Home Again Chapter 2, an eureka seven fanfic

(AN: All the characters, settings, and original ideas belong to BONES Studios, everything else belongs to me)

(AN: Thank so much for the reviews, you have no idea what confidence boosters they were)

A very sleepy Anemone gently stirred under the covers before forcing herself to sit upright and slowly open her eyelids. On her lap was her pet, Gulliver, who was loudly snoring and kicking every now and again. There was a nagging in the back of her mind about something very important today. She looked around Eureka's room, the room she was given when she went with Dominic to stay with the Gekko State for a while. Something very important happens today…

She walked sluggishly to the calendar, and scanned all the dates until she came upon MY BIRTHDAY, written in very large letters. A sudden surge of excitement filled her. She grabbed the sleeping Gulliver and threw the poor thing into the air. Gulliver awoke with a squeak of complaint before landing in Anemone's arms. It's a wonder how she was able to catch such a heavy thing.

"It's my birthday!" she hummed over and over again, cradling Gulliver and skipping around the tiny room. She had only had a couple because her birth date was never really told to her or celebrated by Dewey. So a random date was picked on the calendar, she often tried to squeeze two birth days but Dominic told her that you could only have one every year. Anemone settled with the 1st of January.

Now it was thinking time, how would she manage to egg her present out of Dominic? She had tried and failed twice already. She hated it when Dominic got the better of her, which happened on few occasions. She mulled it over, what weaknesses did Dominic have? An idea struck and she dashed to her closet.

Dominic was lying on his bed busying himself with preparing mentally and physically for Anemone's birthday. She was often irrational and resorted to abuse. He grinned. "How did I ever get tied up with her?" Dominic recalled an old saying, "You complete me!"

The saying fit them both quite well actually. As they had discovered, they were both polar opposites. Anemone was fun-loving, attention-loving, and spontaneous. Dominic on the other hand loved order, silence, and work. These morals are what got him through boot camp and up the ranks in the military as an AAC (Aerial-Armored Core) officer.

Anemone often tried to get Dominic to loosen up and have fun, while Dominic always attempted to restrain her and reason with her when she went overboard. By some miracle, the two personalities balanced out perfectly. Both uncovered values which they had never given a second though in each other.

Dominic rolled over and looked under the bed. He glanced at the long board he had purchased then instead reached for the card and brought it out. He leaned back against the wall which was adjacent to his bed and decided to proof read the few words just in case he had made any mistakes. Anemone wouldn't really care about spelling but it was just a habit of his.

"Shit!" he exclaimed and threw the card under the bed. He heard rapid footsteps coming from the hallway. Just as the card hit the floor the door slid open.

Dominic's eyes went wide and his throat went dry. He simply stared at Anemone who was leaning against the door wearing some very "revealing" clothes. His mouth moved, it tried to form words but nothing came out. Anemone approached him very slowly, like a beast of pray approaching its kill.

Dominic could not move. Anemone pushed him back flat on the bed and sat on his stomach in a position where she straddled him. "Dominic…" she purred.

"Y-yeah?" he said gulping.

She brought her finger down gently on his chest and began to trace figure eights.

"Don't you want to tell me about my present?" she said with pursed lips.

"Damn it! Shit! Shit! Shit! Say something she's going to get it out of you!!" The little voice in Dominic's head screamed.

She leaned in closer, to the point that there was barely and inch of space between their faces. He could feel her breathing on him.

"Come on Dominic!" she said with a mischievous smile.

"Think! Damn it! Think!!" said his head.

"It was your birthday today? I sorta forgot!" He blurted out.

"NO YOU IDIOT!!" cried the little voice.

Anemone was a smart girl, but she often let her emotions come before reason. The finger tracing stopped and she pulled her face away. Dominic could already see tears welling in her eyes. He kicked himself mentally for forgetting this fact.

"No wait! I didn't-!" he said hurriedly but it was too late, Anemone had already dashed from the room heading for hers top speed.

Moondoggie had heard some commotion and was heading for Dominic's room. Unfortunately he happened to be in the path of Anemone and received a face-full of fist.

Dominic emerged from his room and tried to go after Anemone but he could already hear the slam of a door and the clicks of a lock. Moondoggie's swollen face turned to Dominic, "What was that all about?" he mumbled.

By now many others of the Gekko State had arrived on the scene. Gidget ran forward to cradle Moondoggie's head.

Dominic was unwilling to elaborate on what had happened so the crew started to bolster him. It was broken up when Hilda marched her way through, grabbed Dominic by the ear, and dragged him away. Talho followed close behind and ordered everyone, including Holland, to back off.

Dominic sat in the chair of the snack manger behind the desk that Talho and Hilda were leaning on. There was an awkward silence, Talho and Hilda kept staring expectantly at Dominic who kept his eyes on his feet.

"Sooo…" Talho began, "what did you do this time?"

Dominic gave the most common response, "Nothing"

"It had to have been something" said Hilda.

"Ok it's her birthday today, you know that right?"

Both Talho and Hilda nodded.

"Well I was prepping her present and she busted in and almost caught me… but the thing is she started to interrogate me and almost got it out of me so I said…"

Both women lean in… drilling Dominic with their stares.

