A few hours later back at the Bounty, Nya and Jay were having an engaging conversation about all that had happened that day. As Jay had expected, Nya was delighted to have another girl aboard the Bounty, seeing as she was normally the only girl in a sea of boys. She had eagerly helped Jay wrap the sleeping girl up in towels and blankets, lay said girl in her own bed, and set out some clothes for her for when she woke up. Now, however, Jay was content to simply stand in the ship's bridge, conversing with the one girl he loved the most, Nya.

"And then I was just about to dive into the canal myself, when I hear a splash and see the water rippling on the other side!" Jay exclaimed excitedly as he retold the story for Nya. "At first, I can't figure out what has happened, but then a few minutes later, Zane surfaces and totally passes out on us! Then he floats over to the side of the canal, Kai fishes him out, and when he comes to, we all puppy-pile him! Well, all of us except Cole. He switched places with Lloyd and took a turn sitting on the Mechanic."

"Wow." was all Nya could say. It had taken a few years for her to get used to Jay's manner of speaking—especially when he got excited and started talking a mile a minute. And the corny jokes took some getting used to as well—although she wouldn't have anyone else as her boyfriend. It was too bad, though, that she had to go through a rather nasty encounter with a lovesick Djinn and a fatal dose of Tiger Widow venom to realize that.

Jay continued without stopping, "And then, Zane asks us where the girl who rescued him is. For a few seconds, I'm just totally confused. But Lloyd has already dived into the canal to look for her, and a few minutes later, up he comes with this eight-year-old kid in tow. He yells 'Take her!' at the top of his lungs and Kai ends up fishing her out too. Then the police show up and we get the Keystone Scroll back just before they bundle the Mechanic into the car."

"I hear the Commissioner thanked you for what you did today." Nya commented when she could get a word in edgewise. She had long ago figured out that if you wanted to say anything when Jay was rambling, you had to be super quick on the draw.

"That he did! But Kai said to thank that girl instead. She was the one who rescued Zane, after all. Anyway, the police took that character back to Kryptarium where he belongs—and boy, am I glad of that!"

"I am too." Nya exclaimed. "That creep sure gave us a lot of trouble when we met him the first time. Remember how he tried to dismantle Zane during that food fight?"

"Yeah, that energy blast of Zane's sure is effective." Jay replied. "And remember what Zane told us P.I.X.A.L. said when she helped him do it?"

"I believe P.I.X.A.L.'s exact words were, 'No one touches my Nindroid!'" The two shared a laugh at the old memory. Then Nya sighed happily and said, "So what happened next?"

Jay grinned from ear to ear. Nya was the only person besides his parents who had ever been interested in hearing him talk on and on about something. "Well then, we basically started talking about what to do with this kid, and Zane suggested that we bring her back here, and, well—" Jay paused as Nya filled in the blanks of what he meant.

"I think it's great having another kid around here." Nya exclaimed. "Kinda reminds me of the old days—before the Tomorrow's Tea incident."

"Yeah, but don't tell Lloyd that." Jay remarked. "Cole made a similar remark, and you can guess what happened."

"Lloyd made some sort of retort and Cole turned red with embarrassment?" Nya guessed.

"You hit the nail on the head, Nya! And I thought I was forever shoving my foot into my mouth!" Jay exclaimed. The remark made both of them burst into yet another fit of laughter. It definitely was nice to get some quality time together after what had happened with Nadakhan and the crew of the Misfortune's Keep. Neither one had yet figured out how they were the only ones on the team who could remember the events, but it didn't bother them much—except when someone overheard them talking about it and asked them what they were talking about.

Then the two had a difficult time coming up with excuses as to how it wasn't anything important. Nya had told Jay that she was concerned that Kai was starting to suspect they were hiding something, but so far he hadn't really brought it up. Still, Jay and Nya were definitely becoming more careful about mentioning anything connected to going sky-bound to stop Nadakhan from marrying Nya and obtaining infinite wishes.

Jay was just glad that, at the moment, everyone else was busy with other tasks around the Bounty. For once, he and Nya were able to talk about what had happened without being overheard. And it was a great chance for both of them to spend some time together alone. They had been trying to do more of that recently, since it had become clear that they were now more than just friends—although it had taken a while for both of them to admit it.

