havens' were safe places where we would have the ability to contact Jumba...but seeing as he was caught, that was pretty much impossible."
"Jumba told us many times that he tried to reach the others from here on Earth", Twyla said.
"But he couldn't find anybody. I'm guessing that when eventually got wind of what had happened, and that Jumba was incarcerated, they just went their own separate ways."
"Some of them might have teamed up like we have", Peka suggested.
"Maybe they started families of their own. They could be anywhere in the galaxy by now."
"Which brings us back to question", Auron said.
"Why is 471 in this part of the galaxy? I'm starting to think that coincidence is out of the picture."
Peka shrugged.
"I don't know", she said.
"Only one person knows, and that's whose unconscious on the couch."
"Jumba said she'll be okay", Twyla said in assurance.
"We'll find out when she wakes up."
Twyla then failed to stifle a yawn and sat up in the chair.
"I'm tired", she declared woozily.
"I'm going to go to bed now."
"Good idea", Stitch said.
"We should all get some sleep."
He jumped down from the recliner and carefully began to help Twyla down.
"Yeah, I'm pretty knocked-out, too", Owen added as he swallowed the last of his midnight-snack.
"I'm going to bed."
"Me too", Peka added.
The two of them jumped down as Stitch had done and landed lightly on the floor [Owen less lightly than Peka].
Peka walked over to 471 with a look of lingering concern in her eyes. She had believed what Jumba had said about her being okay, but a small feeling of worry still stuck in her chest.
"You think she's gonna be alright?", she asked concernedly.
"Relax", Owen replied calmly.
"You heard what the doc said."
Peka nodded uneasily.
"Maybe somebody should stay here...in case she wakes up."
"Well, Auron's gonna be here", Owen stated matter-of-factly.
Peka gave him a look of disapproval, but looked at Auron and asked;
"Do you want to sleep down here?"
She elbowed Owen in the stomach before he could imply the expected;
"Well, he's not sleeping upstairs."
"Sure", Auron said with a shrug.
"Just like last night, I guess."
"You sure?", Peka asked.
Auron nodded.
"Yep."
"If you want, we could fix up another mattress...", Peka offered.
But Auron shook his head and smiled slightly.
"No, that's okay", he said, before adding;
"Besides, you said that somebody should keep an eye on 471."
Peka nodded eventually.
"Okay", she said.
"Good night, I guess."
"Good night", Stitch, Twyla, and Owen chorused.
"Good night", Auron said in return.
The others turned and made for the door. Auron watched them go, and saw Peka throw another glance at him.
"If you need anything....", she said, but disappeared from sight before she finished the sentence.
Auron heard them climbing the stairs, but he didn't eavesdrop, even when he noticed that Owen and Peka were talking about him.
He looked back at 471, still on the couch, and noticed the staling, lingering expression of pain on her face.
He sighed heavily and moved over to the couch. He pulled a red flannel blanket from beneath the cushions [a storing-place considered normal] and unfolded. As carefully and as feather-like as he could, he spread the blanket over 471, who didn't seem to mind.
Auron looked down on her, and felt an emotion of pity towards her. Somehow, it felt wrong to him to move on and about while she had no idea that time was passing her by.
"Maybe I should knock myself out, too", he suggested mentally, before forgetting it.
Auron switched off the lights, leaving the living room in a moonlit- darkness. He sidled himself into the recliner, and his adjusting eyes returned to 471.
He knew that getting sleep wasn't going to be easy...especially with this strange new feeling surging through his body...
Why did he feel this way about 471? He didn't think it was just because she was good-looking...he didn't think that was the case.
He didn't know the answer. He didn't know why he felt himself being pulled towards 471...and he didn't know why he was feeling so tired all of the sudden...
*********
"No! Please no!"
Auron awoke with such a jolt that he almost fell from the chair.
"Don't-! Please stop!"
Auron's eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly. 471 was writhing on the sofa, the blanket on the floor. It looked as if she were in the midst of a great nightmare. The expression on her face was almost painful, even through her closed eyes.
"Don't do it!", she cried agonizingly.
"Leave him alone! Please!"
Auron jumped up and ran over to her.
"No! Don't!"
It was as if she were having a fit. Her clawed hands kept reaching out for something Auron could not see, and tears were leaking from behind her eyelids.
Auron's first intention was to go for help, but he didn't want to leave her alone.
"Oh dammit!", he cursed under his breath.
"Help! Somebody!", he called out.
"I need help!"
