Love is me writing you guys more chapters. Be merry, like my little elves! X333 … or, you know, not.

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Reep smiled down at his smeet as the little Irken was handed a pen and pad of paper, "What do you intend to do with these?"

Eleven scratched his head with the end of the pen, "I'mma be a doctor! I gots to write down what's wrong wif you…" the smeet wrote down little scribbles, "but first I wanna doodle…"

The monster chuckled and scooped up the smeet, holding him close, "You're quite an amusing little thing, aren't you?"

Eleven pouted and poked Reep's cheek with the cap of the pen, "No 'm not! I'mma smeet!"

The older Irk sat on the bed and set the smeet on his lap to see what he was drawing, but Eleven flipped the page and started writing things down.

"O'tay," he started, "first you gots dark eyes-"

"So you say."

Eleven whined loudly and patted at Reep's arm roughly, "Quite, patient! I be diagnosin'!" he cleared his throat, "So… black eyes, an' 'den weird acting an' 'den you hug me too much."

Reep blinked as the smeet wrote all of this down, "Exactly what do I do when I get black eyes?"

Eleven shrugged, "Well, you get quiet an' 'den you dun' let me go an' you hug me an' nuzzle me an' you PURR."

The smeet pretended to hack, then turned the page to make more little doodles, "You is bwoken way bad…"

Reep shook his head, "I don't remember doing these things smeet. Perhaps you are mistaken?"

Eleven frowned, still doing his doodle, "Nuh uh, an' 'm nah lyin', neither. I has no reason to."

The monster smiled and took the pad from the smeet carefully, "Well, what happened just before my eyes turned black?"

The smeet whined when his pad was taken from him, but he stopped to think for a moment, "Um… well, you were near me."

Reep looked the smeet over, "I'm within inches of you now and nothing is happening. You're tired, my smeet, and I believe you believe what you think happened."

Eleven snatched his pad of paper back and huffed, hopping from the bed, "I know what I goed an' saw an' 'm nah tired right-"

A loud growl was the only warning the little smeet got as he was tackled roughly from behind and held tightly as he rolled. His pen and paper fell from his hands as he tried to lash out at the sudden attack, but when the rolling stopped, he realized Reep had caught him in a tight grip and was sitting on the floor, teetering back and forth with a raspy breathing pattern while he held him. Reep's eyes were wide and black.

Eleven shook in fear, staring at the monster's face. It looked frustrated. The smeet tried to call Reep back, but had no voice with which to say anything.

After a few minutes, Reep blinked his eyes back to purple and used a hand to rub them. It was then that Eleven let his fears out as he started to wail and cry. The monster jumped in surprise and held the smeet softer.

"What… Smeet, what's wrong?" he tried to coo.

Eleven cried harder and tried to push out of Reep's hold. The monster hesitantly obliged, setting the smeet on his feet to move about on his own. Eleven immediately scuttled away to the other side of the couch to cry and avoid another surprise tackle.

Reep scratched his head, utterly confused, especially when he felt the deep pressure of guilt residing in his chest. He patted his chest and the emotion quieted down.

"Smeet?" he called very softly, "Smeet, did it happen again?"

Eleven hiccupped and nodded to himself, "Yeah…"

Reep's antennae lowered and he frowned in thought, "Computer," a beep responded, "compile a video feed of my strange behavior with whatever you have on file."

The ship's computer beeped again, "Error. Corrupted videos. Damaged files. Should I still try to compile a feed?"

The monster growled, "Yes. I want to see what the smeet has been seeing."

The computer responded quietly, "Of course, sir, compilation should be complete within the hour."

Reep slowly stood and went to find where Eleven had gone off to. The smeet was tiredly resting his head on a cushion on the couch, tears still falling down his cheeks. The monster sighed and offered a hand.

"Perhaps you should rest, smeet…"

Eleven stared at the hand and slowly shook his head, "No. No touch…" he slowly got up and walked to the bed by himself, pulling himself up with little trouble.

Reep watched, nodding, "I understand, Eleven," he sat next to the smeet as he got situated and his PAK brought him the comforter from the couch so he could drape it over the smeet.

Eleven pulled the comforter over his head and wrapped it around all over his body, yawning softly. Reep got off the bed and sat on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table with a heavy sigh.

The smeet mewed as he closed his eyes and calmed down, "Nigh-nigh…"

The monster's antennae perked and he smiled a little, "Good night, smeet."

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It only took a few minutes for Eleven to fall asleep, but, to Reep's dismay, took the computer another half hour to finish the video compilation. When it was finally finished, the monster tiredly pulled himself from his resting spot to engage the main video terminal and access the final video feed.

The computer buzzed, "Um, sir? Perhaps you should heed my diagnosis of the feed. It is corrupted. There were damaged files-"

Reep growled, "I want to see what you found."

A small screen popped up from the dash, fuzzy with grain, then blinked to the first 'event'. Reep watched as he asked the smeet why he could not sit next to him, then took the smeet's hand. When Eleven snapped back and wrenched his hand away, the feed cut for a brief second, then became grainy. It was clear that Reep's eyes had changed in color but the shading around him and near the smeet was clearly off.

Reep frowned and saved a few seconds of the grainy footage, and watched the next one, where Eleven was being nuzzled and held by Reep. Again, the footage became harshly grained and shaded and Reep growled softly as not to wake the smeet, saving a couple seconds of that footage.

The last 'event' was hardest to watch. As Reep watched Eleven jump from him, a dark flash seemed to black out the feed, graining it badly, but he could clearly see himself, clutching the smeet tightly once the video brightened up a bit. After saving a few seconds of that event, he split the screen in three to see all the events together.

Reep hmmed softly, watching all of them at normal speed. He blinked and rubbed his eyes.

"Computer," he murmured, "half speed."

The monster watched again.

"… Slower."

Reep watched the feeds again, observing a transparent black mist just above his upper body and arms.

He growled, "Computer, change the colors, no… Show me all three of these with a heat sensor setting."

The computer seemed to shudder, "Please… sir, let's just say the files-"

"Show me."

The computer reset the screen and Reep's eyes widen.

There was a creature superimposed over him. In each event.

The Irk looked at his arms in fear and stared back at the screen. The creature, whatever it was, was using Reep's body to wrap itself around the smeet.

And the strange emotion within himself seemed to grow proud with Reep's newfound realization. The monster's entire body shook as he stood, nearly falling over from shock, and it carried itself heavily over towards the couch.

But the emotion, the CREATURE, inside him, roared in protest and Reep's eyes turned black.

A few minutes later, Reep's form settled itself on the foot of the bed, black eyes staring at Eleven. A soft purr emanated from deep within the monster's chest when it became comfortable and it continued to stare, unblinkingly, at the smeet.

It sat and stared and coveted…

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You feel bad for him now. I know you do…