Author's note: I'm almost entirely unhappy with this chapter, but I was put under a lot of pressure from certain people #cough# bexZKlaura#cough# so I just posted it anyway. Enjoy!
"Ouch!"
"Sorry," Laura mumbled an apology to the girl she had just ran into.
"No problem," the girl said, then muttered, "Next time I'll zombify you…"
Laura stared at her, "What?"
"Nothing."
Laura raised an eyebrow, then continued to walk away.
"Oh, excuse me?" the girl shouted after her. Laura stopped and turned back round.
"Yeah?"
"Don't suppose you know where Arnold Rimmer is, do you?"
"DON'T say that name in front of me!" Laura squeaked, "He was in on it, too!"
It was the girl's turn to stare, "What?"
"Nothing."
Laura turned away again and made for her quarters.
The girl also continued on with her journey, bumping into Nicole a few steps later.
"Is this National Run-Into-Steph Day or something?" she asked to no one in particular.
"I'm sorry," Nicole said, "I need to catch up with someone."
"Do you know Arnold Rimmer?" the 'Steph' girl asked, quite unexpectedly.
"Well…yeah, he's my fiancé."
"Oh, great! Do you know where he is right now? Right this second?"
"I can tell you vaguely where he is," Nicole said slowly, not entirely sure how to approach this girl.
"So where is he?"
"He should be back at our quarters. Room 474, floor 35."
"Thanks," she said sweetly, walking away, "Oh, and you can call me ZK."
Nicole's eyes flickered before nervously saying, "Thank you?"
ZK smiled, span on her heel and walked off down the corridor. Nicole stood stock-still for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened, then remembered Laura and dashed off after her.
"Gemma?" Rimmer asked anxiously, "What exactly are you doing?"
Gemma was piling a lot of the room's furniture up against the door, "Keeping out the reporters!"
"Yeah…how are we supposed to get in and out?"
Gemma eyed the blockade, "I didn't think this through…"
Rimmer rolled his eyes and turned to put the kettle on.
"Wait, wait, wait," Gemma said quickly, rummaging through the barrier she had created.
"Oh, you didn't put the kettle in there, did you?" Rimmer asked.
"No! Well, not all of it…"
"What do you mean…?"
"I took the lid off and filled it with grapes."
Rimmer didn't know whether to laugh or not. She looked so serious.
"You didn't actually do that, did you?"
"Yeah!" Gemma replied, like it was obvious, "I was making a heavy object even heavier. Science, y'know."
"Crazy," Rimmer muttered under his breath.
"Here," Gemma said, passing him the kettle.
"So," said Rimmer as he tipped the grapes into the sink, "You gonna stand up to the media?"
"Uh-huh!" Gemma said proudly.
"Good for you! I would, but…I'm a coward. I wouldn't be in the least bit effective."
"Coward?" Gemma said incredulously, "Who saved me from a Starbug that was about to explode?"
Rimmer turned to face her as the kettle filled, not used to hearing Gemma speak of that incident in a positive light, "Yeah, well. I was acting on adrenaline then. Besides, no one would have just left you in there to be blown to…" He trailed off as he realised that that was exactly what had happened to Faiyre. He cleared his throat and turned back to the kettle which was now spilling over.
There was a knock on the door.
"Dammit!" Gemma cursed, eyeing the sofa and table that had to be moved, "Who is it?"
"ZK," a girl's voice said.
"Who?"
"Z. K." the voice said more slowly.
"Do you know a ZK?" Gemma whispered to Rimmer, who just shrugged and shook his head.
"Wait, are you a reporter?" she asked angrily.
"No, I'm a fifteen-year-old girl. I would like to talk to Arnold Rimmer, if he's there."
"What about?" Rimmer asked.
"Tuition. I've heard you…you know…do it."
Rimmer and Gemma exchanged glances, "I'm not a private tutor any more. I work at the school now."
"I know. But I thought I'd come and see you first."
"OW!" Gemma dropped a chair on her foot.
"If you're busy I can come back later," ZK suggested.
"That'd be good," Gemma said quickly, seeing that Rimmer was about to dismiss it.
"OK. See you later."
"New client, huh?" Gemma said when ZK's footsteps had faded away, "You're proving very popular, Dad."
Rimmer and Gemma both froze; that was the first time Gemma had called him 'Dad'. There was a fairly long silence between them before they looked at each other. They both burst out laughing through their mutual understanding.
"Should we wait for your mother to come back and help us move this couch?" Rimmer said when they calmed down (though he was still shaking a little).
"Yeah. Can't remember how I even moved it in the first place!"
