Deep Inside

The sun was slowly setting far off in the distance as the day was slowly coming to an end. Inside the Pelekai residence, things were surprisingly quiet. The house was clean after a long day of cleaning from the occupants of the house. Of course, it was only several days ago that it had been a wreck as everyone was trying to get ready for what was to be the largest lie and stunt the family had ever pulled off after the arrival of unexpected relatives.

This family consisted of five. Lilo, a little Hawaiian girl with long dark hair who never seemed to fit in anywhere. Nani, her older sister and guardian, since their parents had passed away. The two girls were the only two living in the house until one night, they had both seen what they thought was a shooting star, and their lives had never been the same. That shooting star had actually been a spaceship, which had contained alien experiment 626 in it. The next day, without realizing it, Lilo adopted him as her puppy and named him Stitch. The rest was known as history.

A large purple, four-eyed alien by the name of Dr. Jumba Jookiba, evil genius; as he wished to be called, was sent down to capture his experiment after it had gotten away. But not without the aid and supervision of Agent Wendy Pleakley, who was a light green, three legged alien with one eye. These three aliens came into the lives of Lilo and Nani and completely turned it upside down.

Now, it was eight months after the grand councilwoman, who had sent them originally to capture 626, had assigned them to now collect all the rest of the 625 experiments created by Jumba. The Pelekai house, which in that time, had been burned down and rebuilt, was now the home of a very strange o'hana.

One of the members of this strange o'hana was currently sitting down in the couch after a long day of cleaning. A thin arm covering his large eye, Pleakley sighed, letting the duster that was in his hand fall to the floor with a thump. He was wearing his favorite lounge dress, which he wore around the house. It was orange with white flower prints on it.

He had done it again. He had cleaned the entire house again. What was strange was that when he got into these moods, he didn't even realize he was doing it until he was done, tired, exhausted to the point where he collapsed on the couch, just as he had a moment ago. The house had not really needed cleaned to begin with, save for Lilo's room, which always needed it and the area outside Jumba's lab, which seemed to spread its messiness from inside to the outside. That was the one place inside the house he never cleaned. Simply because he wasn't allowed to. The last time Pleakley had stepped in to clean the room, Jumba had thrown a fit and taken the smaller alien by the arm and thrown him out the door. Pleakley could remember looking down at his arm a week after the incident and still be able to see the large hand shaped bruise that had formed there. It didn't take much to make him bruise.

He also remembered how depressed he had been for a whole three days after that. It did not occur to him at the time why he had been so depressed, but he knew now. Yes, he knew. But no one could ever know.

Sighing again, Pleakley did not even move or get up when the front door opened. Nani walked in with several bags of groceries. She saw Pleakley lying on the couch and gave a small side smile. "Clean all day again?" she asked kindly.

Pleakley lifted a weak hand. "You could say that…." he mumbled. His hand felt back down.

"Ay, ay, ay, Pleakley. I know I said I liked having the house clean, but you don't have to kill yourself doing it!" replied Nani, her voice still light and friendly as she started to the kitchen to put the groceries away.

Pleakley didn't respond to this, he just continued to lay there. Once Nani was done putting everything away, she looked back over to see her friend still lying there in the same position. "Hey, is everything alright?"

Pleakley nodded. It was then that he had the sudden urge to stand up and smile brightly at herm to let her know she was, even if he really wasn't. Well, he didn't stand, but he did sit up and give her a lopsided grin. "Oohhh, yes, I'm alright! You don't have to worry about me! No siree!"

Nani eyed him for a moment before heading back into the kitchen. She called back over her shoulder, "You know, I am going out this evening, right? You sure you and Jumba can handle Lilo and Stitch?"

Pleakley finally stood up, knowing he must anyways, and walked into the kitchen as well. He glanced around at his handiwork, finally feeling somewhat better. "But of course we can take care of them! I mean…It's not like they're crafty little kids who will do anything to get away with…..stuff…" his voice deflated as he realized what it was he was saying. He gave a nervous chuckle. Nani shook her head, getting out the milk and pouring herself a glass. Just as she was about to put it back, Stitch walked into the kitchen, his eyes half open and looking as though he'd just woke up. He snatched the milk carton from her hand, opened the cap and opened his mouth, brining the milk carton upside down as the milk fell into his mouth.

"Stitch!!" whined Nani, frowning at him. The little blue ball of energy didn't seem effected by this however, as he stopped drinking, put the lid back on and placed it back into the fridge. "Oi….Stitch, have you seen Lilo?"

"Naga. Alla qui esta" was the reply she got.

"What did you say?"

