I'd like to think that Chloe and I hit it off right away.

Jim figured it out the hard way that he wasn't much for sitting around the house and doing nothing. Not long after he went to his room, he decided that he should go down stairs and help B.E.N. and his mother. He stopped by Chloe's room to pick up her breakfast tray, but found it and the room empty.

He took the tray, not sure why he cared about not seeing Chloe, back to the kitchen. The morning rush was over and Sarah was sipping luke-warm coffee while B.E.N. washed dishes. B.E.N was chatting in his usual rambling hyperactive tone when Jim came in, dumping the dishes from the tray into the sink.

"There he is!" Sarah was glad to see her son up and about; she took another sip of her coffee. "I was starting to think that you had gone back to sleep."

Jim laughed a little. "'Fraid not," he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter beside his mom. "So, uh…where'd Chloe disappear to?"

Sarah finished off her coffee before speaking. "I got in touch with Amelia and Delbert and asked them to take her into town to get checked out by the doctor there and to pick up some clothes for her."

"Oh," Jim said, rather intelligently. "So…what can I do around the house today?"

Jim started to grab a towel to dry dishes, but his mother smacked his hand away. "No house work; go outside. Do something manly," she said, taking the towel from him and drying the clean dishes B.E.N. had stacked up.

Jim laughed with mild disbelief at his mother. "Manly?" He asked skeptically.

"Yes, manly," Sarah said, smirking as she dried dishes. "Go…fix something…"

Jim shook his head; what was there to fix? His search led him outside, and eventually down the steep hill behind the Benbow. It was there that the remains of Jim's solar surfer rested. The piece of machinery had fallen into disrepair, mostly due to Jim's lack of time to tend to it. After returning from his voyage to Treasure Planet, Jim had helped his mother repair the inn before spending three years at the Interstellar Academy.

After graduation, Jim went right on to work on military ships; he traveled, saw wonders that many of the residents of Montressor wouldn't believe, and yet…there was just something missing.

Jim found his old box of tool and pulled out a wrench, holing it gently in his hands. It had been so long since he had worked with his hands for fun. He looked over his solar surfer, assessing what needed to be done before settling on his plan of attack. He found a couple of empty old crates and placed the surfer on top of it; he slid under and began to work.

It was harder work, not that he was older; his large hands had a hard time getting into the tight crevices of the machine. He laughed at himself a little, realizing that this little venture into his youth was probably going to just aggravate him, but he couldn't bring himself to abandon the project.

As his hands attempted to restore his once most prized possession to its original glory (or at least make it ride able), Jim's mind began working, despite his efforts to keep it clear.

Every since he had graduated, he had felt as if something was missing. His first thought had been his father, someone who hadn't been in Jim's life for near ten years. But the more Jim had thought about it, he realized that that wasn't it, though a part of him still felt nagged about the absence of his father.

Then his thoughts would travel to Silver, the man who had been more like his father than anyone else. He often wondered how the old scalawag was; somewhere out in space, living as a wanted man. Jim missed his time on the RLS Legacy, serving as Silver's cabin boy. He had learned a lot thanks to Silver, and Jim often wished the old cyborg had been able to see the man that Jim had become.

As Jim worked and thought, back up at the Benbow Inn, the Dopplers had returned; Chloe was walking just a head of them as they all entered the kitchen, holding the hands of two of the Doppler daughters.

All four children had just finished the terrible twos, much to the joy to their parents. Amelia was holding the hand of their only son, Albert, while Delbert was carrying their brunette daughter, Bertha. Chloe was being dragged by the blonde and red headed girls, Clara and Phoebe.

Sarah had just finished putting away the dry dishes. "Welcome back," she said happily as Chloe came into the kitchen. Chloe had a bit of limp, more than likely an injury from her crash the day before.

Chloe smiled as she sat down at the small 'family' table just inside the door. Clara and Phoebe stood in front of her as she addressed Sarah in a soft voice. "Thank you Mrs. Hawkins."

Delbert set Bertha on the floor and the child quickly joined her sisters s they stood in front of the beautiful new stranger. Chloe was in borrowed clothes from Sarah, a brown skirt, a white long sleeved shirt and a light brown vest. Her hair was in a loose braid over her left shoulder. She looked slightly flushed from having walked into town and after having wrangled toddlers on the way back. "Doctor Golds said that everything appeared fine; no broken bones, just a few cuts and burses."

