Sorry it took me so long to update. My computer was being a jerk and thought that it would be funny to kill over. Because of this, I wasn't able to work on anything. Just letting you all know that I didn't abandon this story.
Disclaimer: If I owned this, I wouldn't be here right now.
The weeks seemed to pass by exceedingly slow since Amelia had moved into Doppler's mansion. She was thankful that the doctor had let her stay, however, the peaceful atmosphere of Montresser was completely opposite from the Space Port. The whole ordeal of not having anything to thing to do put her in a bad mood and everyone learned to keep clear of her. This, apparently, didn't register with Jim and he would normally end up cleaning the mansion with a toothbrush. When things got to the point where they became too unbearable she would end up taking a walk around town when the weather was nice to let off some steam. Today, however, was not one of those days.
"Amelia?" Sarah said quietly, breaking the silence that had grown in the living room. "Can I ask you something?"
The captain didn't bother taking her eyes off the book she was reading. "I'm afraid you already did, Mrs. Hawkins."
Sarah shifted in her seat. Talking to Amelia always made her uneasy. "Well… um… anyway I was just thinking, don't you think it would be better if you kind of, well…" She paused for a moment not sure how to put her words together. "Well, what I'm trying to say is that lately you've been rather… harsh."
Amelia finally looked up from her book and stared at her puzzled. "I'm afraid I don't quite follow."
Sarah ran her hands through her hair, still struggling to find the right words. "Could… you kind of…um tone it down a little. You're a really nice person but l the way you present yourself is on the borderline of heartless."
"I wouldn't classify myself as being 'heartless', but I do agree that, as of late, I haven't been in the best of moods." Amelia turning her attention back to her novel. "You have no idea how boring it is on this planet."
"Well I guess for someone like you, it can be rather boring. But there are still plenty of things you can do around the house. You could always give Delbert some company; I'm sure he'd enjoy that."
"I suppose I will." Amelia sighed, closing her book and getting out of her chair. "Maybe then I can finally get him to clean that 'Disaster Area' he calls a study."
"Finally," Jim shouted from the kitchen "someone who understands me!"
For the few months, Jim had tried everything to get Doppler's study clean. He was sick and tired of having to climb over mountains of books just to ask him a question or call him down stairs for dinner. When Amelia had moved in, he finally had someone that completely understood him (It was one of the few things they agreed on). One night Amelia walked into Jim's room and threw him a trash bag saying something along the lines of "I don't care if it kills us we're getting that damn place cleaned!" Jim, of course, happily agreed and rushed downstairs to the room followed closely by the captain. Everything was going to plan until Jim had knocked over a globe and it crashed to the floor. At this moment all Jim and the captain could do was hold complete still in fear, praying that Doppler didn't hear anything. However, the hurried footsteps that were coming from the upper floor made both individuals flinch. Doppler burst in the room with a cross expression on his face and kicked them out. From that point on, Delbert kept the door locked every night.
Amelia made her way down the long hallway that led to Doppler's study. She could see that the door was cracked open just slightly, letting in a ray of golden sunlight that illuminated the gloomy hall. She slowly peered inside and looked around. There, sitting at his cluttered desk, was Doppler, staring off into space. Amelia knocked on the door, trying to get the doctor's attention.
Doppler snapped out of his thoughts and whipped his head around. A smile spread across his face. "Well I wasn't expecting you to be here."
"Well, Mrs. Hawkins told me that I should check up on you; to keep you company and all." Amelia explained.
"Well I'm glad that you agreed to come and see me. Actually, I was expecting you to be out on a walk or threatening Jim."
"Oh, tish-tosh ." Amelia chuckled. "As of late, Mr. Hawkins has figured that it's best to stay out of my hair."
"Well that's a relief." Doppler said getting up from his desk. "But on another note, I have something I've been meaning to give you."
"That won't be necessary. I think you've given me more than enough gifts recently." Amelia said waving her hand.
Doppler cleared his throat and walked over to a book shelf. "Well, I think one more bequest wouldn't hurt, and besides I think you'll like it." Doppler continued to rummage through the hundreds of books that lined the walls. Amelia walked over and gazed over the titles. "Ah, maybe it's this one!" Doppler exclaimed taking out a fairly thin book. "He began flipping through the pages. Amelia looked over his shoulder and stared at the open pages intrigued. Although she only had only a vague understanding of what the text said, she tried her hardest to comprehend as much as she could. Doppler looked at her out the corner of his eye, a little amused.
"Do you understand any of this?" Amelia finally spoke.
"Well yes, it's very simple actually. I mean, for me it's simple but I could see how for someone like you it would be a little complicated… I-I-I'm not saying that you inferior in anyway…but what I mean by that is-"
"Doctor, might I suggest you work on that rabbling problem of yours when you talk? It suits you better."
"Uh… yes, yes I'll try to work on that." Doppler blushed, closing the book. "Anyway, that wasn't the book I was going to give you. I'd doubt you'd get much use of that, anyhow."
"I will have to agree with you on that." Amelia smirked.
"If you want, you can look around. I'm sure you'll find something that you might like." Doppler offered. Amelia nodded and walked over to a lone bookshelf at the far end of the room next to a large window that took up most of the south wall.
It wasn't as big as the others but it was still a good size and could easily hold over two hundred books. She began to skim over the titles and to her surprise they weren't about astrophysics at all. There were numerous books about spacing and old sailing tales many of which, Amelia owned as well. She'd never expected Delbert to have this many (or any at all, for that matter). Despite this being one of his smaller collections, he had a significant amount more than she owned.
"Before the trip to Treasure Planet, I never found the time to read those. But lately, I've managed to read at least one or two." Doppler stated, joining her. He took out a small book that looked as though it hadn't been read for years and handed it to her. The felinid looked at it, eyes filled with puzzlement. "When I was in your stateroom, I notice that you had quite the collection of books about spacing, so when I came across this, I thought you would like it. It's a human narrative but it think you might find it deplorable-uh-enjoyable."
A smile spread across Amelia's face. "Thank you Doctor. This will indeed be a wonderful add-on to my collection."
"GOD, WILL YOU TWO JUST KISS EACH OTHER ALL READY? JUST LISTINGING TO YOU PISSES ME OFF!" Jim exclaimed, from the hallway. Both adults rolled their eyes.
"If you will excuse me, Doctor, I have something to take care of." Amelia walked out of the room, leaving Delbert to himself.
"Well I better get back to cleaning." he said to no one in particular.
The rest of the evening went by peacefully and Doppler managed to clean his study to the best of his ability (although he didn't really put a dent in it). He walked down the hall to join everyone for dinner, but stumbled across Jim who was on his hands and knees, scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush.
"Doc…" Jim began "Remind me to just keep my mouth shut."
Delbert let out a small laugh noticing that Amelia was responsible for this little incident. "I'll try to remember to do that."
To be continued…
Well it wasn't as good as the original but at least it's something. I'll be updating more frequently now that I have a new computer so look forward to chapter 5! Please review.