"He said, No. Just woke up from a nap. And I'm right here" came the voice of Lilo. She walked up to her older sister, her camera in her hands. "Nani, you're going out tonight right? Would you be able to stop and get some of these pictures developed? It's all full and I'll need to be taking more pictures this weekend."

Nani took the camera form her little sister, regarding it carefully. "Okay," she held out her hand, as though waiting for something.

"What?"

"You expect me to just buy them for you?"

"You expect me to pay for them? I don't have a job, I'm just a little kid!" cried out Lilo, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. Pleakley sat down as the two sisters continued to negotiate. His mind wasn't able to focus on anything at the moment. This was bad. For he knew if he let his mind wonder, he would think of…

No. He couldn't think of that. Pleakley shook his head. Cleaning the house had been one way to keep his mind off of…

But now all the cleaning was finished, he had nothing else to do but think of…

Jumba walked in through the front door, having locked himself up inside the spaceship earlier that morning. He was wearing his lab coat and some rubber gloves, which he was in the midst of taking off.

"Ah, I was not expecting older sister to still be here. I was understanding that you were leaving" commented the four eyed alien as he attempted to take off his lab coat. Underneath he was wearing his yellow and red hula shirt.

"Ah, you are right Jumba" she told him. "Just not yet. I just got back from the grocery store. The line there was so long! Anyways, I should be leaving here shortly." She stopped, turning to face the large purple alien. Jumba looked at her, his four eyes all wide and innocent looking. "I'm expecting you to keep it quiet around here, okay? Get them to bed at a decent time, you hear?"

"I is hearing, Nani. Decent time, yes. We shall get them into bed at a decent time" repeated Jumba with a nod, twiddling his large fingers in front of him. Nani then sighed as she went up the stairs.

Taking his lab coat and his gloves, Jumba began to head for his lab. As he went, he walked past Pleakley who sighed as he walked by. "Ahhh, Jumba!! What are you doing?" he exclaimed, moving quickly to catch up with him. He was now beside Jumba as they walked closer to his lab. Jumba gave a him a funny look as he moved his head to look at him. "I am taking lab coat and gloves into lab" he said simply. "Why must you know?"

Pleakley flinched at this question, not knowing why he even asked it. "Oh, no reason…I was just…just…." Jumba had stopped walking at this point and so had Pleakley. As the one eyed alien stuttered to find an answer, looking at the floor anxiously, Jumba spoke quietly, "You are acting funny. More funny than usual."

Pleakley blinked at this. "I am not!"

"Yes, you are" argued Jumba, heading once again towards his lab. He walked up the few stairs that led up to the single door and twisted the door knob and opened the door, walking inside. "My little one eyed friend is always acting strange. I do not understand why." With that, he shut the door on Pleakley, who just gaped after him.

"I act strange?" whispered Pleakley. Lilo, who was walking past with Stitch behind her, nodded, obviously having heard him. "Yeah, but that's nothing to be worried about. If you weren't acting strange, then we'd worry." Then the two of them were gone and Pleakley was left to wonder what had just taken place.

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The monster on the television screen was hollering and screaming as the hero of the film took its sword and hit it in the chest. Stitch watched with wide eyes, enjoying the gory look of pain the monster was currently showing, not to mention all the chaos it was showing. Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley were currently sitting on the blue couch, watching another monster movie. Pleakley was sitting next to Lilo, who was sitting beside Stitch. Jumba was on the other side of the couch, watching the television with bored eyes. Pleakley was acutely aware of the fact that he wasn't even watching the movie. Instead, his eye was constantly going back to glancing over at Jumba, who looked so bored he could almost fall asleep. Though he was bored, Pleakley knew Jumba loved sitting there with Lilo and Stitch, watching television. He loved them both dearly and wished to take care of them and make them happy, even at a little bit of his expense.

Pleakley's eye was looking at Jumba, scanning over his large strong arms and large build. How he wished he could sit on Jumba's lap, sit back in between those strong arms and onto his chest, feeling perfectly at ease. He would be protected by the one he loved. Pleakley looked away. There no chance of that ever happening.

"Pleakley, your face is all red" came Lilo's innocent voice. Pleakley looked down to see Lilo looking up at him. He blinked. He then turned an even darker shade of red as he saw that he now had everyone's attention. He glanced at the television to see that it was a commercial. That would explain why Lilo had noticed him blushing. Shaking his head a bit, Pleakley shrugged. "Oh, no…I'm not blushing! I am just…a bit hot. I think it is kind of warm in here is all!!" his voice was higher than usual, not to mention skittish with nerves. He went to pull on his collar out of nervousness, only to remember he didn't have one, for he was still wearing his orange dress. He gulped.

