A "Fun" Day for Nibbles

Nibbles woke up on his dog bed. Man... It was soft, and the sun felt so good this morning. He just lazed there, feeling content and without a care in the world, when a high pitched shriek disturbed him. "Nibbles! Time for a fun day!" Oh no...

It was that time of the week, when the juvenile Terrans were at home. Weekend, was what they called it, but it had been the "weekend" for almost 5 days now! Something they called a "break". What was this madness! He growled quietly and waited for the inevitable man handling from the tiny Terran his Queen called Claire. Right on cue the young female ran towards him and roughly picked him up in her arms. "You cutie you! How is my favourite bug dog today?"

He just looked up at her, trying to look as annoyed as possible. "Don't be all pouty mister! I got you treats!"

Ugh, not another day of… Treats!? Oh god he loved treats. What kind were they? Were they big? Did he get a lot of them?! He was just too excited! He started squirming and making cooing sounds in Claire's arms. "Oh, so we understand that do we? You know Nibbles, sometimes I think you understand what I'm saying."

Well, she wasn't wrong. He understood her intentions, but not nearly as much as his Queen's. The same went for the little Terran's male sibling. The adult male, Jim or something, didn't understand a thing. He was just another useless Terran, but hey, he gave Nibbles the most treats, who was he to complain. Nibbles tolerated his presence in the Queen's domicile, plus the Queen had made it very clear that if Nibbles attacked the older male at all, the Zergling responsible, namely him, would be promptly melted down into biomass. The implications of the consequence were not lost on the Zergling's simple mind.

Claire fed Nibbles some dog treats, which he ate ravenously. Dog treats, cat treats, he didn't care, anything was better than creep. However, the fun was just getting started. "We are going to have so much fun today! You wait here! I'm going to go get my things." She pointed to the floor and motioned stay, then ran off to go get her "supplies". Nibbles understood "stay", and was obliged to obey. So he just sat there in the middle of the floor, biding his time. It was at that moment that his Queen walked into the room.

Sarah had been up late that night researching remedies for the common cold. Unfortunately, Mathew had come down with it a few days ago and was stuck in bed. Sarah didn't get sick with Terran diseases so it fell upon her to nurse her son back to health. Plus, Jim really didn't want to get sick, so he tried to give his son a wide berth in the meantime. He wasn't afraid of germs per se, he just couldn't afford to get sick and miss work.

All that being said, Sarah was tired. All she was thinking about was getting a cup of hot coffee and sitting down in her cartoon Zergling pyjamas for a nice breakfast. In her tired daze, she nearly tripped over Nibbles, who was patiently sitting smack-dab in the middle of the floor. Stumbling as she almost kicked the small Zergling, she exclaimed, "Nibbles? What are you doing there? Get out of the way you stupid bug." Nibbles obeyed and moved almost exactly 3 feet to the right. "Figures…" she muttered to herself as she finally reached the kitchen.

Sarah knew it had to be Claire who had ordered Nibbles to obstruct the hallway. She and Mathew had demonstrated that they both had a limited ability to control Zerg. As soon as Sarah left the house, Nibbles would answer only to the kids as if they were the next in the hive mind chain of command. Whenever Jim tried to get the Zergling to do anything, Nibbles would just growl and look confused. The kids just thought that Nibbles really liked them, but Jim and Sarah knew better. Still, they were both reluctant to test the extent of this control with anything larger than the tiny Zergling. At least not until they were older. Also, Sarah was dead set against the idea of her kids being seriously involved with the Swarm in any way, so being the master of Nibbles would have to suffice for the foreseeable future. Still, it was a bit concerning that a 6 and 4 year old Terran child could control a Zerg organism. Sarah was also pretty sure that both of her kids had psionic potential, as she could sense faint psionic presence from both of them. Oh well, cross that bridge when you get to it. Still, best to remain vigilant.

Sarah was starting to make coffee when Claire came running back into the room with her "supplies". From the looks of it, Nibbles was in for a good deal of "fun" this morning.

"Nibbles! We're going to play damsel in distress today! Since Mathew is sick, you get to be the damsel!" Claire reached into her bag and pulled out a plastic tiara and a tiny pink tutu. Nibbles looked mortified and gave a pleading look at his Queen, who was observing from the kitchen. Sarah just chuckled and sipped her coffee. Hey, you should feel honoured that she wants to play with you. No other Zergling gets to play with my daughter. Nibbles understood the honour in living in the Queen's domicile, but he was beginning to get the notion that his role may not be as prestigious as Zagara had made it out to be. Humour the Terran, do it for the Queen. He chanted to himself as the Terran girl put the tutu on him and balanced the tiara on his head.

"Oh Nibbles, you are the cutest!" Exclaimed Claire as she finished adjusting the outfit. "Let's go play outside!" Sarah watched as Claire herded a suddenly reluctant Zergling out of the door. "Don't go too far. Okay sweetie?" Sarah yelled at them as they left. "Okay mom! We'll be out back!" Replied Claire.

