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Chapter 3: At Least

Irene hit the back of Luke's head.

"Ow! I said I was sorry! Either way, I wouldn't have fallen off if you didn't burst in like that..." he said, rubbing the back of his head with his left hand.

"Hmph," Irene grunted. "You should be thankful that I at least didn't hit you as hard as I used to."

Luke grimaced at some childhood memory involving a trip to the Meringue Clinic as a kid, after having fallen off a tree.

"Akari, could you please pass me that black bottle in the cupboard? The uppermost right. Yes, thank you dear... Now here, boy, drink this."

Luke took a sip of the concoction and shuddered. "Ugh! What was that?"

"It's called a painkiller. Now drink up," scolded Irene.

Akari had to cover her mouth to suppress the giggles that were attempting to escape from her mouth as she watched the various faces of disgust morphing into Luke's face.

"Foolish boy...Head so hard that I doubt that would have cracked if you fell headfirst. You're lucky your arm wasn't badly fractured," Irene continued.

"So, uh," Luke started, having recovered from drinking the painkiller. "How long will I have to keep this," he motioned to the sling on his right arm, "on?"

"At least three or maybe four weeks depending on how you behave," replied Irene. "Now off! Go home, rest, and no rigorous activity or any climbing up buildings or trees!"

"Can't I at least stay here for a bit?" asked Luke.

"No," replied Irene. "You can still move your legs, so off!"

"But my butt still hurts! Please Irene?" he begged. "How would you feel if on my way home, I get attacked by one of those two horrid cats on the road? I'll die! And you'll be partly responsible for it..."

Irene did a face-palm. "Alright. But you stay down here so I can keep my eye on you. Akari, if you will, please head upstairs."

"But—" Luke started. Irene, however, shot him with a glare that immediately made him shut his mouth and made Akari go upstairs.

For the next few minutes, Luke probed and touched the various objects he can reach for, saying "ooh", "oh" or "ouch!" while Irene continued to glance at him once in a while with annoyance etched on her face. When Luke found a set of popsicle sticks and started drumming them, Irene exasperatedly cried out, "I think you are well enough to go home without being attacked by two cats barely half your height. Luke—"

"Can I at least go up and talk to Akari?" he pleaded her.

"Either you go home, or you stay down here," said Irene. "Let her rest... She's already had one-too-many surprises for one day!"

"But—"

The phone rang.

"Either you go home, or you stay down here," repeated Irene. She walked up to the phone and answered it. "Hello, this is Meringue Clinic. How may we—"

"HEY AKARI! IT'S LUKE! CAN YOU HEAR ME FROM UP THERE? IRENE WON'T LET ME GO UP SO I THOUGHT WE CAN JUST—"

"LUKE FOR GOODNESS' SAKE!" exclaimed Irene. "Alright, alright, go! But you have to leave when I go up there and tell you so."

"Yes!" shouted Luke, jumping up and punching the air. Irene heard him running up the stairs and then returned to the call. "Hello? I'm sorry, I—"

CRASH.

"I'm okay!" yelled Luke.

Dale was nearly done cooking his family's dinner, which composed of him and his two sons, Luke and Bo, when he heard the door open.

"Hello Bo," he said, without turning. "Have you seen your brother?"

"Uh...I don't have to see myself to know where I am, Pops. I think you do, though!"

"Luke? Well you most certainly remembered to close the door properly tonight..."

"Actually, that's because I had to use leftie to open it... By the way, Pops! Akari's awake!"

"Oh really? That's great news. Could you tell her," Dale turned around. "That—wait."

He surveyed his son from head to toe. "What happened to you?"

Luke, who already had their bowls and utensils, walked over to their dinner table and placed them there. "Doesn't matter Pops! At least I got to talk to her! And, well, introduce myself again..."

"Introduce yourself again?" his Pops asked him. Dale put down their dinner on the table.

"Apparently, she's got amnesia," said Luke, his grin slightly shrinking. "When she woke up, she thought she just woke up after passing out on the ship! Remember that, Pops?"

"Oh," said Dale. Ever a man of few words, he didn't really know what to say. Patting his son's back, he said, "she'll probably remember it soon."

Luke's eyes fell to his soup. "Leave it to me to mess everything up when everything's perfect, huh?" He smiled bitterly. "At least she's alive!"

Luke stood up grinning again. "Miraculously, I'm not really hungry. Ah well, more for you and Bo, eh? Night Pops! I'll just freshen up then I'll go to bed..."

Dale watched his son as he went up the stairs, neither seeing the lone, silent tear that rolled down on each one's cheeks.

*AN I love what Luke did to get to talk to Akari. Smart and sneaky, huh? Unfortunately, he's very accident-prone. Oh well, we can't blame him! He's just got way too much energy!

Questions unanswered:

1. How could Akari have forgotten the past 3 years? Does Luke have anything to do with that?

2. What did Luke mean when he said "leave it to me to mess everything up again"?

3. Why did both father and son kind of cry at that last part?

and most importantly...

what happened while Luke was travelling from Sundae Inn to Meringue Clinic that led his to piss off Irene and possibly a cat or more villagers, which forced him to climb up the clinic's window, which led him to fall off that window, which led him to get a broken arm? *breathes*

Oh yes, and when will they actually eat dinner at Sundae Inn, as mentioned in the summary?

All shall be answered... Probably in the next chapter. Or the next. Or after a couple more. Or in a separate oneshot. Any guesses or suggestions, anyone? :D Either way... R&R? Please? It will definitely cheer up Luke! Please and thank you from both of us :)