No one could know. No one. If they found out about how he was thinking of Jumba, they would never understand him. Not only that, but it would probably disgust them all of them, particularly Jumba.

"Temperature in room is not what is bothering you. It is a cool night. No heat or warmth to make you too warm" pointed out Jumba matter-of-factly.

Pleakley nodded. "Yes, you're right. Look, the movie is back on. Let's just continue watching the movie!" he insisted, seeing that it was indeed back on. This seemed to take the spotlight off of him, to his utter relief. He didn't wait for the next commercial though, where he knew the issue would be pressed further by one of them. He stood up and walked into the kitchen, where he had a glass of water. He hadn't taken three sips from it when his stomach began to twist and turn. He couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if they found out. If anyone found out how he was deep down inside, they would all hate him.

It wasn't just for any old reason that he loved to dress up in women's clothing and put on wigs and make-up. He had been that way ever since he could remember. His family had never understood him and that was why he knew he could never let his new family, his ohana, find out.

"I'm going to bed!" he rang out to the others as he walked up towards the stairs.

"You go to bed already? It is not late" asked a surprised Jumba, looking back at his friend, who was at the doorway to the living room.

"I know" snapped Pleakley defensively. "But I worked hard today. I did nothing but cleaning and you know that tires me out!"

"Then at least stay with me and help me get these two in bed when movie is over. If you are tired, you can sit here with me. I hear I make good pillow" rationed Jumba with a shrug. Pleakley felt himself freeze up at these words, his face going completely hot.

"You want me to sit with you?" he whispered, his eye wide.

Jumba didn't seem to realize the shock his friend was having from this. "That is what I said. Come now. I am not asking much. Unless you wish to go to bed, do so. Just means kids will get to bed later."

Pleakley nodded, knowing this was true. Jumba was known for losing track of the time and letting Lilo and Stitch stay up far later than they were supposed to, much to Nani's displeasure.

"A-Alright" squeaked Pleakley. "But only because you said so!!" He pointed at Jumba, who was just watching him curiously.

"Yes. Of course. Now, come. Sit."

Pleakley did as he was told and went to the front of the couch, where he tentatively sat down on Jumba's large lap. He shivered with pleasure as Jumba moved his arm around his shoulder and he leaned back into it. Pleakley closed his eye, soaking in the moment. He couldn't remember how many times he had wished he could be this close to Jumba. To lean up against him. He could feel Jumba's chest move up and down as he breathed, watching the television once again. Pleakley's mind wasn't focused on the television, only the fact that he was sitting in Jumba's lap, which he found to be very comfortable.

He sighed contentedly, snuggling closer to the larger alien's warmth. Sadly, the moment didn't last long enough for poor Pleakley. The movie did eventually end, all too quickly, which meant it was time to get up off the couch and start the fight of getting Lilo and Stitch to bed. After chasing Stitch around the house three times, Jumba was finally able to come back down the stairs and say, "They are finally in bed. It was not easy.." He looked at Pleakley, who was just standing there, staring at the couch, the blessed spot the moment of happiness had just taken place. His one hand was over his chest as he watched it unblinkingly.

A large purple hand flashed in front of his vision, bringing the one eyed alien back to reality. "Oh!" he cried out, looking at Jumba.

"You sure you are alright? You have been acting strange all night" he began.

"I was told that's normal for me!" piped up Pleakley with a small glare.

"That is true. But you have been acting more strange, even for yourself" retaliated the larger alien. When he didn't get a reply right away, Jumba shrugged, and started heading up the stairs. Pleakley watched him go, suddenly feeling the greatest need to touch him, to be held once again by those large strong arms. Pleakley shivered harshly, wrapping his arms around him. He needed to stop this. If he didn't, he was going to start getting sick. His kind were known for getting sick if they built up too many emotions.

He shook his head, not wanting to think about it. He followed Jumba up the stairs and into their shared room. As he walked in, Jumna was taking off his shirt and replacing it with his night shirt. The little alien gave out a cry. "Ahhhh!"

Jumba looked over at him as though was crazy. His night shirt half on. "What?"

Pleakley did his best to quickly compose himself, also trying to think of a good alibi. "I--I saw a spider."

Jumba shrugged. "Spiders are not scary. At least not on this planet." Now fully changed into his nightclothes, he climbed up into his bed on the top bunk. Once he was settled, he looked down at Pleakley. "Aren't you coming to bed? I was understanding you were tired."

Pleakley nodded, his three legs feeling numb as he moved to his bed, grabbing his own nightclothes as he did and changing. He fell back into the pillow beneath his head, watching the bed above him shift under Jumba's weight. He never would understand why Jumba was on the top bunk. Frankly, it didn't make much sense.

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