AN: I don't own Axe body spray, but a friend of mine wears it and it sure smells yummy. Plus the commercials are a laugh riot! And I don't own KND, if I never said so. If I did, it probably wouldn't make a very good children's show due to the corrupting concepts of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Just playin', y'all. Or am I? New chapter up in this joint. I'm trying to make longer chapters, so . . . here ya go. I don't think I did very well, though.

"Want me to go in with you?" Abby stared at Wally in concern.

"No, its fine. I'll just catch a cab to my motel." He answered.

"You know, you don't have to . . ."

"I know," He said calmly. "I know what I'm doing. Abby . . ." He trailed off, trying to find a way to explain the way he felt, though he couldn't explain it to himself. "Abby, this is just something that I have to do. I know it doesn't make sense. I barely understand it myself. I just . . . I got to see her again." His voice shook slightly.

"But Wally, it's been ten years. Ten years! Maybe you think it's the right thing, but to be honest I don't think it's a very good idea. You're going to get hurt."

"Too late for that," He said softly.

She sighed. No matter how much she didn't want him to see Kuki again, she couldn't stop him. "Alright. Just . . ." She thought for a moment, "Just don't doing anything rash." She realized she sounded like a mother and almost laughed out loud.

He smiled and exited the car. His stomach cart wheeled and he feared for a moment he might throw up, but he was alright. No worries, nothing would go wrong. Because already, everything was wrong. Kuki Sanban, his angel, was with someone else. And, Wally feared, he was better than him. The blond didn't even know the man, but guess that he was ten times the man the Aussie could be. He could picture him in his mind's eye: tall, handsome, smooth, a good job, charming . . . everything Kuki deserved, Wally knew.

He hesitated as his hand levitated inches from the door. He studied the house, procrastinating. It was a lovely house, a house meant to provide a lifetime for a family. The white paint perfectly captured the sun's rays. And it was the perfect size white Cape Cod style. Two floors with a basement. The grass had a perfectly manicured look, each blade of green even to the neighboring blades.

He knocked and waited for what seemed hours, though he knew it was only seconds. Abby had been right. It had been a very long time. Even if they had been the only sector to escape decommissioning, he felt as if memories had escaped his mind. He feared what he would see. What if he didn't recognize her, or worse, she didn't recognize him?

Maybe this was a terrible idea.

The doorknob twisted and Wally's stomach knotted. This was it.

The twenty two year old woman represented pure beauty, like something off of the front of a magazine. No, not something from a magazine. Those women were plucked, painted, and duck taped to perfection. The Asian woman's elegance came naturally, too pure for Cosmopolitan or those other model magazines. She still held the smiling lavender eyes from her childhood, but they seemed more mature now. Eyes that held the world, had seen more than they wanted to. But they weren't sad eyes, unlike Wally's. They were hopeful, turning to the future instead of the past. Her pale skin only helped define her lash-lined eyes.

Her hair slid gracefully past her shoulders, a raven waterfall which ran forever and seemed never to end. She had a thin body, slightly curved but not so much to be called curvatious. She came up to Wally's shoulder, Wally noted and found a smile play at his lips as he realized he was no longer the 'midget'.

"Can I help you?" She observed the equally handsome man. Something was familiar about him. His blond hair was cut in a short, carefree style. Unlike other men she knew, there were no hair products in his sunray hair. The faded black t-shirt showed off his muscular, but not overly muscular, arms. They were obviously natural muscles, unlike some men she had seen on TV who relied on steroids or other 'enhancements'. He wasn't super tall, but he was taller than the rather petite woman, who had stopped growth after age twelve. He held himself in an awkward way, as if he was uncomfortable in his own skin.

It wasn't until she looked him in the eyes that she recognized him.

They were the same eyes as the ten year old she knew from her childhood. Deep emerald eyes, sad eyes. Warm, green meadows she wanted to lose herself in, forget everything she had done, everything she regretted about her life. She could forget she had been the one who had rejected him.

She remembered hearing somewhere that you could lose yourself in someone's eyes, but had never believed it. Until now. She drowned in those jade orbs, eagerly went under with no intention of resurfacing.

"Kuki Sanban?" He tore her from his eyes, only for her to be washed over by his warm voice, a deep, accented ocean wave which left her reeling, but not in a bad way.

But she really was rocking back and force. His chest moved closer and closer to her face and she felt his hands, strong and reassuring hands, wrap around her waist as she fell into his body, the smell of Axe body spray filling her nose before everything went black.

"Kuki?" She kept her eyes closed, hoping to hold on to the dream. If only she could see him again. She could still here him calling her. If only it could be true.

"Kuki?" he repeated softly. He had grounds to be concerned. After all, she had just passed out on the porch. If he hadn't caught her . . .

He couldn't think about that. He didn't want to think about what would've happened had she fallen, though he knew she wouldn't have gotten seriously hurt from the fall. But imagining her lying there, unconscious, was too much for him to bear. Imagine what someone could do to her if they saw her lying on the asphalt.

'If you hadn't been there she wouldn't have fallen,' he reminded himself. But still . . .

Her eyelids rose slowly. Could it be? It was true. He was here, in her living room. It hadn't been a dream.

She smacked him lightly on the arm. "You never called," She said in mock anger.

He didn't catch the joking tone and looked down at the light mocha carpet. "I'm sorry," He mumbled. He had been too ashamed, too heartbroken, to pick up the phone and dial the memorized seven letter number.

She smiled, again forgetting she had broken his heart, forgetting she was engaged. Forgetting everything. All that mattered was this moment. She knew he could help her. She lo-, no, she couldn't get carried away. Those childish emotions were merely strong feelings of a deep friendship. And though she had deeply severed the rope which bound the two's hearts together, she prayed that the tiniest string lingered between them. That was all she needed. Because as long as that shred of yarn held, they could mend the bond between them.

But what if the strand snapped?

Numbuh 4: What the crud was that?

Me: Adult you, before you get supuh old, like in FUTURE.

Numbuh 4: What are you talking about? That old geezer was NOT me!

Me: Oh, but it was.

Numbuh 4: But he was, like, a cruddy old person. Like, grey hairs on the wrinkles on his liver spots old.

Me: Well, some people age better than others. And when you're twenty two, you're gonna be SOOO fine.

Numbuh 4: So?

Me: Like, more of a chick magnet than you are now.

Numbuh 4: (Choking) cruddy girls.

Me: I'm a girl.

Numbuh 4: Exactly.

Me: That's it, its duck tape time. (In Commercial voice) Duck tape! The solution to all life's problems! Fixes even loud mouthed super hot Australians who feel a need to talk back! You may expect to pay as much as four dollars for this item! But it's available for only twenty three easy payments of 19.95! Call today!