He called over the cries of 471, who might've already have woken them.
Unsure what to do, Auron tried to restrain the struggling Experiment.
"It's alright", he tried to say as he held her down by her shoulders.
"You're gonna be okay!"
"No!", 471 wailed.
"Don't do it!"
Auron wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing. Now, 471 was struggling against him; her hands grasping at his arms, her claws digging into his skin.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!", he shouted louder than before.
He looked up, and saw light from upstairs creep down the stairs with a click.
Just then, 471 stopped struggling.
Auron looked down, and saw that her eyes were open.
471 looked up at him, and kneed him in the crotch.
*********
[A/N: well, how's that for a start to a relationship?
On a serious note, I have to thank for Faith for her kind words to me. Faith, I really appreciate your support. You really inspired me to get my butt writing with your review. Thanks a bunch!
I'd like to clear something up with Guitar_Stitch [no, I'm not gonna get nasty]. I use the word 'audible' in a situation like that because I mean to point out something in exclamatory. I know it's grammatically incorrect, but it's just my style.
I'll get started on the new chapter ASAP! Aloha!]
by The Great Red Dragon
***
Chapter 9
***
With one foot, Auron kicked the door open with a bang. Needlessly said, he had his hands full.
"Somebody help me!", he shouted out over another agonizing moan of the female Experiment.
He stepped further into the hallway, and heard commotion upstairs. The light came down from the top floor with a click, along with several pairs of feet.
Peka appeared first, followed closely by a not-so-awake Owen.
"Whassa matter?", he asked groggily, blinking sleep from his eyes.
Peka however, was more alert. As she saw the unconscious somebody in Owen's arms, she let out an audible gasp and her eyes went wide.
"Oh God!", she exclaimed, and hurried down the last few steps.
"I-I found her", Auron said as Peka came closer.
"Her ship crashed...I think she's hurt."
"It's a she?", Peka asked.
"What-"
She stopped dead, as her eyes fell on the female Experiment.
"What is it?", Auron asked anxiously.
"What's wrong?"
"That's...that's...", Peka began to say, but Owen [looking over her shoulder] answered for her.
"That's 471!", he said in surprise.
"You're right!", Peka said.
"It is 471!"
"You mean Experiment 471?", Auron asked in slight confusement.
"Yes!", Peka said.
"I knew her. We all knew her in Jumba's lab!"
There came another miniature thundering of the stairs, and Stitch and Twyla showed themselves.
"What's happening?", Stitch asked, helping Twyla down the last few steps.
Owen, lacking a feeling or seriousness for the matter [perhaps because of his sleepiness], and answered comically;
"Yo, 471 in da house!"
Despite the [already mentioned] condition of the situation, everybody managed to groan.
Another miniature thunder-roll broke out, and Lilo and Nani, wearing blue and pink nightshirts, came down the stairs.
"What's going on?", they asked simultaneously.
"Is this a get-together, or what?", Auron asked in tensed annoyance.
"She needs help!"
"Bring her in the living room!", Peka suggested.
Auron nodded and cleared his way through the crowd.
Peka lead the way into the living room, clicking on the lights as she did. She hurried over to the couch and cleared away the pillows as Auron approached, the other following him.
"Alright, I'd like to know what is going on!", Nani said earnestly.
"This is after all my house, and I think I have a right to know why there's another Experiment on my couch! First Auron shows up-"
"Oh, be quiet!", Lilo interrupted, and pushed her way passed her older sister.
She looked upon Experiment 471 with concern in her eyes.
"Is she alright?", she asked anxiously.
"How bad is she hurt?"
Auron pulled a tissue from a box on the coffee table and used it to gently clean the trickle of blood from 471's forehead.
"I don't know", he answered.
"I'm not a doctor..."
"That's it!", Stitch exclaimed.
"I'll go get Jumba! He'll know what to do!"
Auron decided not to respond to this, and rested his hand carefully on 471's forehead. Her temperature seemed normal.
*********
BANG BANG BANG!
The sound of someone hammering on the door woke Pleakley with the image of an axe-wielding maniac coming for him.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
He fell out of his bed with a crash as loud as the banging, and sat up straight in his yellow and purple-striped pajamas.
"Go away!", he shouted shrilly and shakily.
"You're not getting my wigs or umbrellas!"
From outside, Stitch called;
"Pleakley, it's me! Open up!"
The stinging of fear leaving his body and the humiliation made Pleakley shake as he got up.
