Hey! I'm back! You can throw at me a tomato or something for making you all wait so long... OMG, I think the last time I updated was last year... right? I'M EVIL. I KNOW.

However... thank you all guys who kept on reviewing and encouraging me. I don't have much time right now to thank you nall individually, but this chapter is for you. As I said, I'm sorry that I took so long, but now I'm finally happy with this chapter, and I hope you will be too.

Thank you a lot, guys! Read and review, please!

If I never met you

Chapter 17

Lost

11:20 pm

"Man, could this get any more boring?" The remote control was finally taken from the coffee table.

Maybe to many women, Oprah is a genius of entertainment, but at least to Kale, she was B-O-RI-N-G. Really, if you were watching a re-play of her program at this hour, it could only mean you had nothing better to bother yourself with.

Or maybe it could mean you were waiting for your teenage daughter and her blue alien companion to come home. Her blue alien boy companion.

Lani and Nani had already gone to their beds, defeated by tiredness and knowing that these guys were only having some fun. Nani wasn't all that worried now about Lilo being out after it got dark. She wasn't a ten-year-old girl out in the dark, at the mercy of any havoc-maker experiment. Besides, she was with Stitch. She knew that he'd never ever let anything bad happen to Lilo, and she trusted him. She only thought he would simply scare away those stupid boys, and that was okay too. No worries here.

Lani had seen this coming since a lot of time ago, and somehow, she had managed to simply let go of it. She knew her little girl had to grow up and start doing those things that will eventually lead her to being a mature woman living happily with someone who loved her. And to her, it seemed that Stitch would be that someone. She didn't really mind.

…Though maybe the only thing which made her a bit nervous was the fact that she didn't know what her grandchildren would look like. Yikes.

Other than that, no worries here either.

So Kale had been the only one to remain awake. The man was seriously thinking of grounding Lilo and her 'friend' for being home after the deadline. He didn't like to be that kind of father who suddenly becomes all authoritarian and send their daughters to their room and won't leave them go out of the house for the rest of their lives, but… well, please, come on! He had been pretty clear when he said '11:00 o'clock. No more', right?

"Oh geez…" He slapped his forehead with his hand. "You better have a good excuse for this. By you I mean you, Stitch." He talked to no one in particular as his eyes went up to the clock hanging from the wall. The minutes were going too fast for his liking, making it be later and later…

After the zillionth time of looking at the clock, the doorknob finally clicked with the sound of a key entering the keyhole.

He straightened up on the sofa and held back his breath, studying mentally the speech he had ready.

Lilo came in.

"Oh, hey Lilo… Where's Stitch?"

The absence of the little blue alien was pretty noticeable. And the shaken expression on Lilo's face was pretty noticeable too once Kale let his eyes scan over his daughter.

The next thing he knew was that he had Lilo in his arms, clinging to him for support. Then he felt her body shaking in his embrace (…maybe it was cold out there?).

Then he heard her sobs. At first it was so faint he thought he might have imagined it all, but then it came stronger. She was crying. His baby was crying.

"Lilo, honey…? What's wrong, babe? What's wrong?" He asked alarmed, though his fingers kept running tenderly over his daughter's hair.

"S-Stitch…" Lilo could say before another wave of sobs came over her.

Kale's fingers turned momentarily into claws. For some reason, he didn't like the sound of that.

"What's wrong with him?" He asked slowly.

"He… well… I-I don't even know. He went… nuts… I need to call Jumba." Lilo replied quietly, her sobs making her voice tremble. She pushed her dad away softly and then she made her way to Pleakley's room. The only intergalactic communicator in the house was there.

Kale simply followed her, not knowing if he could do anything helpful at all. This all was too weird for his liking.

00:15 am

"…I'm sorry Miss Pelekai, but Dr. Jookiba is very busy at this time giving a lecture."

"But this is important too!"

"As I was saying, I'm very sorry, Miss Pelekai. There is nothing I can do about it. Call him tomorrow, please."

"But-!"

"Goodnight, Miss Pelekai."

Before Lilo could say anything else, the communication was cut. The screen of the little communicator had already turned to a dull gray color.

She let out a sigh of frustration.

These stupid bureaucrats sure knew how to be rude without even saying rude words. She hadn't even allowed her to explain anything at all! Sheesh! And besides… when was it "tomorrow" in planet Turo? She thought she remembered something Jumba said about Turo having days of 38 hours or something like that, but she didn't remember very well at the moment. Ah well, she could ask Pleakley later on.

