Nya was up early as usual, preparing a list of things that needed doing before the party later that day. Before anything else though, the public areas of the temple needed a thorough clean. She glanced at the time and wondered if she could rope the other ninja into helping before they went out for training.
The question soon answered itself when Jay appeared to be up and about not long after her.
"Jay, what great timing!" Nya smiled.
"Well, we do have a party for get ready for," He replied. "so, what's on the list?"
"At the moment, just cleaning," She sighed. "I'm not exactly looking forward to it myself, but if you wouldn't mind helping, it'll go a lot faster."
"Okay." Jay grinned.
"Really? Wow, thanks Jay!" Nya put her hand on his shoulder. "That's so sweet of you."
"It's no trouble." He said, blushing slightly.
"We'll start in the living room; I think the last time we deep-cleaned in there it was the summer solstice." She laughed.
Armed with dish cloths, sponges, several cleaning sprays, a broom and a bucket of hot water, it was clear that Nya was on a mission. She asked Jay to set up the ladder, so she could get to the corners of the ceiling and, being the decent guy he was, he happily obliged. Wielding a feather duster, Nya started climbing the ladder, only for it to wobble slightly.
"Jay, would you mind holding the ladder for me?" She requested. "It's not as steady as I thought it was."
"Sure." He said cheerfully.
Truth be told, he liked the idea of helping her out with anything really. He had developed a liking for Nya from the day he met her, a liking that soon developed into a fierce passion, and those feelings only got stronger the more she was around him. As she started going up the ladder, he firmly held the sides and placed his feet at the base of the ladder legs, all the while watching her to make sure she was safe. Nya reached over with the duster and ran it along the edge of the ceiling, getting all the dust and cobwebs that had amassed since the last proper clean.
"Okay, I need to do the other corners now, if you don't mind helping me some more." Nya smiled as she started climbing back down.
"Anything for you." He smiled back with a wink.
Nya's cheeks began to redden at such a gesture; Jay was not always so forward with his affection, so when he was, she always noticed. With her mind elsewhere for a moment, her foot slipped, and she started to fall. Jay, living up to his status as master of lightning, quickly caught her just before she hit the ground. The velocity of which caused him to fall over as well. It took a moment for Nya to realise what had happened and, once out of her daze, looked at Jay with great concern.
Before anything could be said, the ladder suddenly followed suit and fell. Nya flinched, expecting the worst, but when she heard the crash of the ladder hitting the floor and then nothing else, she glanced up. Jay had put his hand out and deflected it. With his right arm around her and his left arm outstretched to divert the impending danger, it was clear to Nya that he had protected her from not one, but two painful accidents in the space of a minute.
"Jay! Jay! Are you alright?" Nya asked, her voice full of panic.
"I'm okay," Jay eventually said, still smiling at her. "but if you wanted a hug, all you had to do was ask."
"You dope!" Nya joked, throwing her arms around him and giving him an affectionate squeeze.
Jay reciprocated the embrace, warmly hugging her in return. The loud noise created by the incident soon attracted some attention, as Kai and Cole barrelled into the living room.
"Is everything okay? What was that crashing noise?" Kai paused as he witnessed Jay and Nya on the floor. "What are you doing to my sister?"
"I fell off the ladder," Nya insisted, as Jay got up and helped her to her feet. "Jay saved me."
"We really need to get rid of that ladder," Cole mentioned. "it's tried to kill me more than once."
"I'll set it on fire later." Kai promised.
"Well, seeing as you're both up, you can help me and Jay with the cleaning," Nya said as the other two ninja rolled their eyes. "hey, no cleaning, no party."
They stood with their arms crossed, thoroughly unconvinced by Nya's threat.
"Hey guys, you do realise that no party means none of Zane's cake either?" Jay noted as he taped the feather duster to a spare broom handle.
Kai and Cole looked at each other, their eyes wide with horror. The threat of missing out on one of Zane's delicacies was one thing, but his special Christmas cake? They weren't going to stand for that.
"I'll do the bathroom, you do the kitchen," Kai instructed, with Cole nodding in agreement. "ninja go!"
They each grabbed a sponge and some spray cleaner and dashed away to their respective destinations. Nya couldn't help but laugh at the sheer motivational power of cake; who knew it was so easy to get her teammates to clean?
"I thought that might work." Jay grinned.
"It certainly did," Nya responded. "I've never seen my brother move so fast!"
"I'm also hoping this will work," Jay said, handing Nya the broom handle with the feather duster duct-taped to one end. "this might be a safer way of dusting the ceiling."
