Disclaimer: None of them are mine. I like to pretend I own Rimmer, though…

Author's Note: Nicole makes a return in this one! YAY! I wuv her! Anyway, this is set before the accident, and it's a Rimmer fic. Please R&R!

Rimmer was pissed off. He'd been working very hard all day (in fact, he'd been working doubly hard because Lister had spent the day bunking again) then, as he prepared to pack away, one of the chicken soup machines decided to leak on him and he had to re-fix it, then, just as he thought his day couldn't get any worse, four screaming children had ran straight into him. He resented the decision by Captain Hollister and the Red Dwarf Council to allow workers' families on board. It made life all the more complicated.
As he made his way towards his sleeping quarters he was again ambushed by another three children. He turned to yell at them but stopped when he saw that one of them had fallen to the ground and was shaking gently, as though she was crying. Even Rimmer couldn't be so heartless as to scream at an upset child. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped violently and scrambled to her feet. Her face was red and blotchy and she had tear marks streaked down her cheeks.
"Um, are you OK?" Rimmer asked, desperate to break the awful unmitigated silence. The little girl just looked at her shoes and nodded. Rimmer frowned, "What's wrong?"
After a pause she just shook her head.
"Well, it looked like those kids were-"
"Just shut up!" she screamed and burst into tears again.
"OK, OK," Rimmer comforted in a state of sheer panic – crying children were his all time second worst fear (right after crying women and just before crying men).

"W-what's your name?" she asked him out of the blue when she had stopped crying.
"Um," Rimmer was taken aback, "Rimmer. Arnold Rimmer. Er, what's yours?"
"Gemma."
"Oh," Rimmer had absolutely no clue what to say, "It's…it's pretty." He still wanted to find out why she had been being chased by those other kids, "Do you know why…the kids back then…do you know why they….you know…"
Gemma said something very softly.
"Sorry?" Rimmer asked.
"They always do," she said louder, "Because I'm stupid."
"Oh, I'm sure you're not."
"I am. I get thrown in the bottom form for everything: Maths, Science, Navigation, everything. Except…except English Studies."
"Do you like English?" Rimmer asked, settling nicely into the conversation. Gemma nodded and smiled a little.
"I write stories. Well…I try to. But I get my spellings all wrong. That's why I don't show anyone my stories. Not even Mum," her eyes widened, "Mum! Oh no, I was supposed to be back by now!"
She made eye contact with Rimmer for the first time and was suddenly shy again.
"Well, where are you staying?"
"Um, room 474. Floor 35," she said, almost in a whisper.
"Well, do you, er, do you want me to take you back?"
"No!" she said immediately. Rimmer jumped slightly, "Um, OK then. Are you OK going by yourself?"
"Yes," she said quietly and walked briskly away from him. He watched her go with curiosity; there was something more to this girl, and he wanted to find out what.