A/N: Ha! Told ya I'd be quick! Back on track baby!

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Kids Next Door Mission...

Operation: F.O.R.G.E.T.

Fragments

Of

Recovery

Gradually

Enable

Team

Chapter 32- Merry Christmas!

'Hoagie, she's on the verge of waking up, do it now!' Numbuh 1 called, his voice betraying distress.

Jamie Clearway was about to regain consciousness.

But whether Numbuh 8,860 would wake with her, they didn't know.

Hoagie quickly finished filling the syringe with the violet-coloured liquid, and went about carefully injecting the serum into Jamie's right arm.

'Alright,' he said, tossing the empty canister onto a tray and sighing deeply in relief.

'It's done. We only have to wait for her to wake up now.'

And then, they would know whether Hoagie's formula worked or not. Robert nodded silently, deep in thought.

The others looked from him, to the girl lying asleep on the stretcher, before taking the hint and deciding to leave him with her.

All Robert could think is what would happen if this thing didn't work. What would come of Jamie? If the antiote had to effect, or worse, a negative effect, would Numbuh 2 and the other KND scientists be able to fix whatever was wrong?

Robert let out a subconscious sigh, and sat down next to the stretcher, leaning against the side of it.

For a while, he just sat there, playing a little game with himself on his fingers.

He had never realised that this would be such a big deal to him. He had always thought of his and Jamie's relationship as just a friendly one, even if he had liked her. But this was really taxing on him; everything that had happened from the moment that the turning problem had arisen, to when he found out that Jamie was one of those who had turned, to this very moment, wondering if they'd finally figured it out.

There was a stir from above him.

She was waking.

Robert scrambled to his feet, his hands gripping the bed's metal rails so hard his knuckles turned white.

Jamie wriggled a little, giving a small groan. Then, finally, her eyelids began to flutter.

Everyone crowded around the stretcher, watching on in deep suspense.

But nobody was more tense at this moment, than poor little Robert.

As the girl's eyes slowly opened, the full weight of that moment hit everyone head-on.

Another sleep-drowned groan.

'Wh-what happened?' she asked.

'Robert? Is that... you?'

Nobody was sure about what thay meant. Did she remember Robert just as a person? Or did was she back as a KND operative?

There was only one way to find out.

'Numbuh 8,860?'

...

'Robert? Robert! Sector V! You're- I'm- the Kids Next Door... what happened?'

She was back. She sat bolt upright as she recognised Numbuh 263 and the younger Sector V, and just stared around with wide eyes.

Robert couldn't help himself. He broke into a ridiculously huge smile and grabbed Jamie into a tight hug.

Jamie was dumbfounded, and sat there, dazed and still slightly confused, but found it in herself to hug Robert back.

It was at that moment that everyone erupted into celebration; the formula for the antidote worked, and T.H.A.T.T. meant that soon enough, they would be able to bring back all the turned operatives.

They had cracked the case.

~(*)~

Jamie and Robert had gone back up to moonbase, later that morning. They had done a lot of things; breifed Jamie on absolutely everything that had gone on since she had turned. She was particularly interested (and who would blame her) in how they brought Sector V back from the darkest realms of the decommissioned. And after a while, they just ended up sitting against one of the walls of Robert's office, with their knees hugged to their chests.

Jamie was talking, with her hands layed upturned on her knees, speaking into her palms like her words were actually meant for them.

'I can't believe I actually turned,' she said again.

'Well, you did,' Robert said.

'But that's not entirely a bad thing.'

'Huh? Why not?' Jamie looked over to him and tilted her head.

'Because you have just proved that the antidote works, and now, because you turned back, we know that all the other turned kids can be cured as well.'

...

'Yeah, I guess when you look at it that way...'

3 days later...

Sydney, Australia- 6:04am

The entire house was silent. Peaceful, sleepy, with the first chimes of the morning birds outside.

'Dad, mum, dad, mum!'

The silence was broken.

Joey was in the room that his parents were sleeping in, jumping up and down on their bed.

'Mum, dad, mum, IT'S CHRISTMAS!'

Joey's father rolled over, groaning groggily.