"Oh-h!", he quaked angrily.
Walking in pink, fluffy slippers, he made his way to the door and threw it open.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?!", he fumed.
"There are other people trying to sleep here, y'know!"
Stitch growled in frustration.
"Come on, Pleakley!", he said through clenched teeth.
"Where's Jumba?"
"'Where's Jumba'?!", Pleakley repeated furiously.
"'Where's Jumba?' 'Where's Jumba?' All the time, people want to know where Jumba is! Why won't anybody ask where I am once in a while?! Am I not part of this family anymore?!"
Before Stitch could respond to this, a shadow in the shape of Jumba appeared behind Pleakley.
"Vhat's going on?", he asked, taking his nightcap from his hand.
"Vhat's wrong?"
"Jumba!", Stitch called, sliding passed Pleakley.
"We need you up at the house!"
"Vhat's happening?", Jumba asked as Stitch grabbed him by the hand.
"Vhat's the emergency?"
"We found...Auron brought...she's up at...oh, just come with me, would you?"
"Aright, alright", Jumba agreed, shivering as a cold night breeze swept into the shackhouse.
"Let me get my coat."
"Grab your medical bag while you're at it", Stitch suggested.
Jumba sighed with a 'who-got-beat-up-now?' expression and took the brown, leather-bound bag from the table and headed towards the door.
"And what about me?!", Pleakley raged.
"Am I excluded from this too?!"
Without answering, Stitch and Jumba shut the door behind them.
*********
Still on the couch, 471 [who had stopped moaning] was unaware of Jumba opening her eyelid to shine a light upon her purple-encircled pupil.
The professor let her eye fall shut again as he gently took her small, clawed hand into his own and checked her pulse. He nodded curtly after a while and let her go again.
"She's alright", he concurred to the anxious audience peeking over his shoulder while he removed a stethoscope from around his neck.
"Mild state of shock...a concussion perhaps, but nothzing life- threatening."
Everybody exhaled in relief and sat back. Stitch helped sidle Twyla into the cozy armchair, where she sighed heavily and gently felt her enlargening stomach.
"I think it's almost time", she whispered to Stitch as the others kept their attention on 471.
"Why would she be here?", Peka was asking.
"The last time we saw her was...well, back at the lab."
"I zhink", Jumba said.
"The only true answer ve vill receive iz vhen she vakes up."
He reached into the med-bag and brought out a small tube full of a light- colored liquid. Along with this came a shot, with an empty body used for inserting a tube like the one mentioned.
"What's that?", Lilo asked curiously, leaning forward.
"A little cocktail", Jumba answered.
"She probably vhas in hyper-sleep for zome time. She needs nutrition."
Handling her as gently and carefully as any parent would, he took her arm into his large and, and inserted the needle into the vein in her inner- elbow.
He injected the substance, pressed a small wad of cotton against the insertion point, and pulled the needle back out.
"There", he said, band-aiding the area.
"Now...all ve have to do is vait for her to vake up..."
He stood up and zipped his bag closed professionally.
Nani nodded in her own assent.
"Right", she said, turning to Lilo.
"You're going back to bed."
"Huh?" Lilo said in disbelief.
"I have to go to bed now?"
"That's what I said", Nani replied.
"We're both going back to bed. March."
"But I wanna be here when she wakes up!", Lilo objected.
"You're going to bed now", Nani insisted.
"Tomorrow's a school-day."
"I have to go to school?!", Lilo asked in her premature outrage.
"What about her?"
"The others will be here to look after her", Nani answered, getting tired of the argument.
"Now move it!"
Before the discussion could get ugly, Stitch stepped [verbally] in between them.
"We're going to bed too, Lilo", he told her.
"And if she does wake up, we'll let you know. And you'll see her in the morning too, right?"
Lilo contemplated this matter for a moment before replying with a simple;
"Okay..."
Nani lead her towards the stairs. Before ascend them, Lilo looked back at the crowd...and began counting carefully on her fingers.
"What are you doing?", Stitch asked.
After a moment, Lilo replied;
"There's six of you altogether; three boys and three girls."
"What about it?", Stitch inquired.
Lilo shrugged her shoulders.
"I just noticed that now everybody can have a girlfriend", she answered.
"You and Twyla, Owen and Peka, and Auron and 471."
Everybody waited for Lilo to disappear upstairs before they turned to Auron and started sniggering.
In a way, Auron didn't know why this was so funny...
