I Promise You'll Get Better

Ten

When Danielle said that Shellington and the cousins needed to talk, the scientist grew quite nervous.

For starters, he had known the cousins for barely three weeks. Secondly, from what he knew, they were very determined and would do anything to get their way. Thirdly, he had a strange feeling it would be about Dashi.

He met them in the kitchen, where they had teamed up with the Vegimals to provide the Octonauts with a sumptuous feast that night. The chaos that lay before Shellington's eyes was quite something .

"Hi!" Daphne called cheerily from where she was rolling out a pie pastry with Barrot. "Come join us! Have a seat!"

Shellington looked around. There were no seats free.

"On the counter, silly!" Danielle said, brushing away several kitchen utensils (and a Vegimal in the process) from a space near her and wiping it down quickly with a cloth. Shellington gingerly perched there.

"What did you guys want to talk about?"

"Dashi," DeLana said instantly. Tominow chirruped curiously and waddled over to join Shellington.

"What about her?" Shellington asked. "I've been treating her well, you know that, she would've told you if something was wrong..."

"Oh, we know that!" Donna said, high-fiving Grouber as they tasted a sample of a mixture. "We wanted to talk about what's going to come from your relationship. You haven't asked her on a date yet, no?"

"I haven't really thought about it, to be honest," Shellington said. "I don't want to exhaust her or anything. What happened in the Garden Pod really shook her up."

He remembered seeing Dashi falling through the CCTV, hearing her screams through the microphone, pummelling the HQ dashboard and willing for the OctoChute to unlock. He remembered seeing her hunched up in the corner, snow-white, trembling. It was an image he wouldn't forgot for a long time.

"Then start with something small," Dottie said. She switched on the oven and pushed a tin of cake mixture inside. "You can't just string her along with the occasional kiss here and the movie night there. You need something to solidify your relationship, otherwise it's just going to crumble. And you'd both hate that."

"We don't want Dashi getting hurt," Delilah said, chopping potatoes fiercely. "She's been hurt too many times already."

"I'm not going to hurt her...!"

"We're not saying you are," DeLana chuckled. "We're just saying you need to do something sooner or later."

"And that's why we summoned you," Danielle said, patting Shellington's shoulder. "To help you plan the perfect first date with Dashi."

Tunip nodded determinedly and chirped.

"Let's start with something on the Octopod," Delilah said. "Simple but sweet."

"How can I make the Octopod seem more special for our date?" Shellington asked. "Dashi and I have lived on it for years."

"This is where I come in," Dottie said, flicking her spoon like a paintbrush. "I can transform any place to look amazing, and take it down again in a couple of hours. For example, if you did a dinner date..."

"Which we'd be perfectly happy to cook for, mind you," Daphne cut in.

Tunip burbled something which Shellington mentally translated to, "I didn't really get a say in this, but yes, we'll cook for it!"

"...I could transform the dining room into a wonderful mini restaurant, with a little bit of help from Tweak," Dottie continued.

"I'm sure Tweak would be perfectly happy to help out," Shellington said, warming to the idea. "She and Dashi are like two peas in a pod again. I think she's desperate to do anything for Dashi, and vice versa."