'Ah, Joey, couldn't you have waited until after the sun rose?' His mother asked, yawning.

'But Santa's been! He's been here!' Joey's argument was fully functional to him, but apparently, to his parents, it just wasn't convincing. So they sent him back to bed, where, somehow, Wally had managed to sleep through the whole episode.

His parents had told him that he had to wait until at least seven-thirty.

That left only...

One hour and twenty minutes.

Great. He supposed he could get out his handheld game console.

That ended up entertaining him for about twenty minutes, until it just ended up being boring. And for the life of him he just couldn't get back to sleep.

But then something strange happened.

You see, Joey had his handheld system rigged up to communicate with KND transmitters. Back home he used it a lot to talk to his teammates when he didn't want anyone to know what he was doing. It was much like instant messaging; type in a message and send it, but only the official KND equipment in the area would receive the message.

The weird thing was, the light in the top corner that went off when it detected KND hardware was flashing.

Joey squinted at it, wondering if it was just a simple malfunction. But it was definitely flashing.

He pressed a few buttons, and brought up the messaging program.

He hesitated. What was this thing? How far away was it?

But then, what was the worst that could happen? This was an official KND system he was detecting, so it must belong to a real KND operative.

So, he proceeded to type:

Hello! I'm Numbuh 404 of Sector V. I come from the US, but I'm down here on holiday, and I picked up your device. What's your Numbuh?

Over.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Nothing. Hm, maybe it was just a glitch or something.

But then, just as he was about to give up and turn the device off, he was caught off gaurd, and almost jumped out of his skin when the handheld system vibrated with a coming message.

Hello Numbuh 404. I'm Numbuh 61. I am in Sector AU.

You're from the US? I have cousins down from there for Christmas as well.

Over.

That's a coincidence,Joey thought. He wondered where Numbuh 61 might be. The range of Joey's communicator was pretty huge; they coul be anywhere around the entire state.

...or...

..Or they could be just across the hall.

Joey decided to try something.

Hey, what's your name? Because I think I might have heard of you.

Over.

A little under a minute, and then;

Gabbie Beatles. Why? Where do you know me from?

Over.

Joey read the message at least five times before he was sure of what he was seeing. Gabbie, his cousin was in the KND. As well as his brother.

Was every Beatles a KND operative?

I know you because I'm in the room next to you! Gabbie, I'm Joey!

Over.

In addition to that, Joey tapped on the wall behind him lightly, knowing that Gabbie's room was directly to the back of them.

What? Joey? You're in the KND?!

Over.

Haha, wait til she found out about Wally!

Yeah! And get this, right- did you know that Wally was in the original Sector V? He's Numbuh 4!

Over.

Gabbie was sitting in her room, on her bed, talking to who was apparently her cousin, Numbuh 404, and chewing on a toffee from her secret candy stash.

She had gotten a bit of a shock when her KND communicator went off, an even bigger shock when she found out that Joey was a KND operative, and a huge shock when she found out that Wally as well was in the KND.

Her eyes grew to the size of dinnerplates as she read the message, and she replied only thirty seconds after the message had come through.

WHAT?

Over.

She couldn't believe this.

Not only were her cousins KND operatives, but one of them was a famous KND operative!

But hang on...

Isn't Wally sixteen? As in, decommissioned?

Over.

Joey replied;

It's a long story. I'll tell you soon. Wait a minute- it's 7:30!

Over and out.

Gabbie laughed, then put down her transmitter.

It was Christmas time!

And so, in a few minutes, it started again.

'Mum, dad, mum, dad!'

Meanwhile, back in the US...

It was 3:30am, so nobody was really awake.

Except for Rachel.

She couldn't stop thinking about that incident with Nigel. What had happened that morning? She had no answer, none whatsoever.

She was just sitting there, her mind coming up with increasingly ridiculous explanations, then tossing them out the window as quickly as they had come.

She willed herself to stop dwelling on the matter; after all, it was Christmas morning. Surely she had better things to occupy herself. But no, she just couldn't move her mind from that one morning.

Okay, that was it.

She had to know.

She picked up her phone, keyed in Nigel's number, and pressed 'call.'