The two of them had agreed to take this new relationship seriously and not move forward too quickly. Since Kai and Nya had lost their parents long ago, Jay had talked to Master Wu about what had happened concerning his relationship with Nya (leaving out the bit about Nadakhan, of course). Wu, of course, was delighted to hear the news and more than eager to give his blessing for them to move forward on this. He had cautioned Jay, though, that true love is not spur-of-the-moment. It takes time for love to grow and flourish, he said. And from their agreement, Jay could tell that Wu had told Nya the same thing. At the moment, though, he was fine with just taking it one step at a time—and not rushing things.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Bounty, another conversation was taking place. "I don't know what happened, Master Wu." Zane said as he struggled to explain what he was thinking. "I…I just looked at her, and…I felt some sort of…overwhelming feeling stir…within me…within my heart. Like…like I cared about her so much that I…I would put my own life on the line to protect her from harm."

Master Wu made no comment, but simply sat there, listening. He knew how difficult it was sometimes for Zane to express himself. Even though he and the other Ninja knew that Zane was a Nindroid, there were still times when Zane struggled to tell them what he was thinking and feeling—almost like a child with ASD.

Zane continued haltingly, "I just…I don't know how to describe it. It feels like…I can't find the words to explain it. The moment I saw her, the feeling just came to me."

Master Wu felt that now was the time to speak. "That's called love, Zane."

"Love?" Zane repeated, puzzled. "What is love?"

"Well, for starters, there are many different kinds of love." Wu explained. "There's the kind of love you have for a friend, and the kind of love you may have for a certain special someone in your life."

"Like P.I.X.A.L.?"

"Yes, like P.I.X.A.L." Wu replied. "There's also a kind of love where you really like one thing more than anything else. But the kind of love I think you're experiencing right now is a familial love, a love that two siblings might have for each other, or, in your case, that a father might have for a child."

Father? Zane thought to himself. He had never thought of himself as a father before—mostly because this had never happened before. "But what is love?" he asked again.

"Well, I think it's like you said before, Zane." Wu exclaimed. "Words can't really be found to describe love in its entirety. I think the closest I could come to explaining it would be that love is when you care about someone so much, you are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure they're okay."

Zane mused over this for a moment. Doing whatever it takes to protect someone you care about? That seems to be exactly what I felt like when I held that girl in my arms. Could that be this 'love' that Master Wu speaks of?

Complex emotions had always puzzled Zane. He knew that his father, Dr. Julien, had turned off his memory switch because he loved him. He knew that Kai would do whatever it took to protect Nya. And he knew that the reason P.I.X.A.L. had worked up the courage to take down those Nindroids, even though she knew that what the Ninja were about to do would completely drain her power, was because she loved Zane. But he guessed he'd never really understood in his heart just what love is. Maybe he'd never fully understand. But he knew he could at least try to understand.

"Thanks, Master Wu." Zane said, giving the fatherly teacher a hug. Master Wu gladly returned the embrace before Zane gave a quick bow of goodbye and left the room. All of the Ninja seemed like family to Wu, who had gone through several times of being alone—after Morro rejected him, after his brother fell into the Underworld, even after Misako left the Dojo of Spinjitzu with little Lloyd in tow. But Zane…Zane was different. While Master Wu worked hard not to play favorites among the Ninja, Zane had always had a special place in his heart—mostly because of the stark differences between him and the others.

From the moment Wu had met Zane at the bottom of that lake, Zane had always struggled to understand the other Ninja. Even now that he knew why, he still struggled at times. Zane did a pretty good job of hiding his confusion when the others were around, but Wu remembered many a time when Zane had confided in him that there was something he just didn't get. And every time that happened, Wu had tried his best to explain. But there were just some things that he feared Zane would never understand.

Still, he knew that Zane was definitely like a son to him. And it didn't matter to him whether Zane could be construed as normal or not. Like a special needs child, Zane may have been different, but under no circumstances was he ever less. That truth was reflected back at Zane every time the Titanium Ninja was confused or afraid and came to Master Wu for help. Wu remembered telling Zane exactly that time and time again. You are different, but not less. And he knew that that simple truth made a realm of difference to the team's very special ice-wielder.