A/N: Yeah…

Disclaimer: I do not own Treasure Planet.

"Mom…"

"Hold on a second, hon. Now, where did I put that cake…" Ms. Hawkins began busily resuming her search for a cake that she had baked earlier.

"Mom…"

"Hmm… maybe B.E.N. took it… B.E.N.! Get down here!"

"Mom!" Jim exclaimed without raising his voice. He smiled gently to atone for it, "Mom, they're not going to let me take a cake on a ship."

Ms. Hawkins pouted slightly, "Well they should." Her face broke into a wide, warm smile that only mothers could have, "Jim, you're growing up so fast. I can still remember when you would bring home a lost space squid pup and…"

"Beg you to let me keep it. I know, Mom," Jim finished, rolling his eyes, though the corners of his mouth were twitching into a resisted smile.

Ms. Hawkins smiled wider. "I'm going to miss you." She pulled her son into the third hug of the day.

"Mom," Jim muttered with that adolescent-embarrassment.

Ms. Hawkins let go of her son for a moment and bustled around the house, looking for small scraps of clothing, pictures, or other odds and ends he might have left behind, blinking furiously as she did so.

Jim heard a small cough. Amelia stood behind him, having snuck up in that quiet, cat-like way. "Well, Mr. Hawkins," The Captain cleared her throat; "I suppose this is… goodbye." Her voice did not exactly crack on the final word, but it was not whole.

Jim shrugged and rubbed behind his head, "Yeah… I guess it is."

Amelia strode forward and put her hands on his shoulders, "You must remember, stay strong. You're a natural and as long as you don't go off and make dim-witted choices, you'll do fine."

Jim managed a sharp nod, his tongue unraveling after a few moments. "There's a note with the letter; if I have a valid reason, I can use the full-screen hologram so it's like I'm really there. Don't start the wedding without me."

Amelia returned the nod and walked, stiff backed and shouldered, into the small kitchen.

Jim heard Dr. Doppler's heavy tread and turned around to meet the man. The professor was trying, but failing, to clean his glasses on a shirt that he had stained with small amounts of clear oil, invisible to him because the same oil was covering his spectacles.

Jim rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly before taking the glasses and placing them under a drip in the ceiling. He allowed three drops to land on each lens before wiping them quickly on his sleeve. Meanwhile, Dr. Doppler had been muttering quickly about dropping his glasses and was dancing on his tiptoes, trying to avoid 'stepping' on them accidentally. Jim perched the glasses on Doppler's nose.

"Ah! Jim, just the boy… man I wanted to see. Have you seen Morph, I'm afraid he's stolen my shoes again and I don't want to embarrass you by going to the port in these…"

Jim looked down to see Dr. Doppler's furry toes wiggling through several holes in his gray socks. He chuckled lightly. "It's all right; I saw Morph put your shoes on the roof yesterday."
Doppler began nodding quickly, "Ah very good… on the roof!" Doppler began running off in the direction of the closest of the three doors outside.

That crisis averted, Jim began to resume the morning's search for B.E.N. The night before, he had woken up in the dead on night to find B.E.N. trying to force his body into his bag. He had yelled at him, and the robot had run off somewhere, his eyes leaking oil. Now Jim had not seen his little friend all day and felt bad about the night before.

He searched the downstairs; the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, the sitting room, the storage area, Doppler's workshop, and the library.

Then he searched the upstairs; the two bathrooms, the master's bedroom, Amelia's guest bedroom (which was still as made-up as it was the day they arrived; the only reason they still called it 'Amelia's room' was to preserve her honor), his mother's room, his small room, and the upstairs library (which was attached by stairs to the downstairs one).

Still, when it was time to go, and his family (for, after what they had gone through together, Amelia and Doppler could not be considered anything but family) were all waiting downstairs, shuffling their feet uncomfortably at the door, Jim had still not found B.E.N.

He sighed heavily and went to the door. His mother gave him a sympathetic book and promised to say good-bye to B.E.N. whenever he showed up. They left the room, piled into the doctor's rickety ship and headed for Montressor Space Port.

Where once Jim had looked around the port with wonder befitting a young boy in a candy shop, now he stood with the barest hints of interest as his companions darted to and fro, asking for directions. Well, at least Dr. Doppler and his mother did. Amelia stood with her usual dignity.

Still, Jim could not help but look about him at different ships. He could tell which ones were bound for disasters, where the incoming ships had been by the barnacles attached to the bottom of the ships. He could foretell which ships faced disaster by slipping deckhands and ropes too browned by age.

"Mr. Hawkins." Amelia said, not raising her voice to get his attention.

Jim's head snapped up from where he had been looking at an unsecured mooring line, resisting the urge to move forward and take it from the small green alien that was pawing at it in a sorry attempt to look busy.

"Your ship," Amelia said, raising a white-gloved hand and drawing the attention both of their companions.

"Oh Jim," Jim's mother breathed softly.

Jim's mouth hung open for a minute, before Amelia tapped the bottom of it smartly.

The ship was a gleaming example of military strength and sophistication. Painted richly, the vessel's deep color and shine that normally came with only new ships drew the eyes of most around. The ship itself was enormous, spanning its three-sided rectangular place in the dock completely. The sails were unfurled, though without the wind swelling them, they were only minutely less impressive. Three gangplanks on each side of the ship led out onto two of the side-docking areas. Upon them, young men and women (though comparatively few of the latter) walked after saying tearful good-byes to weeping mothers with white handkerchiefs and beaming fathers, sticking their chests out in pride.

Jim looked to his companions. All were smiling proudly, though his mother's eyes were welling with tears and even Dr. Doppler's looked a little watery. Finally, it was Amelia who was able to break the overwhelmed silence.

"Jim, congratulations."

Dr. Doppler's arms encircled the boy in a fierce hug, "I knew you had it in you, my boy." Quietly, he added, "Silver knew too. I think he knew before all of us."

Jim nearly choked. None of them had mentioned Silver since they had finished up telling Jim's mother about his escape. He allowed himself to relax a bit and return the doctor's embrace.

When Doctor Doppler pulled away, Amelia patted Jim on the shoulder, flashed him a smile, and pulled her fiancée away to give Jim and his mother some privacy.

Jim's mother stood in silence for a moment before flinging herself at him, sobbing out, "Oh Jim! I'm so proud."

"Mo-" Jim tried to unravel his mother's arms from his neck. "Mom!" Ms. Hawkins pulled away. Jim smiled and warmly hugged his mother, "I'm gonna miss you. I love ya' mom."

Jim's mother broke out into an all new set of tears, but not before she was able to choke out, "I love you too, Jim."

A/N: Aww, how does everyone like that for mother's day?