Of Milk and Cookies

Family

Nya slipped silently through her open window, still reeling from Samurai X's first appearance. Being out in the field with the ninja was exhilarating, even if it hadn't gone entirely as planned. She still wasn't certain why she had drugged her friends - that had been some questionable judgement on her part, but hey - at least she had managed to get them out of the swamp alive. That counted for something. After all, helping to keep her brothers (and possibly others as well) safe had been the reason the mech was built to begin with. All the long hours of sneaking around, working on it where the others wouldn't see and putting up with Lloyd's constant questions and general cluelessness when it came to machines - She thought his lack of knowledge had been getting better, but his panicked voice pulling from her slumber earlier that day to help start a load of laundry after getting soap and water everywhere when he had tried to do so himself told her that he still had a ways to go- had finally come to fruition. Though, she would easily admit, she'd rather not see Kai high off of whatever nastiness he'd been exposed to again any time soon. That had not been pretty.

If she were lucky, Nya thought as her feet made contact with the wooden floor inside and she began removing her armor, no one would have noticed her absence. She certainly couldn't afford to have anyone discover her identity so soon, and she didn't have the energy to come up with a believable cover story.

"So, how'd it go?" A voice asked from the darkened interior of her room. Startled, Nya made her way to the light switch. Who could possibly know what she'd been up to? Failure to keep her secret was not an option. Nya hated failure. As the lights flickered on, she realized how silly it was for her to worry. There, on her bed with a tray of cookies and two glasses of milk, sat Lloyd, acting as if it were the most normal thing in the world for him to be there. The teen smiled. She should have known he would do something like this.

"Operation Samurai is a go." Lloyd returned her smile.

"Awesome..." They each grabbed a cookie, "Now, I want all the details... Don't you dare leave anything out." And so, Nya eagerly began describing her adventure to a very fascinated Lloyd.

"And then, Kai mistook me for Santa... "

"Seriously? That's so random."

"Yeah... Still not sure why the Venomari spit made him hallucinate Christmas stuff of all things. Gonna have to ask him about that someday." Lloyd nodded agreement, "So, what happened next?"

"Well... Zane walked up to me and wanted to talk, but I sorta panicked and..." Nya looked a little sheepish, "I shot him and the rest of the ninja with knockout gas..."

"Wow, Nya! I didn't know you had it in you..."

"Me neither. But hopefully I won't have to do that again anytime soon."

"I guess.. It must've been awfully cool though." Nya was about to agree with Lloyd, when someone knocked on her door. Glancing around the room, she grabbed the nearest book from her bedside table.

"Come in." Jay opened the door and stuck his head into the room, seemingly recovered from his exposure to chloroform.

"Nya, Zane wanted me to tell you that dinner was ready." Seeing Lloyd, he added, "Oh, hey Lloyd. What are you doing in here?" The boy glanced over at him, trying to act casual, while Nya answered the question.

"Oh, you know, just reading. We got bored while you were gone, so I figured, why not spend some time enjoying a good book..." Jay stepped into the doorway, noticing the title of the book.

"And you thought 'Advanced Philosophy of Mechanics' was a good book to read out loud to a ten year old?" He asked, eyebrows raised.

"Actually, I'm almost eleven. My birthday's in a few months..." Lloyd replied, ever so innocently.

"Fine. Still. Interesting choice if you ask me."

"Well... I mean, why not? You've seen what happens when Lloyd tries to use the microwave, or anything else, for that matter. We had to start somewhere..." Lloyd looked offended. Nya tried to send him a look of apology, which seemed to quell his irritation.

Shuddering as he pictured the aftermath of certain incidents involving said microwave, Jay shrugged.

" Can't argue with that logic. It's about time somebody taught you how to use that thing properly, kid." Awkwardly leaning against the wall - probably trying to look cool, but failing - he added,

"You know Nya, if you ever need help teaching Lloyd about the joys of technology, I have been known to be quite the mechanic. Have I ever told you guys about that pair of hang glider wings I built?" Lloyd and Nya glanced at each other, trying not to laugh.

" I'm sure we'd love to hear all about it sometime... But didn't you say dinner was ready? We don't want to keep the others waiting... " Nya finally replied.

"You're right...I know how much everyone loves Zane's cooking... " Jay commented as he turned towards the hall. Stopping momentarily, he added,

"Oh, and... Kai ran into some pretty wicked Venomari spit earlier, so don't be surprised if he acts like you're a gingerbread man or something!" This thought made all of them laugh, though it was likely that the red ninja would be mortified once he realized what had been happening.

"Sounds like you guys had an eventful mission. See you in a few minutes." She called, watching him leave.

"Well, I guess we should probably go get some food, huh?" Nya added, turning to her young protégé. Lloyd sighed, clearly not ready to join the others.

"Probably. I can't believe Jay fell for that, though." She smiled.

"Well, you do have some issues when it comes to the microwave..."

"Hey!" The small boy cried as he attempted to shove her off the bed - unsuccessfully. She responded by hitting him with a pillow.

"If you're gonna insult my microwave skills. Maybe I should start talking about how much Jay loooves you!" Giggled Lloyd. Whump. Another pillow hit him in the face. Nya really did have excellent aim.

"Quiet, you. Now we really should get going before Jay comes back..." Lloyd stopped his attack, digging in his pocket for something.

"Yeah. But first, I almost forgot..." He held out a piece of paper, "I got super bored earlier after everyone left, so... I made you this..." Nya accepted the offering. It was a had drawn picture of 7 figures standing on the deck of a ship. She knew immediately who it was supposed to be. It was something she'd carry with her for years to come.

"Lloyd. This is so thoughtful of you..."

"This is gonna sound super lame and mushy and stuff, but..." Lloyd took a deep breath, "Youguysaremyfamily." Another deep breath, "You're all so awesome... And courageous. And... And, you looked after me when no one else wanted to, even though I've kinda been a pain in the butt about it...I don't have any real brothers or sisters, but if I did, I'd want them to be just like you..." Nya was quiet for a moment. Was something wrong? Had he overstepped some unspoken boundary with the gift? But then, she hugged him, and he realized that she wasn't upset with him at all. In fact, quite the opposite seemed true.

" For the record Lloyd, I think you were already a part of this family... You've been like the annoying younger brother I never had ever since you first got here. I know that you have a lot of trust issues and that sometimes you feel unwanted, but it means a lot to me that you've reached to point that you would make something like this... " he didn't reply. Couldn't trust his voice to function properly. Only able to return the hug. This was what having a family was supposed to be like, wasn't it? Lloyd found that he quite liked it. Eventually, they made there way to the dining room, where the others were loudly discussing conspiracy theories about who exactly hid behind Samurai X's mask. Only Nya and Lloyd knew just how wrong they were.