***
Owen yawned widely and slid down from the chair he and Peka were sharing.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to make myself a sandwich and go back to bed", he announced.
"Anybody else want one?", he offered, scratching his side.
Everybody shook their heads: Owen's nighttime snack was always a quart of Tabasco over peanut butter-covered ham.
Owen shrugged his shoulders.
"Suit yourselves", he said simply, and made towards the kitchen.
Peka leaned back in her chair, and brought her eyes back to 471 on the sofa. She smiled softly.
"471 was always a bit rowdy", she recalled.
"It seems just like her to arrive with a bang."
Auron looked at Peka.
"Didn't anybody else hear or see the crash?", he asked.
Peka shrugged.
"I guess not", she said.
"We were all asleep."
Stitch nodded earnestly.
"It's a good thing you found her", he told Auron.
Auron nodded curtly and leaned forward onto his knees.
"Do you think anybody else will find the ship?", he suggested.
"I couldn't have been the only one to have seen it."
"I dunno", Peka said, shrugging again.
"Tomorrow, we could go out to the site and...uh, 'clear out' what we can."
"'Clear out'?", Twyla repeated.
"How in the world are we gonna move an entire spaceship?"
Peka smiled assuredly and looked fondly at Auron and Stitch.
"Well, you seem to forget who we have with us", she said confidently.
"With these two studs, we'll be right in business."
"Hey, don't you go saying nice things to my man", Twyla said humorously, putting her arm around Stitch and making him blush.
"You'll give him weird ideas with those compliments."
"Yeah yeah, so we got those two", Said Owen, returning from the kitchen [with a big sandwich in hand].
"What about me? What am I good for?"
"You can push the wheel-barrow", Stitch suggested evilly.
"Har har", Owen said sarcastically as he climbed back into the chair next to Peka.
He offered her a bite ["No, thank you"], and took a huge bite before asking [with his mouth full];
"Y'know, I never really knew 471. What was she like?"
Peka leaned forward [while Auron leaned back] and re-collected her memory.
"She was one of Jumba's favorites", she began.
"Probably one that he was most fond of. Sometimes, he'd even let her eat with him."
"Then again", Twyla inserted.
"Just about anybody could eat with him at least once if they complained long enough; nobody liked the cafeteria very much."
"As I was saying", Peka said in regain.
"She had a lot of privileges that not even Twyla, Stitch, or me had. It's not that she was spoiled...she wasn't seductive or sassy either, but she could usually get anything she wanted from Jumba."
"Sounds like a senior heartbreaker", Auron said, wondering exactly who he had rescued.
Peka shook her head.
"No, not at all", she said.
"I think that Jumba allowed her a lot of things because he liked her very much...probably because she liked him very much. They were very close."
Auron nodded.
"Do you have any idea where she went after the lab?", he asked.
"I don't know", Peka said, scratching her head.
"Twyla and I knew her pretty well, but there was always something secretive about her."
"Before the lab was exposed", Twyla began.
"Jumba had taught us many times what to do if that should happen. Every Experiment had a certain 'escape plan' and a haven prepared where they could flee to. Some of them were teamed up to work cooperatively in this situation...but I'm not sure if 471 ever was."
Auron nodded with interest.
"What do you mean by 'escape plan' and 'haven'?", he asked.
"Well", Peka said.
"It's what the name says. Every Experiment had a way to get out of the lab and out of the vicinity. The 'havens' were safe places where we would have the ability to contact Jumba...but seeing as he was caught, that was pretty much impossible."
"Jumba told us many times that he tried to reach the others from here on Earth", Twyla said.
"But he couldn't find anybody. I'm guessing that when eventually got wind of what had happened, and that Jumba was incarcerated, they just went their own separate ways."
"Some of them might have teamed up like we have", Peka suggested.
"Maybe they started families of their own. They could be anywhere in the galaxy by now."
"Which brings us back to question", Auron said.
"Why is 471 in this part of the galaxy? I'm starting to think that coincidence is out of the picture."
Peka shrugged.
"I don't know", she said.
"Only one person knows, and that's whose unconscious on the couch."
"Jumba said she'll be okay", Twyla said in assurance.
"We'll find out when she wakes up."
Twyla then failed to stifle a yawn and sat up in the chair.
"I'm tired", she declared woozily.
"I'm going to go to bed now."
"Good idea", Stitch said.
"We should all get some sleep."
He jumped down from the recliner and carefully began to help Twyla down.