Okay, it was 3:30 in the morning, and nobody in their right mind would call anybody, let alone an exchange student you had known less than a year, but Rachel was beyond common sense at the moment.

~(*)~

It was the morning of Christmas, and all through the house,

not a creature was stirring... (except for the hamsters)

And Nigel was nestled all snug in his bed,

While visions of Rainbow Monkeys danced in his head...

Until he was rudely awakened.

Nigel opened his eyes to a mad vibrating on his bedside table, and took a guess at who was calling.

'Hoagie, I don't care what you've done this time, for Pete's sake let me sleep!'

'Hoagie? I'm not Hoagie, I'm Rachel,' came the reply.

Nigel hit himself in the head with his lower palm.

'I'm so stupid,' he muttered inaudibly.

'Oh, uhm- hi, Rachel,' he tried to say casually.

'Hey, Nigel.'

Silence..

'Uhm...merry christmas?' Nigel said, not exactly sure what this girl was doing calling him at this rather sleepy hour.

'Mind telling me what you're doing at-' Nigel checked his clock- 'mmm, three thirty-nine in the morning.

'On Christmas.'

Rachel seemed a little sheepish about something.

'Uhh, you see, well...'

'Rach, I'm kinda not in the mood for waiting around, so can you just tell me what you want?' Nigel stated plainly, surpressing a yawn; he'd been woken up early twice.

And that was two times too many.

Rachel sighed, making Nigel really wonder just what was going on here.

'Okay,' she said.

'You know the other morning when you were walking, really early, like six am?'

'Yes...' Nigel began to wonder where this was going. How did Rachel know?

'Well, I was kind of out jogging that morning, and, well, I was just going the same way you were, and, yeah.'

Rachel did the best she could to stop it from sounding like she had been stalking Nigel for an entire morning, and she certainly didn't want to mention the incident after that.

The weird feeling, the sickness she had gotten, had somehow knocked her out. It wasn't until a while afterward that she woke to full daylight, quickly making her way home.

For the rest of the day, she just felt slightly off-colour.

'You were following me? For how long?'

'No! ..Uh, I mean, no, I wasn't following you, I just happened to see where you were going and I kinda went in that same general direction.'

'So following.'

'...That's not the point! The point is, that I saw you going into that tree, and I want to know what gives!' Rachel said, annoyed with her own embarressment.

It was at that point that Nigel swore his heart missed a beat.

Rachel saw! She saw him going into the treehouse!

'Wh-what do you mean?' He said, trying his best to think of some sort of excuse.

'Don't give me that! I know you were doing something and I want to know what it was! Were there others in there or was it just you?'

Both of them paused to decide which answer would be more creepy.

'It wasn't just me,' Nigel said finally, with a sigh as if to say 'I give up'.

Nigel knew fully well that he was basically walking on a minefield. He could trigger something at any moment, and he had to be careful of what he said. If it was bothering Rachel enough to call at three-thirty in the morning, it had to be really consuming her.

But still, there was that little part of him that wanted her to know.

'Who else was there?'

'Hoagie.'

Gasp.

'Wally.'

Another gasp.

Nigel braced himself. The next two were pretty good friends with Rachel.

'Kuki.'

Huge gasp.

'Abby.'

Really big gasp.

Okay, so they were less 'gasps' and more just expressions of shock. Rachel was dumbfounded that so many people she knew, not to mention Abby and Kuki, who she knew so well, had somehow forgotten to tell her about all of this!

'What were you guys doing up there? Seriously! And why in a giant treehouse? Is this some kind of a weird club that I don't know about?'

Rachel was at the point where she was whisper-shouting into the phone, not wanting to wake anybody up- especially not her brother in the next room. He could be a real pain...

'No, Rachel. It's hard to explain... I really need to be there when I tell you. Maybe we could meet up after Christmas sometime? I really want to go back to sleep now,' Nigel said, almost pleading with her. If Rachel was going to really find out about this, Nigel was definitely not gonna do it over the phone.

Rachel paused, before replying reluctantly;

'Okay, then.'

'Alright. Goodnight Rachel, and merry Christmas.'

'Merry Christmas, Nigel.'