"Thanks," She smiled. "I owe you one."
"It was nothing really, just a bit of duct tape." He humbly shrugged.
"Not what I meant." Nya ran her hand through her hair and reached out to stroke his arm, beaming at him sweetly.
"Oh... right," Jay nervously chuckled as his face burned bright red under Nya's admiring gaze. "well, you know, I'd do anything for you."
Nya, with her hand still on Jay's arm, pulled him in her direction and placed a gentle yet indulgent kiss on his cheek. Jay froze. When Nya saw his besotted face, she couldn't help but giggle at his adorable reaction.
"Oh Jay... you in there?" Nya waved her hand in front of his face, eventually luring him out of his frozen state. "We still have to finish cleaning."
"Of course, sorry about that." Jay laughed.
"Now that I can reach the ceiling on my own, would you mind doing the windows for me?" Nya asked.
"Sure," He smiled, picking up the ladder and moving it out of the way.
As Jay picked up the glass cleaner and a dish cloth, Lloyd walked in looking thoroughly confused.
"What's with Kai?" Lloyd wondered. "He's cleaning the bathroom like a mad man."
"We threatened him with missing out on cake." Jay chuckled as he sprayed one of the windows and started wiping it.
"Ah yes, the big clean-up before the party," Lloyd nodded. "speaking of which, you need any help?"
"Jay's helping me in here, so you can either help Kai in the bathroom, or Cole in the kitchen," Nya instructed.
"Well, Kai looks like he's okay on his own, I think I'll go help Cole." He decided, strolling off towards the kitchen.
"I wonder where Zane and Pixal are?" Nya wondered out loud, only for Jay to start lightly snickering. "What?"
"I think it's pretty obvious where those two are." He wickedly grinned.
"Pixal was still in my room when I got up," She said innocently, until she saw Jay's mischievous expression. "what exactly are you getting at?"
"I think you know what I'm talking about – didn't Zane ask you about it?" Jay replied with raised eyebrows.
"Jay!" Nya hissed, her face going bright red. "You don't think that Zane and Pixal have actually…?"
"Hey, it's not just me, Cole thinks so too – after all, they were alone together all day..." Jay corrected. "I don't know if droids can do that sort of thing though."
"Droids are capable of most activities," Pixal said as she entered the room, startling Jay to the point of falling over. "What is it that you are unsure of?"
"Jay thinks you can't dance." Nya explained as Jay mouthed 'thank you' for covering him.
"I cannot," She mentioned sadly. "but Zane has been attempting to teach me."
"There'll be plenty of time for dancing at the party tonight," Jay promised, having recovered from his prior shock. "Cole is doing the music and he knows how to make it bounce."
"Where is Zane anyway?" Nya pondered.
"I do not know; he was not in his room." Pixal spoke anxiously.
"Why do I get the feeling he's gone out for more ingredients?" Nya sighed. "He's done this before; he finds a new recipe and has to try it – it could be the middle of the night but that won't stop him."
"Do you think he'll make that candy cane sorbet again?" Jay drooled, reminiscing fondly on last year's 'eleventh hour' dessert.
"You and your sweet tooth." Nya smiled as she shook her head.
"I know, I know," Jay sighed. "I'm sweet enough already."
Nya rolled her eyes while silently agreeing.
"While you're waiting for Zane to get back, you could go see how Kai is getting on." She suggested.
"Affirmative." Pixal beamed, heading off toward the bathroom.
"You really think something's happened?" Nya looked at Jay inquisitively.
Jay didn't answer, but his audacious smirk said it all. Just as she was about to start sweeping the room, there suddenly erupted a shrill, electronic cry.
"Yaaaah!"
Nya ran in the direction of the sound and discovered Pixal, sitting on the bathroom floor, with her head and torso absolutely soaked in water. Kai was apologising profusely and had draped a towel around her shoulders.
"What happened?" Nya asked.
"I was rinsing down the tiles when something made me jump," Kai explained. "I spun round and accidentally sprayed Pixal with the shower head."
"I-it was my f-fault," Pixal insisted. "I-I should not have s-snuck up on him."
"I'm so sorry!" Kai apologised again.
"Calm down, bro, she'll be okay once we dry her off." Nya assured him.
Kai helped Pixal up and Nya took the sopping droid to her room. She closed the door and got some more towels from her closet. Nya removed the small towel from Pixal's shoulders, so she could pull off the wet t-shirt she was wearing. Nya then placed a larger towel around her that covered most of Pixal's body. She put another towel over Pixal's hair and began gently rubbing in an attempt to dry it. Pixal was enjoying the feeling of being wrapped up in the towel, it reminded her of being in Zane's bed, snuggled under his bed covers, the warmth of his body beside hers...
