Searching Science - An Octonauts Story Book 3 (complete)

Chapter Four - Quiet

"Ready for the next lesson, Dashi?"

Dashi jumped a little as she felt warm paws resting against her shoulders, snuggling into the soft fur of her boyfriend's chest. Shellington spun her chair around from where she had been sitting at her usual post at the dashboard, and met her with a warm peck on the lips. "Morning, by the way."

"You're in a good mood," Dashi noted.

The Scottish scientist pulled out the chair next to her and jumped into it (nearly falling off it in the process, but a giggling Dashi pretended not to notice that part). "I am! I slept well."

"I knew you would!" After finishing their lab and reef work for the day, Dashi and Shellington had spent the evening together, eating dinner with the rest of the crew like normal, then going to do a little gardening in the Garden Pod, which she had always found very therapeutic. Tweak appreciated her regular carrot delivery, after all. However, once it got to around nine in the evening, Dashi had had a brainwave and sternly followed Shellington to his lab, where she advised him to get an early night for once. Typically, once she had finished off everything she had to check up in the HQ of an evening, she would power down the Octopod for the night and head to bed so she could prepare for an early morning the next day. It kept her alert and peppy, which was an important attribute of an Octonaut, she felt.

To her surprise yesterday evening, when wandering past the lab on her way to her bedroom pod, instead of finding Shellington up working at his lab tables with grey circles under his eyes, the lights were off and she could already hear snoring from the next room. Early night achieved.

Dashi smiled warmly at the sea otter now. "You're up early. You could have slept in, you know, we've got no mission planned for the day yet."

He looked somewhat embarrassed at admitting the reason he was up at the crack of dawn, although the look in his eyes betrayed exactly why... "Need any help waking up the Octopod?" he only asked.

She squeezed his paw gratefully. "That'd actually be great, thanks!" With Shellington working beside her, they got the daily morning checks done in double-quick time, and when they heard the sounds of the rest of the Octonauts getting up and ready for the day, the Captain heading up to the HQ to check all was well, Dashi was already turning around to give him an efficient status report.

With the usual friendly hum of the radar whirring behind them, and both munching on a breakfast kelp cake that Tunip had scuttled up to the HQ to give them, Shellington offered a paw to his still-seated girlfriend. "So, any answer to my first question?" he said somewhat indistinctly, swallowing another bite of tasty kelp cake.

"Umm..." Dashi hesitated as she looked at the hope in the scientist's face, obviously expecting to have another magical day alone together, providing there was no mission to interrupt them.

But in all honesty, she had woken up with quite a bad headache and apparently no real way to shake it, and the last thing her pounding forehead was telling her to do was go and work in the lab right now.

Of course, Shellington had always been able to read her far too well, and his expression softened in concern. "Are you okay, Dash? You've been very quiet."

She allowed one paw to drift to her temple. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's just... I have a killer headache."

The scientist awwed sympathetically, resting his own paw back on her shoulder and starting to gently rub her neck. "That's a pity. Are you feeling okay otherwise?"

She shrugged. "Just - muggy."

"That's fair." Shellington nodded understandingly. "So, you won't be wanting to do much science training today, then."