The line was disconnected, but both of the teens stared at the phone for at least half a minute each before finally putting it down and tugging the blanket up once more.

Back in Australia

'Holy crud, look at all these presents!' Joey yelled as he peeked around the corner.

Presents of all shapes and sizes under the christmas tree.

All the kids and all the parents flocked into the living room, marvelling at all the shiny wrapping paper and stuffed stockings.

Junior ran into the room, squealing and jumping for joy, running over to the christmas tree after Joey.

The others stood in the doorway, taking in all the Christmas spirit before it disappeared under a pile of torn wrapping paper and unbreakable twist ties.

Later that day, after all the presents were unwrapped (Joey receiving a shiny new bodyboard and a few video games he'd been wanting for a while, and Wally a touch screen mp3 player and a whole stack of CDs) the family set off for their other uncle and aunt's house, where they were meeting up for Christmas day.

Wow, Joey thought, after he'd gotten dressed (with his bathers underneath, of course. Thisuncle and aunt's house had a pool) There's still like eleven people left to meet!

So, they set off, windows down to help cool down the boiling interior of the car, and pumping up the radio.

If Joey had figured out one thing abou this family, it was that it was big, and they were boisterous.

He liked that.

He and Gabbie had exchanged a few looks, and a couple of words here and there, but they were all really too consumed by the Christmas thing to actually pay too much attention to KND related anything.

The whole day was just one big blur for both Wally and Joey. There was so much to do, so many people that they hadn't seen in so long, and a heap of catching up to do.

By the end of the day they were all full of Christmas food and pavlova and chocolate ripple cake, and their fingers were wrinkled from being in the pool for too long.

It was a hot day, so most of the day was spent either in the pool, sitting on the side of the pool with your legs dangling in the pool, or sitting in one of the deck chairs near the pool.

A few of the highlights of the day included...

The time that Kylie, one of their sixteen year-old cousins, tricked Wally into the pool (the deep end, naturally)

'Ay, Wally! Think fast!' She said, chucking a beach ball in his direction. Wally fumbled to catch it. He managed to get a grip on it, but at the same time, lost his grip on the deck.

SPLASH!

'Kylie!' Wally yelled angrily, while everyone laughed loudly at Wally, who was trying to scrabble his way to the edge (he still wasn't fully comfortable with the idea of deep water).

The remote control helicopter that five year-old Vinnie had gotten, that provided lots to laugh about.

'Psst, Vinnie! Gimme tha remote for a second,' Sharon said. When her brother handed her the control for the device, she promtly used it to steal a candy cane right out of Uncle Mick's hand, guiding it back until it was hovering just above her, before sticking out her own hand and dropping the candy cane perfectly into it. That earned her cheers from all of the other kids, and an eye-roll from all of the adults.

And the sight of the three uncles, Mick, Johnathon, and Grant, as well as the boys' own father, fighting over how to get the speakers in the loungeroom working.

'No, no, ya've got it all wrong. Ya plug tha red wire in here, then push that button,' Grant insisted.

'No way! Ya've got ta switch that input ta "HDMI",' Johnathon insisted.

'That's for TV! We're tryin' ta put on a CD, so we've got ta switch on tha sound box first,' Mick interjected with assurance.

But none of their theories worked. It wasn't until the oldest of the cousins, Katie, came along, rolled her eyes in that 'teen' way, sat down, and without a word, pushed her uncles and father aside, proceeding to simply adjust a knob and push a button, and the music started.

But one of the men, in an attempt to see if it was just turned down too low, had switched the volume to its maximum, and the music pounded out at a deafening volume. It seemed like forever before they finally figured out how to get it back to a reasonable loudness again.

There was an awkward silence.

And then, uncontrollable laughter.

So it had been a great Christmas for the Beatles family, and they all went home that night feeling happy, well-fed, and very, very tired.

As for the Christmas of everyone else in the team...

Well, that is a completely different story!

A/N: So, what do you think of the Beatles family Christmas? I just did Wally and Joey's Christmas in this chapter, but I will have the others in the next chapter, I swear.

R&R like always, and..

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

-Numbuh 25 over and out