Oh, and another detail… could she be possibly referring to an Earthling tomorrow?

Another sigh of frustration followed.

A little ad appeared shortly after, signaling a new message coming from 'mom'.

'When are YOU going to call, WENDY??'

My gosh.

She grabbed the nearest pillow and screamed into it, trying to let out all of those horrid sentiments boiling up inside her. She let go and waited. Nope, some of that had still stayed inside. She screamed again into the pillow, this time letting the communicator fall onto Pleakley's bed.

"Hey Lilo… well… what did they tell you?" Pleakley came into the room. Nani, Lani and himself had tried to get some information out of Kale, but it was to no good at all, because he simply had no idea of what was going on.

Lilo looked up at him, her eyes watery. "They politely told me to shut up and call tomorrow."

"Ugh, that's pretty bad too."

"Why?"

"That means they politely asked you not to call again."

The poor pillow now received a punch, as if it wasn't enough already.

"God, how mean and rude of them-!" She brought the pillow again to her red face, turning all of her ramblings into mumbles. Pleakley only stared at her, giving the girl a sympathetic look.

"Ah, well, don't worry Lilo… I'm pretty sure everything will be okey-dokey! We'll be talking to good ol' Jumba in no time at all!" He patted her back in a comforting gesture. Lilo lifted her face from the pillow once again and looked at him.

"Well, anyways… thanks for letting me use your communicator, Pleakley. And for everything else. I'm going to bed right now." She said, getting up from his bed and walking hunched.

"Oh, of course. You must be exhausted. Good night, then." Pleakley replied, rubbing his left arm in a gesture of awkwardness as he watched the girl go out.

Outside, Nani was the first one to receive her.

"Lilo, honey, please tell me what's going on. Are you okay? Can I help you with something?"

"Hey baby… what happened? Could you find the mad scientist guy?" Kale came afterwards.

Lani came close too, holding Lilo to her. "Oh, Lilo… my little girl…"

"I couldn't find Jumba. We can't do anything at all right now. I'm going to my room, okay?" Lilo replied to all of them, pushing her mom away softly and climbing onto the platform of the lift. Seven eyes (three human pairs and Pleakley's only eye) followed the teen until the walls left her out of sight.

"So… did she tell you what happened?" Nani asked to the only remaining alien in the house. Lani and Kale listened carefully.

"No. But it's pretty obvious she's shattered. Whatever happened out there with the little monster, it must have been traumatizing." Pleakley replied, not really aware of what he had called Stitch. He was so used to it by now that he didn't actually notice. It made Lani and Kale flinch, though.

'BEEEEEP!' A loud sound took them all out of their own thoughts. It had come from Pleakley's room.

"For Plorg's sake, I just called her two hours ago! Does she want to drive me CRAZY?" The walking noodle complained. He went quickly into his room, mumbling a quick goodnight on the way.

"If that woman doesn't stop calling at nights, she'll drive ME crazy too." Nani mused. With that, she followed Pleakley into the room to get some sleep too, a frown of worry marking her pretty face.

Kale and Lani remained alone in the corridor, giving each other meaningful glances.

00:30 am

Lilo had barely had the strength to change her pretty white dress for her aqua nightgown.

Right now, all she wanted to do was getting some sleep and shutting off her thoughts.

She would have liked to wash her face too, to get rid of all tear streaks on her cheeks, but she simply felt too depressed and defeated to do that. Well, it doesn't matter, surely. There will be more anyway.

She dropped on her bed, looking exhausted and heartbroken. She crawled slowly to the upper part of her bed, where she took off the blankets and then used them to cover her body.

She let out a soft gasp of surprise when she turned and suddenly saw her mom standing in her room. She hid her face under her covers, whining. Her mind had been so far away at the moment that she didn't even realize when the lift had whirred, indicating somebody was coming up to see her.

The other woman bit her lip, worried. She sure hadn't liked that zombie look in her daughter's eyes.

"Lilo, babe, you got me worried." She started. She sat on the edge of the bed and put a loving hand on the figure of Lilo's head. "And I can't help it! No mother likes to see their daughter so sad and crestfallen like you look right now. Is there anything I could do to help you?"

"Not really…" Lilo replied, her voice muffled by the blanket. Lani sighed.

"Feel like talking about anything at all?"

Lilo shook her head under the blanket. Lani nodded.

"How close to you is Stitch?"

That took Lilo by surprise.

Now, Lani already had an idea of how close Lilo and Stitch were to each other, but for some reason, she wanted Lilo to say it. However, Lilo remained silent.