"So I said I forgot…"

Hilda smacked Dominic on the forehead and Talho covered her face.

"No, no, no, no, no YOU NEVER SAY THAT!!" shouted Talho.

"What do I do…? Dominic started before being cut off again, this time by Hilda.

"Apologize, just go apologize, no questions, just go." Said Hilda sternly.

Poor Gulliver was doing his best to console his heart-broken Anemone. His fur was sodden with her tears as she used him as a crying towel. He gave her an assuring lick every now and then as if to say "Don't worry things will work out" and "Please stop crying on my fur, use your pillow instead". But alas he could do nothing to help, only try to catch his breath as he was squeezed at random intervals like a stress ball. He gasped for air as he received an extra tight squeeze usually that accompanied Anemone's angry muttering. "That Dominic, you can't trust him, soon after your birthday he'll forget your name" was something along the lines of this one. "Doesn't he care at all!? I've never had these before, they're a big thing for me!" she continued. This cycle went on from several minutes in the poorly lit room, of course it's not that the lights were bad. Anemone just didn't turn them on for the dramatic effect in order to emphasize her mood. "What if I ran away?" she said all at once. Gulliver groaned.

"Anemone!" came a voice from outside of the door.

"There he is now, I won't answer, it serves him right..." she was well into the act. There was knocking this time, gentle but impatient.

"Anemone please open up! Let me talk to you! I can explain!"

Anemone rolled her eyes, Oh so it's "I can explain" now! she thought.

"I'm sorry I really am and I do have an explanation if you would just listen to me!"

Anemone smirked, she was enjoying this... so much that she forgot what she was originally angry at him for.

"FINE! If you want to stay in there with your stubborn self thats fine with me!" Dominic shouted.

"Hell no!" A surge of anger rushed through Anemone, she let Gulliver jump out of her arms and a wicked idea came to mind.

Gulliver shook his fur dry, effectively creating a puddle that was slowly seeping into the crevices of the room.

"Sick him Gully!" she commanded Gulliver.

Gulliver nodded in agreement and waited for Anemone to open the door...

Dominic stood staring at the door still cooling from his last outburst. "Fine idea apologizing turned out to be..." he thought. Then he winced as he remember he was most likely going to receive some kind of abuse for that.

He heard the locks being undone. "Did it work?"

The door opened slowly and before he even began to speak he was knocked over in a flash of white and black, and several painful pinching feelings all over his face. He had just enough time to see a little white puff ball receding into the depths of Eureka's/Anemone's room. Then the door slammed shut. "Goddamn it."

He trudged back, head-hung low, to were Hilda and Talho were waiting expectantly for an update. He passed by Moon-Doggie on the way who took one brief look at Dominic's face and said bluntly "Holy cow I thought my face was bad! You look like you got yours MAULED BY A RAT!"

"One of my all-time lows" thought Dominic glumly.

A few hours had passed before the thought "Maybe that was a little too harsh" even crossed her mind. In truth, the only reason the thought came to mind was because she, as all people do, eventually became tired of her sulking crusade. She put her legs over the side and sat of the edge of the bed staring intensely at the door hoping for a knocking sound so that she could run out and apologize. She sat waiting expectantly for what seemed to be forever (but in reality was 2 minutes and 27 seconds) before scooting Gulliver off her lap and making her way to the door. Hesitating a moment, she finally put her hand forcefully on the doorknob and pulled it open, hoping to see a desperate Dominic sitting in the hallway. He wasn't there, nor was anybody for the most part. While she wasn't paying attention Gulliver sneaked his way out past her and disappeared.

She stepped cautiously into the hallway and took a suspicious pan around. There was really nobody in sight. She proceeded to search each of the rooms adjacent to her... no one to be found in them either. She made her way back to her room and almost screamed when she saw that Gulliver had somehow dissipated. "You probably fell asleep and are dreaming" she muttered to her self. She threw her self on the bed and blinked several times rapidly. Then sat up and pinched herself lightly at first, then again brutally hard. Realizing there was no other option, she decided she would have to search the ship, she would start with the living room.

Making her way gingerly to the living room, she went on her tippie toes to avoid noise (For who knows? They could have been boarded while she was sulking). The lights were all off, she squinted as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.

"SURPRISE!" came a chorus of voices in unison. The lights flashed on and confetti was shot at her.

2 things happened... Anemone jumped backwards like a cat splashed with water... then she whipped out her pistol (Where was she hiding it!?) and everybody hit the deck. She lowered it slowly, realizing the the people lying on the floor were Gekko state... and that there was a massive cake with HAPPY BIRTHDAY printed on it. She holstered it and made her way over to the cake that rested on the coffee table.

"Surprise" said Dominic, picking himself up off the floor.

"Cake!" she exclaimed delightedly and picked up the knife, cutting out a piece and delicately putting on one of the plastic plates laid out on the table. The other crew member got up and, very slowly and deliberately congratulated Anemone on her birthday. They did not want to surprise her again.