Amelia moved to stand beside her husband as Sarah walked over to Chloe, looking the girl's face over. "That cut on your forehead looks a lot better," she said, gently running her index finger over the line near Chloe's hair line. "Do you remember anything from before the crash?"

Chloe shook her head as Sarah began moving around the room, pulling out a small bowl and putting in five purps. "Not really; I mean, I think I know how old I am, and I'm pretty sure I've never been to Dr. Golds before."

Amelia gave Chloe a curious look as she tried to encourage her son to join her daughters. "Why is that?"

Chloe shuddered at the memory. "I'm a thousand percent sure that I would never forget those cold hands," she said, rubbing her upper arms for dramatic emphasis.

The older people laughed as Sarah brought the bowl of purps to the table. "Could you do me a favor, Chloe, and take these out to Jim?"

Chloe nodded, standing as she took the bowl in hand. "He should be out back somewhere; I told him to go fix something. Watch out for the hill; it's kind of steep." Sarah smiled as the younger woman exited the kitchen; then she turned to the Dopplers as they each took a seat at the table. "So?"

Delbert sighed as he took his glasses off and cleaned them with a small square of cloth. "I went and spoke with the local authorities while Amelia took Chloe to the doctor. There haven't been any reports of a missing woman on Montressor, though they said that they would be in touch if they heard of one from another planet."

Sarah nodded as she leaned against the counter and watched the Doppler children; they had all taken to playing a strange four way game of patty cake while they sat on the floor. B.E.N. had fallen unusually quiet, which Sarah hadn't totally noticed till now. "B.E.N., why don't you go and check the guest rooms, make sure there's enough towels and sheets."

The oddly silent robot nodded, taking off his chef's hat. "Sure thing Mrs. Hawkins, but may I uh…interject something right fast?" When the woman nodded, the robot took an unnecessary breath before continuing. "I'm a little worried about Jimmy; he doesn't seem very happy."

Sarah sighed sadly as she spoke. "I know B.E.N.; I've tried to talk to him. He just says he needs to figure things out." Sarah shook her head slightly, a frown making her appear older than she actually was. "I'm not entirely sure what he needs to figure out, but-"

Delbert interjected. "Oh, his place in the universe, his goals for his life-"

"Not helping, Delbert," Amelia scolded her husband, who chuckled sheepishly as he placed his glasses back on his face.

"He's going to be okay, Sarah," Delbert said, giving his old friend a soft look. "You'll see."

Sarah gave him a half skeptical half teasing look. "The last time you said that, my inn got burned to the ground by pirates and then you and Jim left on a crazy treasure hunt."

The adults all laughed. At least that journey had all worked out for the better.

Meanwhile, Chloe had left the kitchen, bowl of purps in hand. She left through the front door and then wandered around to the back of the house. There was a steep hill, while Chloe approached with caution. She may not have been able to remember who exactly she was, but she was absolutely positive that maneuvering steep hills wasn't her forte.

She could see Jim down at the bottom of the hill, lying under something. Solar surfer. "Now where did that come from?" Chloe wondered. That was how she had come to know the name Chloe; when Sarah asked, it just came to her, like someone whispered the answer to her quietly in her ear.

Chloe shook her head and began heading down; it would be a lie to say that she wasn't excited about seeing Jim again. The man had saved her after all; it didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes. Tall, dark hair, large blue eyes. Chloe blushed as she walked. Her mind traveled back to earlier that morning when Jim had brought her breakfast.

His slight stutter probably would have gone unnoticed by a normal person, but Chloe happened to think that she wasn't very normal. What's normal about someone with no memories? She asked herself. Nothing. The answer voice responded. Chloe shook her head, realizing that she should probably be focusing on where her feet were landing.

She realized this too late – a rock beneath her foot slipped and down she went, skidding down the remaining ten feet on the hill on her chest, the bowl of purps held over her head so she wouldn't spill them.

She had cried out when she started to fall, startling Jim who was still engrossed in his work. He jumped, banging his head against the solar surfer; he cursed as he rolled out from underneath it and sat up. He saw Chloe slide down the hill, bowl in her hands over her head.

"Okay," she said, her teeth clenched slightly. "That hurt."

