CHAPTER 4

A STORY IS TOLD

I gazed out of the large window of my house on Montressor, gazing up at the crescent form of Montressor Spaceport, shining brilliantly against the darkness of night.

"So the Procyon Armada have taken over Earth?" I asked myself. It had been so sudden apparently. Jenny had said they had appeared out of nowhere. This is beginning to sound like…

"Daniel?" Amelia's voice floated over from the bed, "Daniel, what are you doing up so late?"

I looked at her out of the corner of my good eye, a habit I had actually gotton from her, before sighing.

"I was thinking, about Jenny," I lied. Well, it was partly true, I had been thinking about what she had said.

I heard a bit of noise as Amelia got out of bed and put on her robe and stood behind me, her search gaze, embedding itself on the back of my head.

"You've known her for a long time haven't you?"

I looked back at her, a small, sad smile on my face.

"We went to high school together," I said with a sigh, "The only friend my age I ever had…at the time of course."

I heard a light chuckle from behind me, followed by a pair of arms circling around me neck, my beloved wife nuzzling my neck.

"She said something, back at the Benbow, she would never want to hurt you after the way you saved her back at high school. What was she talking about?"

I continued to look out to the stars as my artificial hand came up to Amelia's own, holding it softly in my grasp, the feeling of her soft skin against the sensory inputs that ran through the hunk of machinery.

"I remember it like it was yesterday…" I began.

I sighed to myself, as I gazed around St. Marcus's high school, in the local town near where I lived.

Oh, I really hated this place.

Everywhere was a dull grey, the buildings, the surrounding grounds, in fact, the only bit of other colour was on the dark blue blazers, with the schools badge on it, and the little clumps of grass that grew near the sign proclaiming what the name of the school was.

"DEARING!!!"

I sighed yet again as I turned around at the sound of Tomas Baxter's voice, only to be grabbed round the scuff of my shirt, my feet dangling slightly off the ground as the schools local bully and football star attempted to strangle me to death.

"You didn't do my homework probably Dearing." he spat, "I only got an B-. and what grade did I want to get Dearing?"

"Uh…an A?" I said hesitantly,

"NO!" He yelled, shaking me like a rag doll, "AN A! I GOT A FRIGGING B- AND I WANTED AN A!"

He was shaking me so hard that my glasses suddenly slipped and fell off my nose, cracking as they hit the floor.

"Please…stop…shaking…me…going…to…hurl!" I managed to get out as I felt breakfast trying to claw it's way up my throat..

Baxter paused for a moment, giving me a ugly stare before throwing him across the pavement.

"These are my glory days, Dearing," he glared down on me as I tried to recover the remains of his glasses, "If I don't get top grades, I'll never get into professional footballing. And you know whose fault that will be?"

I paused for a moment, before answering, "Erm…Yours?"

"NO!!! YOURS!!!" he yelled, grabbing me round the shirt again and giving me another shake.

"Hey, leave him alone Tom!" a girlish voice screamed as Baxter raised his fist to pummel me hard.

He suddenly smiled goofily and dropped me in a haze as a girl with long dark hair, and sparkling blue eyes, stormed up to us, those same eyes now burning passionately with anger.

"Hey Babe," Baxter said casually, as I managed to shakily put the remains of my glasses back onto my nose, "What brings you here?"

The girl looked daggers at Baxter, gripping the binders in her arms so hard they were leaving finger marks.

"How dare you hurt that boy! What has he done to you?" she asked, the anger clear in her voice.

Baxter looked uncertainty back at me as I stood up gingerly from the ground, "He erm…well he err…didn't do my home…I mean his…homework. So I thought I would…you know…teach him a lesson."

The girl's eyes widen in horror, "You made him do your homework?!"

The colour in Baxter's face drained as I smirked to myself.

"Well I err…um…I never said…"

But he never got to tell her what he said, for the girl had just slapped him round the face, hard.

"That's it Tom," she screamed, "We are through. You hear me? How dare you pick on kids younger than you to do your dirty work! Now get lost, I never want to see you again."

"Jenny, baby, come back!" Baxter called out desperately as the girl turned on her heel and left.

"It's too late Baxter," she said flatly as she headed for the main building, "Go find another Floozy to fondle."

