I Promise You'll Get Better

Five

"Y'know, when I agreed to visiting my cousin, I didn't expect to be sneaking along the corridors and trying not to scare all the members of the crew. It's not our fault we look exactly like Dashi!"

Dottie straightened her blouse, which was decorated with tiny paint brushes, and frowned. "Can't we go and see her now?"

"No," Shellington said as a Vegimal waddled past, chirped in surprise at the six cousins, and skittered off towards the OctoChute. "She's having some sister time with Koshi. It was your idea that we bring Koshi along as well, actually."

"Actually," DeLana cut in, "it was Danielle's."

"Guilty as charged," Danielle said, grinning and holding up her hands. "We haven't seen Koshi in ages either. It'll be brilliant to see them both."

"SHH!"

Tweak had joined them at the back, giving all of them a good up-and-down look. "Donna, you look like you're dressed for one of your concerts."

"Danielle gave us all a makeover before we came here," Donna explained, plucking her denim jacket, pleased.

"It was awful," Daphne grimaced, looking down at her fish-patterned dress. "Who knew you could get dresses like this?"

"You can't," Danielle laughed. "I'm just very good at persuading my fellow fashion workers to create new outfits for you all."

Someone's phone started ringing. Tweak slapped a paw over her eyes. Delilah, near the front, shoved a hand into her jeans pocket, grinning apologetically, and pulled out a smart-looking phone. "Sorry, sorry, it's Donna Doxie, I did tell her I'll be here for a couple of weeks... it's hard when you're working with a world-famous author!"

She silenced the phone and pocketed it again, "Where were we?"

"Sneaking towards the Sick Bay room to scare the life out of your cousin, remember?" Tweak said, without the faintest trace of irony.

Delilah nodded and they continued to tip-toe along the corridor. Dashi and Koshi's excited chatter was getting louder. As they reached the door, Shellington stealthily peered round it. Dashi was sitting on the edge of her bed, her arm around Koshi, both of them talking to Peso. Dashi nodded, beaming.

"Got it, Peso," she said.

"I'm so happy!" Koshi squealed.

"OK," Shellington whispered, "on the count of three, you all jump out at her and yell 'SURPRISE!', got it?"

"Yup!" DeLana said a little too loudly, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"One," Tweak whispered, "two... three..."

In the Sick Bay, Dashi got to her feet unsteadily, grabbing onto Koshi for balance. It was the first time she had stood up in days, and it felt almost unreal. Koshi helped steady her.

Then Dashi heard a voice outside. She frowned. None of the Octonauts, she knew, had an Australian accent, let alone one that sounded almost exactly the same to hers. Koshi wasn't an Octonaut, and she was standing next to Dashi anyway.

Koshi shared a grin with Peso, which confused Dashi even more.

Before she had time to interrogate both of them, voices yelled, "SURPRISE!"

And into the Sick Bay, with elated expressions and twinkling eyes, jumped all six of her cousins, crashing into each other and nearly sending the whole group tumbling to the floor.

Dashi screamed out of surprise, leaping three feet into the air and almost losing her balance entirely. She stared, heart pounding, wondering if this was a dream. When she finally established it wasn't, she could only stare more.