"I hate Mondays."

Two in the morning was rarely anyone's favorite time of the day, especially when it was the first time a person had been back in their own bed since Friday night. Becky sat up in her bed and slowly opened her eyes to examine her room.

Her unicorn collection was stacked as neatly as ever, her dresser and mirror were cluttered with some dirty laundry and random knick-knacks, Bob was resting soundly in his monkey bed beside her; his breath raspy, but constant. It was a normal and quiet bedroom where normal Becky Botsford could find rest and peace from the outside world and outer space chaos. Sitting here now, Becky could hardly believe the events of yesterday had actually happened.

The girl reached over to her night stand and clicked on the small unicorn lamp that she had owned since she was very young. Its soft light brought enormous comfort into the room as Becky flung her legs over the side of her bed to look herself in the mirror. Her hair was still lopsided, her eyes a bit red; she looked like someone who had seen better days, and indeed she had.

"It ended just like I wanted it to, didn't it?" Becky asked her reflection, but no answer was allotted her. The image just stared coldly at its caster. "Adler's arrested, the city's saved." She could feel her eyes burn lightly as the tears entered them. "I get to be Becky." She closed her eyes tightly and turned away from the mirror. She didn't want to see herself cry; unfortunately she still had to hear herself to do it.

"Um, Becky?" Her brother's voice gently drifted into the room. The girl quickly silenced herself and tried to mask her anguish. "It's okay; I won't tell anyone you were crying." The younger boy climbed up on the bed next to his sister. "I'm really glad you're back."

"Oh yeah?" Becky tried to wear a smile. "You know, you'd never have to race me to the bathroom again if I hadn't come back." Weak laughter.

TJ couldn't see the humor. He leaned close to Becky and hugged her tightly, and for a moment, they both stayed like this.

"I was really starting to think something bad happened to you." TJ didn't hold back his sorrow, and this hurt Becky. "I know you're a jerk sometimes but, I really love you and I don't want to lose you like that again."

Becky embraced her little brother, knowing his fear was more real than ever now.

"Don't worry TJ," Becky pulled away from the hug and looked her little brother in the eyes. "Even if something did take us apart, we know we love each other. We can't prevent every bad thing from happening."

"Not even WordGirl could." TJ dropped his head; Becky swallowed hard.

"Not even WordGirl, but she loved us and did the right thing. We'll always love her and she loved us. And, as a family, we'll always love each other."

"You know what Becky," TJ looked to his older sibling. "I'll try harder to show it."

Pause.

"Well, we've got to visit dad at the hospital tomorrow, so we need to get to sleep." Becky lightly pushed her brother from the bed.

"Night Becky."

"Goodnight TJ." Becky watched the boy leave her room. She sat quietly for just moments more before laying back down on her bed. She now focused her attention on the ceiling as she tried in vain to tire herself. She knew this would be a sleepless night, but she tried anyway. Becky turned the lamp off and closed her eyes. Though exhausted, Becky couldn't slumber, in fact, she was beginning to imagine weird noises coming from outside . . . wait, there were noises coming from outside.

Becky sat up once again. She threw her covers off and ran to the window. Pulling each curtain aside, it became painfully clear where all the commotion was coming from. Rolling her eyes, Becky got dressed and used her not-so-mild-mannered ability to fly to head downtown. She landed behind an old office building before walking out normally into the street.

Towering fifty feet above her was one of Tobey's unmistakable robots. The thing was thundering through the streets as it walked, but amazingly wasn't causing much damage. Several nearby citizens sent annoyed glances in the direction of the machine, but not much else could be done.

"Tobey!" Becky did her best to be heard over the robotic machination. "Tobey shut this thing off!"

The robot stopped its movements, seemingly acknowledging the girl's efforts. The robot then began to lower its hand to her level, clearly an invite for a ride to the top. Becky sighed; this was going to be a long night. She stepped cautiously onto the flat palm of the robot and was lifted up to the shoulder of the machine. There Tobey stood. It was apparent he was not pleased that Becky had come to him, but Becky knew she'd have to wait for him to give an explanation as to why.

"If you haven't noticed," Tobey crossed his arms. "I haven't wrecked a single building."

"Tobey, it's like three in the morning. You're waking people up." Becky could hear the tension in her own voice. Her crying earlier was making it very hard to sound threatening now.

"I don't care if it was midnight on Christmas Eve, I'll do what I like." The robot took two more steps forward before Tobey stopped it again to allow Becky to speak.

"You're only doing this because you think WordGirl will 'come out to stop you.' Tobey she's not coming back."

"What do you know." Tobey focused his attention back on his robot as he ordered it to begin stomping around again.

"Tobey, you have to knock this off. WordGirl's dead and you're going to have to accept it like everyone else!" Becky's words fell on deaf ears; the robot kept marching on. "You saw that explosion, I saw it, everyone saw it Tobey; you can't keep doing this all the time. Yesterday afternoon, last night and now; it's foolishness for you to keep doing this; the city needs to move on without her!"

"Shut-Up!" Everything stopped as Tobey faced Becky. He stepped down from the robot's shoulder to stand before the girl the sound of his steps amplified by the metal. "I know she's not dead. What she's hiding from is gone now and I know she'll come back. As sure as you're standing here, I know she's not dead." He turned to head back up to his former position when Becky grabbed his arm.

"She's not coming back." She had lowered her head in a way where Tobey couldn't see her eyes, but he knew from her tone that she honestly believed what she said. He slowly pulled his arm away from her as she sent her gaze outward away from him.

"Maybe, it is time to turn in for the night," Tobey waved for the robot to head back toward the suburbs. "There are a lot of people trying to sleep."

Tobey sat down in the robots hand and he encouraged Becky to do the same. The Two Eleven year olds road briefly in silence before Becky spoke again.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"When I got home this afternoon I heard that you were one of the people who went out looking for me; so thanks, you're a good friend." Becky sat quietly as Tobey seemed to roll the facts around in his head.

"Well, I guess I do believe in miracles then." Tobey's comment caused Becky to smile slightly.

"Why, because someone actually thinks you're good?" She asked smugly.

"No, because someone as bad as I am, got something as good as He is . . . do you think I could ask for one more miracle?" Tobey tilted his head back; Becky followed his gaze to the few stars twinkling thru the city lights.

"I'm fairly certain you could have one more."

"You know what I'm going to do?" Tobey smiled to his friend as she wiped one stray tear from her eye. "I think I'll save it."

Fading Facade

January 12, 2011