Claire and Mathew had already set up a mock fort in the back yard, complete with a cardboard bunker and a "hive" made out of purple tarp and rope. She motioned to the hive. "Okay Nibbles. You go and wait by the hive while I put on my armour. Oh, and pretend to be in distress." Nibbles trudged over to the sack of plastic the Terran called a hive and started to make his best whimpering noises. Though Zerglings don't really whimper, so it sounded more like strangled choking. Eh, good enough.

"Okay! I'm ready!" Claire announced as she stepped out of the "bunker". She wore cardboard armour that vaguely resembled that worn by Terran ghosts. Claire had gotten the idea to make it one day when she was rummaging through old boxes in the basement that contained her parent's old stuff. She had come across Sarah's empty rifle and old ghost outfit. Claire thought that they looked really cool, so she asked her parents if she could have stuff just like it. Jim had decided to continue the old Terran tradition of making costumes with his kids, and it turned into a family project. Mathew however, was more interested in his dad's marine armour and wanted to make a fake pair for himself. It had been a fun time for all of them as they worked together as a family to make the mock battlefield in the backyard. Jim had even found some old foam dart guns for the kids to use.

Together, they spent hours outside re-enacting battles and playing make-believe in their home-made fort. Their favourite scenario was defending the base against the Hybrid, who was played by their father. Claire usually took the hive while Mathew took the bunker and they would fire darts at their dad who would throw pillows at them, to imitate psionic attacks. The pillow thing was Sarah's idea as she had once jokingly explained that getting hit by a psionic blast felt like being hit by a giant pillow filled with lead. So pillows were the go-to weapon of choice, minus the lead of course.

Today however, was one of Claire's favourite scenarios. An innocent, alternatingly played by Mathew or Claire, had been captured by Amon's brood and awaited execution at the main hive. The hero then had to fight their way to the base and rescue them. The innocent usually got to control the pop-up targets that they had set up around the base, but Since Nibbles didn't have apposable thumbs, or any hands for that matter, Claire had put all of them up before-hand.

Claire primed her dart gun. "You ready Nibbles? I'm gonna start!" Nibbles made an odd sound half way between a bark and a growl to signal his readiness. "Okay!" Claire put on her battle face. "Don't worry civilian! I, the great Claire Raynor, will save you from these foes!" Claire let out a cute battle cry and started sprinting towards the makeshift hive, shooting the targets along the way.

Nibbles continued to make his improvised distress noises as he watched the tiny Terran run determinedly towards him. Funny, it suddenly struck the Zergling how much the child resembled his Queen. When she was focused and determined, they could practically be called a younger version of her, albeit far more Terran-y looking. He pondered if the Queen looked like this before her assimilation into the Swarm. He also wondered if he was looking at the future Queen of the Swarm, though he doubted it. The Queen got very agitated whenever Zagara brought up the subject regarding her juvenile offspring's capacity for controlling underlings. Future Queen or no, Nibbles sure was glad that this little Terran was on their side. She could grow up into a very influential person.

Claire finally reached the hive, having shot down all of the targets along the way. She dropped her gun and scooped up the Zergling in her arms. "Behold! You are safe now tiny dog-bug thing! Amon has no more say over your fate!" Nibbles limply let this man-handling happen, it wasn't so bad. He looked up at his "saviour" and sarcastically though "oh yes, my hero." Claire looked down at him and beamed. "That's right I am you're hero! Glad you see…" Claire looked shocked at the realization that she understood the Zergling. "You talked! I knew you could! You're not like other Zerglings. You're smarter than them. Wait until I tell mom that you can talk, she is going to be so surprised." Claire walked back into the house holding the little Zergling in her arms.

Nibbles pondered to himself. The Queen knows I talk, silly Terran. She is going to be very surprised, however, that you finally hear it. Perhaps there is more potential in you than you realize.

A/N: Hey guys! I'm back from exams! Woohoo! So I'm planning to continue writing this fic now that I am free. As always I am always looking for suggestions for chapters. In fact, this one is from a suggestion for more Nibbles from a reviewer, so keep them coming!

So I wanted to write a fic about Nibbles and Claire as I have imagined them being a team throughout life. My idea is that while the kids will probably not be an important part of the swarm when they grow up, they will always have ties to it. Specifically, I have an image of a grown-up Claire being a medic with a tiny Zergling helper and Mathew being a marine with a hydralisk side-kick. But that is waaaay in the future from this fic. Like 15 plus years.

Huh, maybe I should write a fic about them in the future… Meh, too much work. Maybe later, if I can come up with an actual story line. One shots are easy. Actual story? I just don't even know how to begin… I'd need a lot of help. :p

Anyway, love you guys and thanks for reading. ;)

-epiclink8480