I sniggered quietly to myself as Baxter's face was pale with shock, soon contorted into rage, before he stormed over to his ex girlfriend and spun her around, forcing his face into hers, much to my horror.

"Now you listen here bitch," he sneered, "Your going to be my girlfriend whether you like it or not! I'm the hottest guy, you're the hottest girl. It was meant to be."

"Get out of my face you bastard!" Jenny cried in aguish, "You've got worse breath then my dog, and Man, does he have bad breath!"

Baxter smiled evilly, "Shut up Jen and kiss me," he sneered before closing the gap between their lips and kissing her hard, much to her displeasure.

I couldn't take it anymore, I had to do something.

"Hey Baxter!" I yelled, gathering what courage I had and storming up to the bully, "Leave her alone!"

Baxter stopped kissing the squirming girl and looked back at me a look of disbelief in on his face.

"What did you say pipsqueak?"

"You heard me," I said quietly, "Leave…Her…Alone."

Both Jenny and Baxter now looked at me in disbelief, before Tom dropped her and turned around to face me, towering over me dangerously.

"Your gonna pay for that comment, Dearing," he sneered, cracking his knuckles threateningly.

I glanced around at the students gathering there, a few of them calling "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

I hated fighting, but sometimes it was just one of those things you had to do.

Taking a deep breath, I looked him in the face, my expression stern.

"Baxter, I'd love to chat, really," I said a small smile appearing on my face, "Tea, cake, the whole shebang. But…I have a girl to save and you have the train to Dream world to catch."

Baxter stood up straight, the confusion evident on his face.

"Say wh…"

SLAM!

With all the might I could muster, I channelled my anger through my arm, clenched my hand into a fist and punched him hard, in the face.

A "OOOOOOH," rose up from the crowd as Baxter stood there for a moment, a stunned look on his face, slowly turning into a silly grin.

"Mummy," he said faintly, "I think I'll have my nappy nap now," before falling flat on his face.

I looked down at his body in disbelief, before suddenly realising that my hand hurt.

"Oh, Ow he's got a hard head. Now I know why Jackie Chan does this so much" I muttered frantically as I shook my hand to get rid of the numbness, "But aside from that, that felt pretty good,"

I slowly stepped over Baxter's strangely silent body over to his ex-girlfriend, who had a stunned expression on her face.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I held out a hand to her.

She looked at me wordlessly, just opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish.

Unsure of what to do, I gazed blankly at her, my hand still held out to her.

Eventually she caught on and grasped my hand in her own, allowing me to pull her up.

"You….you…..You," she spluttered

"Me?" I asked, "Oh, I'm Daniel,"

She shook her head, "No, that's not what I meant," she said quietly, finding her voice, "You saved me from Tom…why?"

I shrugged, "I guess you stood up for me, no one's ever done that before, not ever."

Her blue eyes went wider, "Not ever?"

"Not ever,"

She looked down to the floor, biting her lip in agitation, "I'm sorry about Tom," she said sadly, "If I had known I.."

She stopped suddenly as I gently placed a finger under her chin, making her look into my eyes.

"It wasn't your fault," I said quietly, "don't worry about it. Baxter's been bullying me since the day we met, I just needed a push that's all."

She smiled shyly before looking down at her watch.

"You know…" she said hesitantly, "I have some free time right now. You wanna go get something to eat at the canteen?"

I smiled as I picked up her school binders and handed them to her, making her blush immensely.

"Sounds great," I said with a smile.

She gave a small sigh and grasped my hand, practically dragging me out of the crowd and over to the canteen, Baxter managing to groan slightly as we left.

"…We saw each other for about a year," I finished, "After that, her parents moved over to America and I never saw her again. We kept in touch, but I lost contact around seven years ago, first because she had joined NASA and then thanks to Billy Bones."

While I had been talking, Amelia had moved back to the bed, feeling uncomfortable about the fact that I had been thinking about another woman.

"You loved her didn't you?" she said quietly.

I continued to gaze out of the window, "Yes I did,"

"And do you now?"

My eyes widened in alarm and I turned to look at her.

"Wait a moment…you don't think that I…I would get a divorce would you? Just because a past friend who I fancied comes back into my life?"

She didn't look at me, her eyes focussed on a wrinkle in the sheets.

