Chapter 17: Dust-motes

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Italics= SpongeBob's thoughts

'…'= Sandy's thoughts

A/N: This is back to the main story, but I'll be writing a flashback in the next few chapters, it'll be the final instalment. Also, please read the A/N at the end of the chapter as it decides the content of the next chapter.

She awoke the next morning bleary eyed, blinking away the last wisps of sleep. Remnants of the previous night lodged in the back of her mind, forgotten temporarily in the light of a new day. Sandy lifted both hands to her eyes, rubbing away the dried tears on her cheeks before huffing out a breath of air. The lack of sponge by her side caused one eye to open hesitantly. The sun from her living room windows falling directly onto the couch. The mammal squinted through the light and sought out an explanation to the lack of emotional-comfort-in-physical-form, also known as SpongeBob Squarepants.

Spying the corner of a note under a book on her coffee table, Sandy closed her eyes again before blindly reaching out to grasp it. Finally finding an edge to pinch, she pulls out the folded note and begins to unfold it. Shielding her eyes from the glaring light, she reads over the neat scrawl she recognises as SpongeBob's.

Dear Sandy,
Mr Krabs called and asked me to come into work. Wouldn't have gone, but he said it was an emergency.
I made you some more 'bacon and eggs' or whatever it was called. You seemed to enjoy it last time.

I'll be back later tonight.

SpongeBob Squarepants.

She squinted at the words, her stomach recognising the mention of food and gurgling loudly. Ignoring the call for nourishment, Sandy smiled gently at the smiley face and heart signed next to SpongeBob's name. Such an individual.

"You really are one of a kind."

The quiet words echoed through the empty house. Convincing herself that dying of hunger on the couch was not the best way to go, she swung her lean legs over the edge of the couch and stood up. She hissed in pain, sleeping on the couch had been a bad decision, her back was killing her. The dull ache in her spine was pushed to the back of her mind as her stomach decided to make itself known again. Lightly stretching, Sandy dragged her feet to the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing the perfectly cooked meal the fry cook had left her.

'Wouldn't expect anything less.'

She placed the expertly cooked meal in the microwave, thankful that she did not have to cook herself, as she had little to no energy left from last night.

'Last night…'

Sandy hadn't expected to reveal everything she had those few hours ago. It was a part of her history she wanted to forget. A stupid moment she had given into her emotions and allowed her heart to make her decisions. A mistake that had caused so much pain and the only thing that soured her memories of home. She didn't want that to happen again; she didn't want to have tears accompanying thoughts of the little sponge. She couldn't let that happen again…

Starting slightly from the loud beeps of the microwave, Sandy gave her head a light shake, and pushed those thoughts away. At least for the moment. The enticing smell of cooked eggs and perfectly sizzled bacon wafting from the plate and hanging in the air around her. Mouth salivating and still standing, she lifted the plate and scoffed half the food. Remembering her manners, Sandy walked to the oak table and sat down, taking the time to enjoy what was left of the exquisitely cooked meal.

The warm food now sitting in her belly, and hunger sated, she leaned back in her seat. The empty silence that filled the house called to her, crawling through her ears and into her brain, reminding her that she was alone. Dust-motes danced in sun beams streaming through the window, the marbled reflections of water playing on the floor.

She felt lost, like the dust-motes in the sun, she danced from task to task that day. Following breakfast she had attempted to work her way through the clutter in the living room cupboards. Several boxes of unpacked belongings tantalising her with wisps of gleeful memories from years past. Obviously, she avoided the boxes; pushing them out of the way, she focused on old text books that cost a small fortune, and framed pictures that never made it onto her wall. One sported a photo of her and her twin brother, Randy.

She gave it a sad smile, a sudden wave of homesickness washing over her.

Other than the photos, most of the other things cluttering her cupboards were trash. A small pile was for donation to the library, her ridiculously expensive chemistry and engineering text books, and a larger pile consisted of knickknacks that she had collected over the years. Amongst them lay a string with a misshapen paper clip, similar in shape to that of an 's', attached. She smiled nostalgically at the memory of the adventure this knickknack was born from. The metal paper lip glinted playfully in the sun, remnants of laughter and screams of terror glued to the atoms forever.