The older woman rolled her eyes, lifted the blanket and hid under it too, finding her daughter in the process. "I know it's pretty comfortable in here, but could we both please go out only for a few moments? This is very important, honey."

With a sigh of resignation, Lilo obeyed. Both women went out, but one of them kept looking at the ground. Lani lifted the girl's chin as if to make her look into her eyes.

"So?"

Lilo sighed once more.

"He's pretty close."

[…She was totally taken aback when Stitch placed his mouth over hers, maybe too abruptly…]

"Only 'pretty close'?" Lani inquired with her eyebrows lifted, as if saying 'I don't believe you' with her eyes. It made Lilo feel a bit uncomfortable. She still shook her head.

"Well… maybe a bit more."

"Like a very close friend?"

[… When it had finally downed on her, she could finally respond. Her hands took Stitch's soft face in them, caressing his cheeks gently as she pulled his face closer…]

Again, Lilo shook her head. Lani couldn't suppress a smile from forming on her lips.

"Mom, do we really have to talk about this right NOW?" Lilo asked in a whine.

"I think we do, sweetheart. It would clear up a lot of things."

"Aren't they already pretty clear to you? I mean, you always were so perceptive and you had such good guesses…" She said in a murmur, keeping her eyes on the floor.

"I never said they would be clear for me."

Lilo still remained silent. Lani sighed.

"Lilo, look, I want you to know that I don't mind about you and Stitch going out so often on not-a-date uhh… dates, and go watch movies together and dance all night long at some school prom. Actually, it's kind of amusing and cute… and yeah… I just wanted you to know that. You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Lilo's gaze didn't go up. She really did not want to talk about this… not right now. But maybe she should… maybe it would be to some kind of help…

[…And that had been when everything suddenly went other way...]

"No mom, please not right now. I'm really exhausted. Could we leave this for tomorrow? I need some time alone." She declined in the last moment.

"Oh, well… that's okay too. I understand that." The woman smiled awkwardly and looked aside for a moment. "Goodnight honey." She bent down and kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"Night, mom."

"I just want you to remember something… the world's not going to end right now. Remember that you've got us, and that you can trust your Ohana, okay? Everything will turn out for the best, no matter what it is in the end."

Lilo nodded slowly; she simply watched as her mom disappeared into the lift tube. As soon as she was out of view, she let herself fall onto her bed, hiding her face with her pillow and shutting her eyes. She kind of wished she could shut her thoughts too.

It was kind of blurry to her, but she knew she had suddenly felt Stitch going stiff like a rock. She had just realized that something wasn't going right when he pulled her away abruptly… though pushing away was more like it.

"What's going on?" She talked into her pillow.

"Stitch? Are you okay? What's going on?" She asked alarmed. Stitch had suddenly clutched his head like he used to do when his glitch took over him. His groans were those of confusion and pain.

Stitch, her best friend, was in pain. She felt a knot forming in her stomach, making her worry grow stronger.

28:45 pm, Planet Turo – Hotel Kjark

"Good evening, Dr. Jookiba. Please take your key from the delivering slot." A computerized voice saluted dully. Jumba took his finger off from the recognition sensor and received something like a little credit card, which was the 'key' to his room. Smiling widely, he then walked into the lift tube that would take him to his floor.

Today had been a pretty good day, talking about the kind of stuff that geniuses usually talk about and showing his discoveries of Earth genetics to those enthusiasts of the planet (geez, come on, what could be so interesting about Earth? It was like a fever!). However, he was pretty happy to be back in the hotel, with a huge, comfy couch waiting for him inside his room.

He checked the card in front of the reader, right outside his room. After the reader set the green light, he could finally come in and drop his stuff in some corner of the room.

Everything inside was a complete mess (just a mess, not an unclean mess), but he didn't really mind. It was nice, actually… not having Pleakley around to clean up everything he did and unmake his perfect disorder, where he knew the place he had given to everything he had. It was a good thing that the little service robot they had given him could be given the order of not touching anything of his, something that the walking noodle never seemed to understand.

Still, it kind of felt lonely here.

He dropped onto the huge couch of his little living room, getting ready to watch some TV (or its equivalent on Turo). A little robot came out of nowhere and stopped beside him.

"Good evening, Dr. Jookiba. Can I service you in anything?"

"Ah, yes, of course. Be bringing here dinner. I am wishing for an Earthling pizza and a cold hadukken, please."

The robot didn't say anything else and just went off to get his dinner.