"Yeah, I'm pretty knocked-out, too", Owen added as he swallowed the last of his midnight-snack.
"I'm going to bed."
"Me too", Peka added.
The two of them jumped down as Stitch had done and landed lightly on the floor [Owen less lightly than Peka].
Peka walked over to 471 with a look of lingering concern in her eyes. She had believed what Jumba had said about her being okay, but a small feeling of worry still stuck in her chest.
"You think she's gonna be alright?", she asked concernedly.
"Relax", Owen replied calmly.
"You heard what the doc said."
Peka nodded uneasily.
"Maybe somebody should stay here...in case she wakes up."
"Well, Auron's gonna be here", Owen stated matter-of-factly.
Peka gave him a look of disapproval, but looked at Auron and asked;
"Do you want to sleep down here?"
She elbowed Owen in the stomach before he could imply the expected;
"Well, he's not sleeping upstairs."
"Sure", Auron said with a shrug.
"Just like last night, I guess."
"You sure?", Peka asked.
Auron nodded.
"Yep."
"If you want, we could fix up another mattress...", Peka offered.
But Auron shook his head and smiled slightly.
"No, that's okay", he said, before adding;
"Besides, you said that somebody should keep an eye on 471."
Peka nodded eventually.
"Okay", she said.
"Good night, I guess."
"Good night", Stitch, Twyla, and Owen chorused.
"Good night", Auron said in return.
The others turned and made for the door. Auron watched them go, and saw Peka throw another glance at him.
"If you need anything....", she said, but disappeared from sight before she finished the sentence.
Auron heard them climbing the stairs, but he didn't eavesdrop, even when he noticed that Owen and Peka were talking about him.
He looked back at 471, still on the couch, and noticed the staling, lingering expression of pain on her face.
He sighed heavily and moved over to the couch. He pulled a red flannel blanket from beneath the cushions [a storing-place considered normal] and unfolded. As carefully and as feather-like as he could, he spread the blanket over 471, who didn't seem to mind.
Auron looked down on her, and felt an emotion of pity towards her. Somehow, it felt wrong to him to move on and about while she had no idea that time was passing her by.
"Maybe I should knock myself out, too", he suggested mentally, before forgetting it.
Auron switched off the lights, leaving the living room in a moonlit- darkness. He sidled himself into the recliner, and his adjusting eyes returned to 471.
He knew that getting sleep wasn't going to be easy...especially with this strange new feeling surging through his body...
Why did he feel this way about 471? He didn't think it was just because she was good-looking...he didn't think that was the case.
He didn't know the answer. He didn't know why he felt himself being pulled towards 471...and he didn't know why he was feeling so tired all of the sudden...
*********
"No! Please no!"
Auron awoke with such a jolt that he almost fell from the chair.
"Don't-! Please stop!"
Auron's eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly. 471 was writhing on the sofa, the blanket on the floor. It looked as if she were in the midst of a great nightmare. The expression on her face was almost painful, even through her closed eyes.
"Don't do it!", she cried agonizingly.
"Leave him alone! Please!"
Auron jumped up and ran over to her.
"No! Don't!"
It was as if she were having a fit. Her clawed hands kept reaching out for something Auron could not see, and tears were leaking from behind her eyelids.
Auron's first intention was to go for help, but he didn't want to leave her alone.
"Oh dammit!", he cursed under his breath.
"Help! Somebody!", he called out.
"I need help!"
He called over the cries of 471, who might've already have woken them.
Unsure what to do, Auron tried to restrain the struggling Experiment.
"It's alright", he tried to say as he held her down by her shoulders.
"You're gonna be okay!"
"No!", 471 wailed.
"Don't do it!"
Auron wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing. Now, 471 was struggling against him; her hands grasping at his arms, her claws digging into his skin.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!", he shouted louder than before.
He looked up, and saw light from upstairs creep down the stairs with a click.
Just then, 471 stopped struggling.
Auron looked down, and saw that her eyes were open.
471 looked up at him, and kneed him in the crotch.
*********
[A/N: well, how's that for a start to a relationship?
On a serious note, I have to thank for Faith for her kind words to me. Faith, I really appreciate your support. You really inspired me to get my butt writing with your review. Thanks a bunch!
I'd like to clear something up with Guitar_Stitch [no, I'm not gonna get nasty]. I use the word 'audible' in a situation like that because I mean to point out something in exclamatory. I know it's grammatically incorrect, but it's just my style.
I'll get started on the new chapter ASAP! Aloha!]