She thanked them all quickly and hopped onto one of the couches, typical Anemone, suddenly there was cake and nothing else in the world mattered. (Well that's a bit of an overstatement, she does care, but there aren't really any Corelian invasions going on or anything like that.)

She put a piece into her mouth, using her fingers, and almost shivered with delight. "It has jam filling! Who thought of that!?"

Holland point at Dominic "Him"

"That deserves a reward! Dominic come and sit by the birthday girl she needs to talk to you!" she giggled.

"Hey look I'm really sorry about what I said, you know I would never forg-" Dominic began seriously.

"Did you bake the cake?" she said cutting him off.

"Well... yeah but that's not the point-"

"Well apology accepted! Have you tasted the cake yet?" she said licking her lips seductively.

Dominic went beet red, "Uhh not now please, not in front of everybody!"

Anemone gave a look of mock horror "Dominic you pervert I didn't mean like that!" she then cuddled him playfully. "Thanks for the present" she whispered. "I'm sorry I over reacted..."

"This isn't the present! I've still got it!" he said grinning.

"WHAT!? Where!?" she grabbed him by the collar.

"The hanger... come on" he said grabbing her hand. They both dashed from the living room, their footsteps echoing down the hallways.

Holland smiled gently "I like them, they're more fun to have around than when Renton and Eureka were here"

Talho agreed. she added with a giggle "With Renton it was all drama and love is bitter sweet-"

Holland looked at her quizzically "What?"

"Nothing..." she said giggling again, "inside joke..."

"You can't have an inside joke with just yourself..."

"It's between me and Renton"

"Whatever" he said grunting. "Where's squirt?"

"He's sleeping" she said "He's getting so tall" she added sadly.

"He's like 3 now isn't he? Damn before we turn around he'll be old enough to take off without us"

"Don't say that! Oh boy... that's going to be stressful, he's already a punk... he takes after his father..." she said giving Holland a mischievous look.

Holland rolled his eyes...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anemone was busy playing hot-cold with Dominic, searching vigorously all over the hangar. Dominic grinned, he had his fun. It's over there..." he said, pointing to a low hanging ventilation shaft. She dashed towards it and rummaged around before holding her prize up triumphantly.

Anemone practically squealed, "What? No way a long board! So we can fly together!"

"Yeah but I've never really been on one so we should save it for later..." he said as he noticed Anemone putting on dark blue aerodynamic Kevlar. He sighed, and began to put on his own suit.

He heard Anemone mutter something but didn't quite catch it. He ignored it and slipped on his goggles.

Anemone had pulled the lever opening up the smaller hatch which allowed straight drops for ref boarders. Dominic looked fearfully at Anemone, who was standing with a longboard in one arm and her backpack in the other.

"Why do you need the backpack?" he said shakily.

"No reason" she began to walk forcefully towards Dominic.

"Wha-?" he began as she grabbed him by his collar. She pushed him over to where the hatch was and stood him on the edge. "No wait please Anemone! I told you that I-" He couldn't get another word in before he received a rough shove and then suddenly the Gekko state ship as he knew it grew smaller and smaller in the distance as he flew towards the earth faster and faster. He screamed for his life, who wouldn't? He saw the green streaks of Trappar as a girl, her hair flapping wildly and grinning from ear to ear with adrenaline, came rushing down towards him. She stopped and settled near to him.... just out of his reach. They were still falling quickly. "Magic words!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"WHAT?" shouted Dominic.

"I said MA-"

"I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID! I APOLOGIZED ALREADY!"

"OH" and with that Anemone hoisted Dominic onto the long board and settled it so that it rested gently on the Trappar waves. "I forgot-" she began but stopped to give Dominic some room as he was hunched over with a nauseated look on his face. He didn't throw up, he came very close to it though. "Oh god... please... never do that... again" he said between pants.

"Sure thing!"

Dominic regained his composure on his wobbly legs. "I thought I told you I don't really know how to fly these things..."

"You're not flying! I am... all you have to do is hold on to me tightly!" she said grinning.

"Where do you intend we go anyways?" he asked.

"The Thurston's place..."

"But we went there last month... they aren't going to be back yet..."

"Yes they are!" she said cheerfully. "I have a good feeling in my gut!"

"Speaking of which..." he cleared his throat. "How'd you fly this thing anyways... I thought the minimum weight was 200 pounds..."

"Calling me fat?" she said glaring playfully.

"No of course not" he added quickly. He looked at her bag, Gulliver was peeking out at him with the most innocent look on his face.

"That thing is too fat..." he mumbled. Gulliver bit him again. "Can't we toss him please!?" He said laughing.

"Just shut up and hold onto me!" she responded. Dominic gently put his arms around her waist... and then moved his arms up to her belly and rested his chin on one of her shoulders.

"You know you can't be doing that dangerous stuff anymore..." he said soothingly. "Now that you've got a little guy in there..."

"I know..." she replied glumly. "How do you know she'll be a guy?"

"Gut feeling" he said grinning.

AN: That's it! Read and Review please!

AN (2): Grr... I read through it and found so many errors... I wrote it before going to sleep so I didn't really proof read. I'll be updating little hot fixes every now and then. If you spot any errors, please tell me in your review.