I DO NOT OWN LAB RATS.

Good Dream, Bad Dream

Donald and Tasha were on the couch watching a movie. His head was on her lap, and she was stroking his hair. His knees were curled up to his chest and he fell asleep during the movie. He had his black pajamas on. She could hear his soft snores and had to admit he looked really cute right now sleeping on her lap. Even though he can be a real pain sometimes, she loved taking care of her husband. She gently shook him. "Donald. Donald, I have to get up." He didn't move and stayed asleep. She lifted his head and slowly slipped out from underneath him.

She leaned him against a pillow. His eyes fluttered and then he opened them all the way. His voice cracked. "Tasha?"

"I'm here."

"I'm fr-freezing."

"Well, I'll get your electric blanket out and plug it in."

Adam, Bree, and Chase were getting ready for bed themselves: all of them in their Davenport Industries pajamas, consisting of grey long sleeve shirt with matching sweatpants and slippers. Chase had a black sleep mask with his. "I just don't get it," said Adam.

Bree asked, "Get what? Driving? School? Life?"

"No... Well, yes, but no."

Chase asked, "What then?"

"Why Mr. Davenport is still sick. I mean, it's been almost a week. Who is sick that long anyway? It just doesn't make sense. I don't understand."

Bree crossed her arms and Chase said, "Well, he would be better now if someone hadn't smashed his invention."

"You just can't let that go, can you? I blame the person who invented it." Chase and Bree threw their hands up in frustration.

Donald was in bed and his blanket was plugged into the outlet by it. Since he said he was really cold, Tasha turned it up to the highest it went: six. "Okay, Donald, the blanket should warm up in a few minutes and you'll be asleep in no time. Now, I'll just check your temperature." She put the thermometer in his ear and took it out when it beeped. "102. It's still high, but it went down some." She set it down on the nightstand and kissed him on his head. "Good night, honey. Sweet dreams." She turned the light out and shut the door. Within minutes, he fell asleep because of the warmness and the fact that he was dead tired. In the middle of the night, Donald had a dream. It started off really good, but eventually turned out bad, and then turned out good again—kind of—in the end.

Donald's Dream

He was at a ski resort. His snowboard gear that he had on consisted of a light blue jacket with black sleeves, black snow pants, black boots, a light blue helmet, and red goggles that had a whitish-grayish strap. His snowboard that matched his gear, only with a black horizontal stripe on each end and a black oval in the center, was strapped on by the binders that held him while he snowboarded down the mountain. After he strapped his board on and stood up, he stumbled backward and fell down. He said to himself, "I can do this, I can do this. How hard can it be?"

A woman skied over to him. "First time on the slopes?"

She helped him up and he chuckled. "Is it that obvious?"

"Well, I saw you get your board on, you fell when you stood, and now you're covered in snow. So yeah, it is obvious."

Donald blushed. "You were watching me?"

"Yes, I was. And may I say, I like what I see."

He laughed a high-pitched, nervous laugh. "Heh, heh, heh, heh, okay." He hopped over to a little slope to get started. After Donald slid his goggles down, he jumped to get his board moving and then slid down the hill. When he got to the bottom, he lost his balance and fell down. She skied over to him again. Donald slid his goggles up and then asked, "How am I doing?"

"Honestly?" He nodded. "Not so good."

He chuckled and she helped him up. "Thanks. I'm Donald Davenport, by the way."

"My name's Tasha Dooley. So, what brings you here today?"

"Well, I've never snowboarded before, and I wanted to try it. I thought it was gonna be easy, but–" He held his head down and said, "it's harder than it looks."

Tasha chuckled. "Don't worry. It gets easier."

He smiled. "Well, thank you." He paused to get his thoughts together about what to say next and found them. "Listen, if you're not doing anything later, would... would you like to... go out with me?"

"Well, Mr. Davenport," she started in a sweet, soothing voice, "that sounds great. I'd love to."

"Great, when we get done–"

"If we get done."

"Watch it." She chuckled. "Anyway, when we're done here, we can go on that date."

"Oh really? Where do you plan on taking me?"

"To a movie. Is that all right?"

"That sounds really great."

"Okay. Well, will you accompany me on the ski lift?" He blushed a second time. "I'm so afraid of heights."

"Sure." He took off his board and ran towards the lift on the far north side of the lodge. "Donald, wait for me."

He turned toward her while running. "If you wanna beat me, you gotta catch up." Tasha just rolled her eyes and skied toward the lift with him. When they got to the lift, they stopped and one of the chairs scooped them up and they were on their way up.

When they got off, Donald strapped on his board and Tasha helped him up. He blushed a final time. "Thanks for... riding the lift... with me."

"You're welcome."

"This is it. I'm gonna go down the big slope."

"Are you sure? After all, you are a beginner."

"Please, Tasha. I can do this." He threw his arms up. "I'M AWESOME!"

"Okay, but please be careful."

"I will." He pulled down his goggles and went down the mountain.

Tasha went down too. "Donald! Be careful!"

He looked behind him. "See, Tasha? I got this."

When he looked forward, there was a ledge that he didn't see and when his board hit it, he went flying through the air. Tasha stopped for a second. "Donald! No, no, no, no, no!" She sped up to catch him, but he was falling too fast. She noticed he was headed for a tree. "Donald, look out!"

He noticed he was headed for the tree. "Ahhh!" He then hit the tree... hard.

When Tasha came down, she noticed that he was lying in the snow. She took her skis off and rushed over to him. When she lifted his goggles up, his eyes were closed. She shook him. "Donald! Donald! Can you hear me? Donald! Wake up! Wake up!" She quickly unhooked his helmet, took it off, and gasped. There was a big gash across his head. Even though he had his helmet on, he managed to split his head open a little and blood was trickling down his face and cheeks.

An hour later, he woke up and had an oxygen mask on. He also felt waves of pain coursing through him. Tasha was right by his side when he woke up and held his hand. "It's okay, Donald. You're okay now." Tasha noticed the tears in his eyes. "Aw, Donald, there's no need to cry. You're fine now." She could see the mixture of pain and guilt in his eyes, and she understood the reason that he was upset, other than being in pain: they missed their movie date. A tear trickled down his cheek. "Oh, Donald." She wiped it away with her thumb. "It's okay. I don't even care that we missed our date. The fact that you're okay is good enough for me." Donald smiled behind the mask.

End of Dream

Tasha heard him crying and turned over to see what happened. He was thrashing around. "Donald. Donald, wake up." He finally snapped his eyes open, sat bolt right up, and hugged her. "What's wrong?"

"I had a dream. We met at a ski resort. I was all happy when I asked you out. Eventually, I had this snowboarding accident and split my head open. The part that made me cry was the fact that we missed our date."

She rubbed his back. "It's okay now. I'm right here. Calm down." She let go. Donald calmed down and she felt his breathing go back to normal. "Better?" He nodded. "Good. Now, try to go back to sleep." He curled up next to her and fell back asleep.