"Amelia…I would never leave you." I looked desperately in at her face, "I love you…more than anyone I've ever met. More than my our children, Jenny, anyone. What can I do to make you see that?"

She looked down still, her ears flat on her skull. Suddenly she had an idea.

She looked over to me, standing up as she did so, a playful smirk on her face.

"Come here," she said quietly.

I raised a eyebrow at this. But me, Being the ever loyal First Officer…and husband…took a step forward, she took a step back.

She continued to smirk, beckoning me forward, " a little closer,"

I wasn't actually sure where this was heading, but, shrugging slightly, I took another step, she took another back, her back now up against the wall.

Her smirk turned into a smile, "Is the word 'closer' in your vocabulary Mr. Dearing?"

I smiled inwardly. Now I knew where she was going with this.

"That depends Captain," I said quietly, taking another step forward so we were now only a small pace away from each other, "What are you getting at?"

"Take one more step Commander," she purred quietly, "And I will show you,"

A smile now crept onto my lips as I took the final step, making us toe to toe, our lips mere inches apart.

"Close enough Captain?" I asked innocently.

She shook her head slightly, "Not just yet Commander…but I can remedy that," and she lent in, closing the small gap, kissing me like she had done when we had reached Crescentia after escaping Treasure Planet: Strong and Heartfelt.

It was like falling in love with her all over again. I quickly deepened the kiss, pulling her towards be as I did so, her hands moving up to sift through my dark hair.

For how long we kissed I had no idea, but it was suddenly ended abruptly as she broke it off, before pushing me onto the bed.

I gazed up at her in surprise, before catching the look in her eyes.

"I believe you Daniel," she murmured as she came down next to me and snuggled up as I drew the sheets over us, "I always did. I just had to be sure."

I smiled and said nothing, just leaning down to kiss her lips once more. She kissed me back, and so began another night with my beloved wife.

"I'm sick of all this waiting!" Armstrong slammed his fist down on the breakfast table, scaring my children who were sat there, "I say we get a ship and head back there!"

It was breakfast time in the Dearing household, although we had a few more people then usual at the table.

Jenny, Armstrong and Silver had joined myself and my family, to try and put together a plan to save my home planet. Although right now it had turned into a shouting match.

"Dr. Armstrong control yourself!" I thundered, "Not only is your shouting doing nothing for my head, your scaring my children!"

Armstrong glanced up at me, before looking down at the scared expressions of Catherine, Emma, Maria and Joseph.

"Oh, Sorry kids," he murmured, going red, making Jenny giggle uncontrollably, "Lost my cool for a moment."

"What's a cool?" Maria asked curiously.

"And if you lost it, why don't you try retracing your steps till you remember where you put it last?" Joseph continued.

I looked over to Amelia and smiled at the children's innocence.

"I'll explain it to you some other time," Armstrong said quietly while Morph let out a string of angry squeaks at his head.

"Dr. Armstrong is correct in his statement though," Amelia sighed, "We cannot sit here forever. We need to figure out what made them invade Earth. We need a plan."

"Why don't you go and ask them to go away?" asked Emma as she prodded her pancakes.

"This is the adult stuff sweetheart," I said with a smile as I ruffled her hair, "The Procyon Armada won't leave if we ask nicely."

"Well, What do you suggest Danny-Boy?" Silver asked earnestly, "We waltz over there and use harsh language? Most of the Armada's there if what Jen and Pete say is true."

I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair.

"We could sure use Jim's knack for ideas right about now," I sighed.

At that moment the telephone rang in the hallway.

"I'll get it," I said as everyone looked up at the sound, "Most likely someone wants us to ferry them somewhere or something."

"Earth's been invaded by giant floating ships and all you can think about is a new job?" Armstrong said exasperatedly to my back.

I said nothing as I closed the door to the dining room for privacy before heading over to the wall mounted phone in the corner of the hallway.

Like everything around here, the phone looked more advanced then anything on Earth, for it had a Viewscreen built into the wall beside the receiver, allowing the person to see whoever it was they were talking too, yet at the same time it looked very old and well used.

As I picked up the receiver the screen blipped, revealing a man of no more than twenty years old, with short brown hair, bright blue eyes, and wearing the uniform of a Navel lieutenant.

"Heya Dan," Jim Hawkins said with a smile, "Long time no see."