Jim jumped up and went to her side. "Are you okay?" He asked, taking the bowl out of her hands. He stood back as she rolled onto her back, her hand going to her collar bone and rubbing it as if to try and alleviate pain. "You're not hurt are you?"

Chloe waved her free hand at him. "Not too bad no," she said, sitting up and then cringing. "That probably hurt me more than my crash did."

Jim laughed a little, trading the bowl to his left hand before offering Chloe his right. "I find that hard to believe," he said, helping Chloe to stand. He noticed that she was a fair bit shorter than him, standing only at five foot four inches or so. "You're lucky you didn't die, you know."

Chloe nodded, still rubbing her collar bone. "Lucky you decided to go swimming, more like."

Jim laughed a little before looking into the bowl Chloe had worked so hard to protect. Five purps, very purple and ripe. Jim smiled, knowing that his mother had sent them down. Purps weren't exactly his favorite, but they were nutritious, which was why Mrs. Hawkins insisted on feeding them to her son.

"Yeah," Chloe said, motioning toward the bowl in Jim's hand. "Your mom sent those down for you."

Jim nodded, laughing a little. "Yeah," he said. He moved back toward the solar surfer, setting the bowl on top before crawling back under to continue his work. "She sent me out here to be manly."

Chloe laughed as she stepped closer to Jim and his project. "Manly?"

Jim nodded before cursing. Damn his too large hands. "What's the matter?" Chloe asked softly, coming to Jim's side and sitting down on her knees beside him. The ground was a little muddy, but that was pretty unavoidable after the previous night's storm.

"I can't get my hands into this damn- ugh!" Jim pulled his hands away from the small opening, exasperated. "Guess I'm going to have to get B.E.N. and his needle fingers to help."

"Let me see," Chloe said, but before Jim could respond, she and wriggled her way under the solar surfer beside him. He gave her a shocked look as she scooted closer to him, trying to see the problem. "What do you need done?"

Jim shook his head slightly, still taken aback by her boldness. "I need those two wire ends put back together," he said, pointing to the severed blue wire in question. "That should get it running again."

Chloe nodded, reaching her tiny hands into the opening and attempting to repair the damage. Jim caught a glimpse of something – a ring on her left middle finger. It was a simple gold band, twisted around a richly colored brown stone with a crystal on either side of it. "What's that?" He asked, and then immediately regretted it. He probably would have smacked his fore head if there had been room.

Chloe's smile faded as her gave moved from the wire to the ring on her finger. "Not sure," she said. "Do you have something to hold these together with?"

Jim nodded, reaching up over them and retrieved some wire tape. He handed Chloe a piece, and she quickly secured it around the now rejoined wire. "Okay, give it a shot," she said, wriggling her way out from under the board.

Jim followed her, accepting her hand when she held it out to him to help him to stand. She smiled up at him before he turned back to the board. He hit the ignition switch toward the back of the board, and it hummed into life. Jim laughed a little as he turned back to face Chloe. "Thanks," he said, picking up the bowl of purps and walking back toward her.

Chloe smiled, smacking her hands together in an attempt to get the 'dirt' off of them. "No problem," she said before turning and beginning to head up the hill.

It was then that Jim noticed her limp. "Wait," he said, not entirely sure why he did. When Chloe turned back toward him, he looked around quickly, trying to find a reason to keep her down at the bottom of the hill until he was ready to leave and could get her back to the inn safely. He found his answer in the bowl of purps. "Ever had one of these before?" He immediately wanted to take that question back as well.

Chloe smiled, walking back over to him and taking a purp from the bowl. "Nope," she said, biting into the fruit, her eyes never leaving Jim's. "But I'm willing to try new things."

Hello out there! Whoo, this took me forever to write! I really liked the idea of Chloe helping Jim with the solar surfer; not sure why, but I do.

Now, onto some new business. I would really like some reviews! They make me smile! It depresses me to see a big fat zero for the reviews on Lost Treasure. It's one of my babies!

I'm considering adopting a rule from one of my new favorite authors OMGitsEMILY: three or more reviews or no new chapter. But then again, I'm afraid that no one would care enough about the story to review in order to receive the next installment.

Hmmm…decisions. Segue into the next chapter: Jim's going to have to make some major decisions soon! But I'm not saying what! TeeHee! I'm evil.

Till next time!

XXOO~BBTM