He sighed. Yep, it just wasn't the same. He missed hearing Bigger Girl's shouts of anger at seeing 626 about to throw a food battle against Little Girl or the Walking Noodle. He chuckled. Yes yes yes, those were fun times with his Ohana that he missed. Funny thing how he had been here only for a few days and now he already missed these persons who were not even blood relatives to him.

That gave him something to think about for a while. Hmm, yes… it was really interesting to him. When his wife became his ex-wife, he had never really felt so lonely. The feeling he had got was something more like freedom, happiness, and the impression that now he could eat up the whole universe.

However, since he had come to Earth and adopted it as his home, strange things began happening to him. Now the Reformed Evil Genius found himself missing everyone down there. Hah, even Pleakley and his blabber. He had to admit, Pleakley was the closest he had ever gotten to a best friend, and no matter how many times they had quarrels and fought over stupid stuff, right now he had no one to fight with or show his inventions to… except for those persons who were part of the Galactic Scientific Alliance. And that wasn't that exciting at all.

"Your dinner is ready, Dr. Jookiba. You have twelve new voice messages in your mailbox." The robot had delayed no time at all to come back, taking him out of his thoughts. He waved his hand in a carefree gesture, taking a sip of his purple, thick drink.

"Leave it alone, little one. I will check them later. Retire now."

He sighed and passed a hand over his only three hairs. He kind of wondered if his Ohana would miss him too. He wondered how everything around there was; he knew he could have called, but he simply never had the time to do so… until now.

The videophone was just a few meters away from him. Why not?

He had been about to take the videophone and call his Ohana, but then he remembered that days were different in Earth. He briefly looked at the clock in the wall and sighed. Making a quick calculus, he realized that at least in Hawaii, it must be almost 1:00 am, and none would be awake to take the call.

"Ah well… it can wait, then. It is not like a big catastrophe is even around." He chuckled. "Dr. Hämsterviel hasn't escaped jail lately, and all experiments are good-doers now. What could go so wrong, besides an old, homesick Evil Genius?"

He dropped back into the couch. Maybe he'd call tomorrow.

00:58 am, Earth – Mr and Mrs Pelekai's bedroom

"Kale…"

"Hmm?" The man asked, sliding his feet out of his sandals. Lani was sitting on their bed, already under the blankets, looking down at her fidgeting hands.

"I'm worried, honey."

Kale sighed. "Yeah, she got me worried too. But there's nothing we could do. The evil scientist guy isn't available, and whether we like it or not, we'll have to wait until things get better to do anything at all."

"I guess you're right. But still, that doesn't make me feel better."

"Same with me." He slid into the blankets. Lani welcomed him by circling her arms around her husband, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. His arm went around her shoulders, his thumb massaging her in a comforting manner.

"We should get to sleep right now. Or at least try to. Tomorrow we'll have plenty of stuff to get done with." The man said wisely. Lani nodded.

The lights went off, and they accommodated themselves into their bed. Both adults closed their eyes, but still, they weren't able to get any sleep.

"Ni?"

"Hmm?"

"I can't sleep."

"Me neither. Want some warm milk? I could go get some."

"I'll get it. You just try to relax, okay Ni?"

She nodded once more. He opened the wooden door gently, trying to do as little noise as possible. Lani could hear from their room the noise of cups and glasses clinking, and then the microwave as it heated up their milk. In no time at all, her husband was back into the room with their glasses. He handed one to Lani and kept his hands around his own. None of them seemed to have any intentions on even giving a sip to their milks.

"So, are you gonna drink that?" Kale asked his wife in a playful manner, pointing at her glass of milk. As in cue, she gave it a small sip and smiled at him.

"There. Happy now?"

He chuckled. "Yeah."

He gulped down half of his glass, and then wiped off the remaining milk of his mouth.

"You know something? I really think that what Lilo got is way more serious than what we had thought at first." Kale began saying, his eyes fixed on the half-empty glass.

"What do you mean?" Lani tilted her head to one side, looking at her husband in a funny manner.

He sighed. "I think that whatever thing she has for Stitch… well, it must be something bigger than just a crush."

"I know. I've noticed." She looked down at her glass of milk too. "And it does make sense after all. They've been best friends for such a long time, being there for each other when they most needed it… it's not something that one could say must have happened sooner or later, but it is indeed something that was more than likely to happen."

"Yes, I know that. And so… I've been thinking something else too…" He trailed off.

"Yes?" She asked gently.

"If it is possible that Lilo does actually love-love Stitch, well… whatever's happening to him, it's affecting her a lot."

