Ch 8- Have a nice trip, see you next fall.

MOMO was sitting in her room on the Durandal. Normally, she would have the curtains thrown wide open to admit all the sunshine and the glorious view that was the Kukai Foundation. But today, MOMO had the curtains drawn up tight, only letting in a splinter of light. The single ray fell across her face, revealing an expression not normally found on the little realian's face.

Jr. pranced happily along the corridor to MOMO's room, singing very loudly and off tune. Several people stopped and stared at him, but he didn't care.

"Lil' Mastah!" called Mary. "Ya goin' ta get MOMO?"

"You bet!"

"I'd be careful singing like that! Ya might scare 'er off!"

"Oh shut up," he said. Today was MOMO's birthday, and he wasn't gonna let anything go wrong.

He pranced up to her door and raised his hand to knock, but a sound inside stopped him. Was MOMO… crying? It was faint, but as a URTV, Jr. had excellent hearing. His heart sank. Why couldn't anything ever go right when it came to MOMO? He knocked softly. The sobbing quickly stopped and he could hear movement from within.

"MOMO?" he called. There was no answer. "Can I come in?" Still no answer. "MOMO, I know you're trying to pretend that you're not there, but I can hear you moving around."

From within the chamber, MOMO froze. She silently berated herself for not remembering that URTVs have nearly superhuman hearing.

"If you don't let me in, I'm gonna break the door down," he said simply.

MOMO considered for a second. She knew he could if he wanted to. She moved to unlock it.

Jr. took a deep breath and looked at the door frame. "Okay!" He breathed, lunging at the exact moment MOMO opened the door. She saw a flash of red moving towards her, and jumped in surprise. Jr. realized a little too late that the door was already open, and he attempted to stop. Instead, his boots skidded across the tile, causing him to fall onto MOMO, and knocking her down during the process.

"…Ow," he said, propping himself up on his elbows and staring down his chin at MOMO. Both of their eyes widened. He tried to prevent himself from falling on her by grabbing her elbows and swinging her in front of him. As a result, she now lay on him instead. They stared at each other, crimson faced and panting for a few moments.

Gaignun was walking down the hall, staring at some reports when he passed MOMO's room. He stopped about five feet later, looked up with a confused expression, turned back around, and after staring at the two for a moment, hit the button to shut the door. He then continued down the hallway, indifferently.

"Jr.," Jr. heard Gaignun's voice say in his head. "When I said keep her busy…"

"Just shut up and keep moving!" shouted Jr. back, angrily. He could hear Gaignun laughing in the hallway.

'Real smooth, Jr.' he said to himself. 'What a way to greet MOMO on her birthday! Agh! I'm so stupid!" He lifted himself up, helping MOMO.

"I'm sorry, MOMO," he said. "I didn't mean to—What I'm trying to say is—Urrgh! ……… Happy Birthday." To his surprise, MOMO started giggling like crazy. He stared at her, a little confused.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Jr.," she said. "I guess I just needed to laugh a little this morning."

"I understand," he said. "Are you… okay now?"

"Don't worry, you didn't hurt me," she said, knowing full well that's not what he meant. He gave her a look that told her he wasn't gonna fall for that.

"Yeah…," she said. He didn't say anything else. He didn't want to pry into her personal feelings. If she wanted him to know, she would tell him later.

"I just need a little time," she said.

"Fair enough. And while you're gathering that time, you're going to go out with me!"

"…?"

"It's your birthday, so we're gonna go out and have fun!"

MOMO nodded happily and took Jr.'s hand.