She unwittingly let out a deep, amorous purr.
Nya stopped in her tracks, unsure if the noise had come from Pixal or if she was hearing things that weren't there.
"My apologies," Pixal stated. "for a moment I was unable to control my vocalizations."
"I've never heard you make that noise before." Nya admitted as she continued drying Pixal's hair.
"It is not a sound I usually make, but it is connected to a memory."
"Let me guess, is this memory connected to Zane?" Nya smiled knowingly.
"Yes, he makes me feel safe and loved," Pixal confided, her eyes softened, and her lips curved into a love-struck grin. "it is more than I could have ever asked for."
"So, he's never done anything… inappropriate around you?" Nya queried.
"Oh no, he is most definitely a droid of honour," Pixal replied. "yesterday morning, he was so gentle with me."
"That's Zane alright," Nya said as she put down the towel and tied Pixal's hair into a ponytail. "well, your hair is dry now, we'll need to restyle it before the party later though, and- wait, what happened yesterday morning?"
"I admit, I was craving his company, so I went into his room," She confessed, looking down at her hands. "he let me try on some of his clothes and then he held me, it was very soothing."
"Aww, how adorable!" Nya cooed. "Now c'mon, let's go see how the cleaning is going."
Pixal removed the towel from her body and put on a dry t-shirt, folding the towel and neatly placing it on the floor. The two left Nya's bedroom and made their way back to the living room, with Nya peeking in the bathroom to see if her brother was finished cleaning. As it happened, he was, and had done a pretty good job too; such was the motivation of Zane's specialist cake.
Nya expected to see Jay and Kai in the living room, but when she saw Lloyd and Cole too, she was a little confused.
"Have you guys finished the kitchen already?" She asked.
"Not exactly," Lloyd declared. "Zane came in and commandeered it."
"Zane is home!" Pixal said excitedly, running off to the kitchen.
"Looks like you were right Nya," Jay said. "Zane had been out getting some groceries for a new recipe, but he won't say what it is."
"We were nearly finished anyway," Cole insisted. "all that's left to do is the dishes and the floor."
"And I'm sure Zane will do that once he's finished cooking." Lloyd predicted.
"Let's see… kitchen, bathroom, living room…" Nya quietly surmised before turning to Jay. "Are you finished in here?"
"Just gotta sweep and mop, then we're done" Jay replied.
"Wow, we're ahead of schedule," Nya said, her voice full of surprise. "okay, I guess we can break for now and then start setting up after training – sound good?"
"What about Zane?" Kai asked. "Should we ask if he needs some help?"
"I'll go find out," Jay offered. "I doubt it, but it couldn't hurt to ask."
Jay strolled over to the kitchen and poked his head in the door. Zane was showing Pixal what he'd bought from the store and telling her what his plans were for the festivities. Jay backed up a bit. He peered into the room and listened intently, hoping to overhear Zane's culinary intentions. Pixal giggled and then offered to help him with whatever it was he was doing. He graciously accepted her assistance before leaning over and exchanging a kiss with her.
"Jay," Nya suddenly hissed, scaring the daylights out of him. "what are you doing?"
"Nothing, I just-"
"It's rude to spy on people, you know?" She scolded.
"I wasn't spying, I just wanted to find out what he's making for later," Jay insisted. "but then they started kissing and-"
That piqued Nya's curiosity, and she also took a furtive glance. Jay was right, they were being incredibly affectionate with each other, and while it was certainly more than they displayed in public, it was nothing overtly saucy... until Zane put his hand under Pixal's t-shirt while he was kissing her, triggering more of her coquettish giggling.
"Oh my..." Nya mumbled, her face going very pink as she grabbed Jay's hand and dragged him away from the kitchen door.
"But I didn't get to find out what Zane is cooking for tonight." Jay argued.
"You'll find out later," Nya assured him as they re-entered the living room. "right now, you need to help Cole with the music."
"Yeah, c'mon, I need to build a new playlist for this party." Cole agreed, putting his arm around Jay's shoulder.
"Well, okay," Jay said. "you think we should put some electronic music on for Pixal?"
"Maybe we should, we'll go see what I've got." Cole mused as they walked away towards his room.
"You okay sis?" Kai asked. "You look a bit warm."
"Fine, fine," She announced. "just, you know, excited about the party..."