Hey guys! Due to my friend Anna deciding to join the contest, I have extended the deadline. And to insure people can join, The deadline is July 1st, 2012.

That should give all of you plenty of time to enter your one-shots. Also, I got an entry from TheAlmightyTacoGuardianBlez, which is below.

(A/N: So uh…DX Please don't laugh when you read this, I was in a rush to write it, and I was originally gonna write a sad song fic, but I decided against it and…this is what I got. If it sucks, please tell me, though. Just…don't be too mean. DX Tis an LaBr one shot for a contest xXCandyOkaXx is holding. It ended today, actually. …I think. *shrug* I just know I got it up in time, so yay for me. But it sucks, so I don't think it matters. Anyway, even though this is a contest entry, I'm dedicating it to Tara. ^^ I hope you don't feel offended if it's…really bad. So…yeah…)

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Licorice heard it from her bed. She had only recently been awoken from another nightmare, and she couldn't seem to go back to sleep. Her head ached slightly, and her muscles were tense.

But aside from that, she roused herself and slowly made her way over to her bedroom door. She pushed it open with the palm of her hand, and made her way down the hallway. She didn't really think much about the abnormality of somebody coming to her door at 3 in the morning, but she didn't care. She wouldn't be going back to sleep, anyway.

Licorice pulled open the front door to reveal a rather short Irken, with red eyes and short antennae. She knew right away that it was Ben. Her eyes scanned him the best she could in the semi-darkness, and she noticed some blood – his blood – covering his face and staining his clothes.

"Wha…?" Licorice's eyes widened slightly as she looked at him.

Ben forced a smile and replied with a casual, "Hey." After a pause, he asked, "M-may I come in?"

Licorice nodded and pulled the door open more. Ben stepped inside, past Licorice and made his way over to the couch. She noticed his limping, and only became more concerned. "Ben…what happened to you?"

Ben sat down and shrugged, as if no big deal. "There was an accident while I was working on a ship. No biggie."

Somehow, Licorice couldn't believe it. She walked over and sat down next to him, her face remaining expressionless, but Ben could sense her persistence. "Ben, tell me what really happened."

Ben remained silent for a moment, and stared at the ground. For a moment, he looked like he was going to reply, but decided against it.

Licorice sighed and folded her hands in her lap, waiting for his answer.

"I…just got on Mar's bad side today, is all," Ben replied after a while. "I'm sure by tomorrow she'll have forgotten about it, she always does."

Licorice wasn't convinced, but knew she wouldn't be able to get much else out of him, at least for right now. But first, she needed to turn her attention to his injuries. "How bad are you hurt?"

"Not bad," Ben responded. "Just a few cuts and such, I'll be fine."

"What about your leg?"

Ben shook his head. "It's fine."

Licorice sighed, clearly starting to lose her patience with him. "Look, I can't help you if you don't tell me what happened and where you're hurt."

"Do you want me to act it out, or paint a picture for you?" Ben growled. "Why can't we just leave it alone?"

"Maybe it's because I care about you, Ben! Maybe it's because I love you, and I hate to see it when you're hurt!" Licorice snapped back.

Ben stared at Licorice for a moment, and drew a breath. "Mar scratched me on my cheek with her claws. She did the same on my chest, and I had to change my shirt. She threw one of my tools at my head, and when I picked it up to put it back in its place, she grabbed it from me and beat my leg with it. There was blood when she did that too, and I think she may have broken something. Good enough?"

Licorice gaped at Ben. "Jeez, what did you do to get her so mad at you?"

"I had to fix something for her, but didn't finish it in time," he replied.

"Okay. Well…I'll be right back," Licorice told Ben. She stood up and went to get some of her medical supplies, such as gauze, disinfectant gel, etc.

She returned and got Ben to prop his leg up while she worked. It still seemed to be bleeding, and she remembered that it's good to elevate it. Licorice started with the scratch on his face. She cleaned it and slapped a huge adhesive medical strip over it. She looked at his head wound, and was relieved to find out he didn't have a concussion.

Although kind of awkward, she then instructed him to take off his shirt so she could clean that cut. Her face had a slight tint of red as she did, and she rushed through it more so than she did the others.

Finally she got to his leg, which didn't look too good, she admitted to herself. She didn't know how much she could do with what little she had supplied at the moment, but decided to make do with whatever she had and finish this up so Ben could rest. He was already kind of fading out of consciousness, as he was feeling drained from the blood loss.

Licorice couldn't think of anything to do, other than to wrap it up in some gauze and find something later to keep his leg in place so it could heal. When she finished wrapping his leg, she stood up and pulled herself over to sit down next to him on the couch. She put her arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer to her. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more, I don't really have anything else, so…"

"Thank you," he sighed. "And I'm sorry for being so rude to you earlier." He grabbed her hand and held it rather tightly.

Licorice blushed, and held onto his hand as if a life-line. She didn't say anything, but nodded as if to accept his apology.

They remained in silence before Ben spoke, "Licorice, may I ask you a question?"

Licorice looked over at Ben. "Yeah, you can."

Ben took a breath. "When…when you said that you loved me…did you really mean it?"

Licorice sighed, and slowly nodded. "Yeah, I did. I…have for a long time. But I never wanted to tell you."

"Why not?" Ben questioned her.

Licorice shrugged. "I guess I was too afraid to tell you, maybe. But please don't hate me, I understand if you don't feel the same way, but I couldn't bear not talking to you."

"No, I don't hate you at all," Ben assured her. "I…actually…love you too. I was afraid to tell you too. I was nervous. I didn't think you liked me either. And I really wante-"

Ben was interrupted as Licorice's lips met his, and they kissed. They both stayed in the same position for quite a while, until finally, Ben broke away. He held tighter to Licorice's hand and smiled.

So glad he had a light in the nightmare that is his life.

That was SOOOO cute! Thank you for the entry ^^