"Uh, yes? I noticed that too." Lani said. "So? What's the point?"

"My point is…" He sighed once more, scratching the back of his head. "This'll sound stupid, y'know…"

"What?"

"Would you be able to let go of Lilo and this new family of ours if necessary? I mean, for what she's told us, if he doesn't remember her now and we're here after supposedly being dead… I'm no Evil Genius, but that sounds like time-traveling issues. Remember the first movie of 'Back to the Future', when Marty McFly began disappearing from the picture?"

"Kale…"

"I know, I told you this sounded crazy. But it actually makes sense! What if we had to go so everything would go back to normal for our daughters and this new Ohana? What if that way Stitch would be fine again and give him his chance with Lilo? Would you be willing to do that?"

Silence followed. After a few moments, he heard her glass of milk being put aside, on the night table. She lied back down on the bed.

"I would. No doubt there. I just wish we could stay to see our daughters fully grow up."

Kale seemed to think thoroughly about this, then just shrugged and lied down beside his wife.

"I'd like that too. You know, I actually kinda like Stitch."

The man heard his wife stifle back a laugh. It made him smile. Well, that was the truth. He liked Stitch, but he had to make sure he'd be the right guy for his little girl, just like what he had been doing with Nani and David so many years ago before they passed away.

"Well, goodnight Ni."

"Goodnight."

Silence came once more into the house, but several thoughts were making their way through Lani's head, whispering things she already knew. She had actually kind of sensed before that their presence there had something to do with Stitch going crazy. Kale had put it into a more convincing way, making it sound logical, while all she had was just a gut feeling. Girls stuff, you know.

Well, maybe her gut feeling had proven to be right. And right now, it was telling her that once more, her wish wouldn't come true.

But this time, maybe it would be her own will to let go of that wish, if only that helped Lilo to be happy once more. She had learned how to move on without them before and proved to be strong; she surely could do that again.

00:30 am - Somewhere in the tropical forest of Kauai

"Stitch? Stitch! What's wrong, bud? Are you okay?" She cried. She came close to him, who had stepped back when he pushed her away.

Right in that moment, the groans had stopped, and he had opened his eyes slowly. He blinked a couple of times, adjusting his vision, and then fixed his stare on her.

Lilo had heard her friend growl a lot of times before, and she had never really been afraid of it. That usually meant he was protecting her or simply saying he didn't like something, and sometimes it even meant he felt playful.

But these growls were different. They were menacing, and they were directed to her. It was scary.

"Ka genaa te!" He demanded to know.

"What do you mean? It's me! What's wrong with you?" Lilo had replied, feeling teased… or at least trying to.

It was true that Stitch sometimes liked to scare Lilo, like all best friends do sometimes, but right now, Lilo couldn't think up of a logical reason for Stitch to go crazy. She'd rather think that it was a playful growl than a threatening one.

However, he growled once more in a scarier way.

"Okay, you got me. I'm scared, Stitch. Really. Could we stop playing this? It isn't funny!"

He stared at her in a funny, still creepy way. "Stitch?"

Oh gosh, he just HAD to be joking…

He had pronounced it as if it were foreign to him. As if he had never even heard it, or known that was his name.

Stitch wandered aimlessly through the Hawaiian forest. Ferns and palm trees went by as he walked slowly, trying to know what was going on. The sound of waves licking softly the sand of the beach came to him as a murmur, as if wanting to make him recall what it had just witnessed just one hour ago.

And actually, for a few moments, he suddenly remembered Lilo, the dance and the events of the beach. His eyes widened up as the memories struck his head.

"It's me. It's Lilo. Do you…" She felt stupid asking this. "…know me?"

He stared at her blankly, coldly.

She could have taken that as a no.

"Lilo!" He cried out. Then he dashed to the Pelekai household, wanting to apologize and try to explain that he had no idea of whatever was going on with him.

But suddenly, he simply forgot what he was going to do. It was becoming frustrating; he never even got to the midway.

And that was when he began wandering aimlessly again. He couldn't remember anything at the moment. No Lilo, no dance and no beach.

He felt frustrated and angry, though. Despite the fact that he wasn't fully aware of what was going on, he knew something important was escaping his grasp, but he never could put his finger on it, and it made him feel even angrier.

This same scene repeated over and over again. He'd remember Lilo and then try to run home, and then just suddenly he forgot again and started wandering in the forest once more.

Sometimes he would growl. Sometimes he would let out a whine.

Once more lost. As if he had been home before, but now he didn't know the way back. He could feel it.

"I'm lost."