Returns

Lucy absently rubbed a finger over Trolli's head, eliciting a soft burr of sound. Trolli's little eyes were slitted in pleasure as she leaned against Lucy's finger. She nearly overbalanced herself on Lucy's palm, using another of Lucy's fingers as a stabilizer.

"That…was interesting," Lucy finally said, glancing back at the gloomy swamp.

"I told you, psycho. He's a total psycho," Dawnie announced with a frown. "Who does that? He just locked us up with no warning whatsoever. None!"

"One would think you were a wee bit upset," San said. He stuck his hands in his pockets and yawned. "It was fun." They all turned to look at him. "What? It was really soothing. Got a lot of rest."

Lucy shook her head and turned her attention back to Trolli. Trolli had taken out a giant crumb almost the side of her head and was gnawing on it as she got her head rubbed. Lucy looked closer; the cookie crumb looked vaguely familiar with bits of green and purple chips in it.

"Jeb's at our hideout," she said as she looked up at everyone. Don was panting at the side, Aarti solicitously rubbing his back. "They got in the cookie stash."

"Then I should've eaten the cookie she offered up," Dawnie complained. "Your cookies are the best."

Lucy grinned. Then she carefully eased herself upwards, ignoring Trolli's outraged squeaks. She glanced at her little circle of friends before taking a longer look at San's retreating back.

"Let's go back. Trolli won't do well in this environment anyways," she added. They all nodded. "Hopefully, Court's back as well, and if not—"

"—Then we've got a prison to break into?" San joked as he sauntered towards the road.

"Did he just make a joke?" Aarti asked softly.

"The stuff must be wearing off, whatever it is," Lucy agreed.

"Then we got to hurry, because addicts usually have more than one stash," Dawnie interjected.

"He's not an addict…yet," Don was forced to add when the girls glared at him. "Still, keeping an eye on him is for the best."

"If he'd just accept that he can't stay the way he is forever, he'd be better off," Aarti said beside Lucy as Dawnie caught up to San and started joking with him.

"Growing up isn't easy, especially for us." Lucy sighed and put Trolli on her shoulder. "Let's get out of here before Mr. Psycho figures out we're not where he left us."

"He's not that bad," Aarti laughed, trailing after San and Dawnie.

"Seriously?" Don asked, stretching.

"Well, my dad's never tied me up and locked me in a cage at the same time, so who knows what Aarti's going by," Lucy said with a shake of her head. She then sharply turned her head towards Don. "Don't tell Court."

"You don't tell Court a lot of things, huh?" Don asked, scooping up Lucy and Trolli into a princess carry.

"Court is a delicate flower, best preserved in a digital greenhouse. My greenhouse," Lucy added. "Get me back first, and I'll bake you a batch of super sugary double chocolate chip."

"With frosting?" Don asked.

"With oozy, disgusting frosting," Lucy assured him. "It'll even be that weird cocoa-sugar concoction you like so much."

"Deal!"

Lucy held onto Trolli as the world vanished in a kaleidoscope of colors.

******

"Never, ever, ever offer Don food for transport," Lucy said as she clutched her countertop. She eyed sink inset and thought about it for a moment.

Beside her, Trolli was jumping up and down on the counter. She seemed to be cheering. Don made a fist and the two fist-bumped.

"Speed is queen!" Don said, walking to a sofa and collapsing into it.

Court and Jebediah both blinked at the new arrivals. Rena was watching television, idly munching on a plate of cookies accompanied by a glass of soda.

"You actually hitched a ride with Don?" Rena asked as she looked up. "Hey, Don! Getting faster?"

"There were cookies involved. Lots and lots of cookies!" Don snuggled into the cushions with a laugh.

"Well, eat these until the cookies are done," Dawnie said, appearing and upending a small pile of snack bars onto Don.

"Why aren't those wrapped?" Lucy asked. She fought off the bout of nausea that threatened to overwhelm her. She'd never thought that she'd suffer from motion sickness.

"Oh, there were trackers in the wrappers, so we discarded them in the landfill," Dawnie explained, picking up one of the bars and making quick work of it. "So, what kind of cookies did you bribe him with? We just looked around and voom! You were gone."

"You get some, too. Just give me a minute. The world hasn't stopped spinning yet," Lucy complained. She held up a finger and squeezed her eyes shut. The world still wanted to insist that it wasn't standing still.

"My poor girl!" Court said. He stood up and started rummaging through the detritus littering his rig's surface area. "Ah-ha! Knew I still had it!" He crowed as he held up a small packet of motion sickness medicine.

"Why do you have motion sickness medicine?" Jebediah asked, arching one brow.

"Because I know Dawnie, and I know me, and I know that one day I'm going to get curious, and I didn't really want to pay for that longer than I should," Court explained.

Lucy looked up at Court. Her brain was insisting that there was something strange about that statement, but her stomach was insisting that the world was too strange and needed it to show its contents to. She lowered her forehead to the counter, savoring the coolness.

"Just take a few deep breaths, and the medicine," Rena coaxed, hurrying over. She rubbed between Lucy's shoulder blades. "This is probably one of the few times your system's been shocked, right?"

"I've been shocked," Lucy protested. She managed a weak smile at Rena. "Did you see that new Horace bag that came out last month. It was so you!"

"Already snagged one, courtesy of my lovey-buns," Rena boasted. She flashed a satisfied smile. "So, what about you? Any new awesomeness?"

Lucy thought for a moment. She glanced to where San and Aarti were trailing into the hideout.

"Not that I can remember. It's been a really, really, really weird two-three months or so. Did you know that they were keeping Ella in some weird lab?" Lucy straightened up and glanced at Rena who was frowning.

"What? Why?" Rena asked. "I thought that she was shipped off to bioparents like most of the rest of us?"

"Who knows, but now they've got her back." Lucy took a deep breath and opened the refrigerator, pulling out a pack of unsalted butter.

"Then we'll just have to figure out how to get her back," Rena said. "You do know that they've been stealing back others, too, right?"

"Who else?" Lucy asked.

"Jebediah has the list. I've been trying to figure out how much is being suppressed," Rena explained. She wandered back to her previous perch, pushing Aarti to move over.

"Don't worry. We'll think of something," Lucy assured everyone. She pulled out a mixing bowl. "We just need some time."