Half an hour later, having lost interest in her previous task of cleaning, she moved to the garden to practice karate.

It was nearing midday now, sun almost at its highest point; the artificial breeze ruffling her fur.

Stretching lightly she went for a quick run on her wheel, breath coming easily in large gulps and the burn in her muscles a refreshing change to the numbness of having to sit at her desk almost continuously for the past 3 months.

Following her run, she practiced a few simple moves and reacquainted herself with the feeling of controlling her power and focusing her mind. It was refreshing until an hour later; then it seemed to be a rather dull activity, there wasn't much she could to by herself that she hadn't done a hundred times.

Sandy swallowed the thought of asking SpongeBob to come and join her, the reminder of his absence still sitting on her dinning table.

She was just a little stagnant after the few months lacking the sponge; more than one day had been spent wallowing in frustration and self doubt, mainly fuelled by her inability to create any worthwhile inventions. She had never payed much mind to how frequently she went through this cycle. SpongeBob must have acted like a refresh button for her. That would explain why the longer it got after their 'incident', the harder it got for her to keep motivated.

At some point, she must have started to subconsciously rely on the sponge…

Three hours of failed tasks one after the other and she found herself standing in the doorway to her lab. As was routine for her, she turned and checked the gauges of the device used to regulate temperature and weather in her dome. The temperature gauge displayed a reading that was a little colder than normal but she thought nothing of it; they were getting closer to winter after all. Strolling past various machines and half finished projects; the thought of doing a spot of cleaning crossed her mind, but immediately dissipated after spotting the half finished mind-reading device she had been previously working on.

Her bosses hadn't given her a project end date, acknowledging that the task they had given her was a hard one; so she had been procrastinating it for several months. The faintest flash of sunlight, tea and the warmth of a body leaning against her side passes though her mind. Flitters of conversation accompany these images, a reminder of several months ago, before everything had changed and her only worry was how she was going to make a machine to read people's minds.

Aforementioned machine was siting on the work bench in front of her; a tangle of wires and half soldered circuit boards. The finest outline of a band could be made out amongst the mess, a single metal arm that would come to rest on the forehead, and a discreet earpiece that would allow the wearer to hear people's thoughts. After extensive research she had come up with the technology to intercept brainwaves and analyse patterns, then translate them into tangible thought. She was working on refining the machine, to make it as slim and discrete as the technology would allow her.

She knew the device was some form of privacy invasion, but her chimp bosses had explain that the positives outweighed the negatives; that and the fact that several government officials had sought them out and given them the task of finding a mind up for the challenge. She had thought about it extensively before accepting the project assignment; it would be extremely handy for police investigations. Additionally, it's ability to print out a script of thoughts helped with evidence. There were a few flaws with the fact that people could choose what to think; so it would only be valid in certain cases. Still, she never turned down the chance to prove the impossible possible. It came with a combination of a sense of pride and stubbornness that she had even come this far.

Sitting down on the stool perched of to the side, she picked up several small tools and got back to work on the invention. It was almost complete, all that was left was a few loose wires and parts that had to be attached to the inside of the metal band. The next phase would be testing, before more refinement and the completion of a finalised version. The mammal figured she had a solid two months left before her bosses came breathing down her neck for progress. Hopefully it would be finished by then, and she could focus her mind on some more personal projects.

A/N

Hey Guys!

So I finally finished this chapter! It's a little shorter than I wanted it to be, but I couldn't go much father otherwise id have nothing to write the next chapter I have planned. Hopefully you got the subtle references I dropped in there? I hadn't realized how hard it was going to be to get back into writing after taking such a long break! Hopefully this chapter wasn't complete trash.

Let me know in the reviews if you'd like next chapter to be a version of this chapter but from SpongeBob's Point of view, or if I should continue with the storyline

Goldenflash100 3