chapter 3

The doors slid open, and a thirty-year-old man stepped into the Kids Next Door Moon Base for the first time in years. He marveled at how much lower the ceilings and more narrow the rooms were than what he remembered.

The man still wasn't used to being a man in the first place. Back where he had come from, time passed much more slowly. Only about three years in their terms had gone by during his stay, but here it had been much, much longer. However, the closer he got to the Moon Base, the faster the years that he had missed began catching up with him. In the span of a few weeks, he had aged nearly twenty years.

In walked a child, a spaghetti strainer upon his head and a baseball catcher's safety equipment across his chest. Duct tape spelled out the number 150 on the gear.

"Numbuh 1, I presume?" he asked.

The man shook his head. "It's just Nigel now."

That's when the truth of his words hit him. He was no longer a Kids Next Door operative.

Numbuh 150 bowed his head. "Of course. Follow me, Nigel. Your friends are waiting for you."

Friends. Whether it be three years or twenty, it had been far too long since he had last seen them.

As Numbuh 150 led Nigel through a labyrinth of halls, the kids that they passed whispered to each other, pointing out the bald man. He had only recently learned that he was something of a legend nowadays, the KND's best agent who abruptly disappeared without a trace.

Numbuh 150 finally halted before a door. "Good luck," he said, and with a final nod of respect he was gone.

As nervous as Nigel was, he did not hesitate to pull the door open and enter the room. Waiting for him were four adults conversing amongst themselves, but they all instantly turned their heads upon arrival of the newcomer.

Older, yes. Taller, yes. Updated looks, yes. But without a doubt he recognized each of the faces of Abby, Wally, Kuki, and Hoagie staring straight back at him.

One moment, the five just looked at one another in disbelief. The next, they were all tangled up with each other in a huge group hug. Through the delirious laughs and hysterical tears, only one thing was certain.

Sector V was whole once again.

~0~0~0~0~0~

After the recently reunited group returned to Earth, they all gathered around Wally's kitchen table to catch up.

Nigel asked his teammates about various people from their childhood, such as Fanny (became, of all things, a politician), Tommy (joined the CIA under the alias 'Numbuh T'), Joey (entering his third year of college), and even Lizzie (married former class president Jimmy Nixon McGarfield two years ago).

The others, in turn, fired question after question about the Galactic KND. Nigel told them of all the different forms of alien life he met, all the odd customs of the galaxy he had been stationed in, and all the exciting adventures he went on in his quest to cure adulthood.

He was right in the middle of telling the story of how he and his friend Hal Soda and Princess L'ena defeated the evil Dark Valor when he noticed a small child standing in the doorway.

The girl couldn't have been more than four years old. With her blonde locks and short stature, she had to be Wally's kid.

So it came as quite a surprise to him when Kuki stood up and approached the girl. "What's the matter, Sydney?"

"I has a nightware," the preschooler said, lower lip trembling.

"Well, it's all over now," Kuki said comfortingly. "What can we do to help you get back to sleep?"

The little girl's face immediately brightened. "Can Daddy sing his special song?"

Kuki looked directly at Wally, silently pleading for him to grant the child's request.

"Alright, sweetie," the man sighed. He picked up his daughter, careful not to squish the Rainbow Monkey clutched in her arms, and disappeared around the corner. After a moment, those still seated at the table could faintly hear the tune of "Na, na, na, na, puttin' my kid to bed, yeah!"

It wasn't until then that the pieces began putting themselves together in Nigel's head. Of course he, along with the rest of the planet, knew that this was going to happen eventually. But the fact that the day had indeed come left him completely floored.

"You... and Wally?"

Kuki, now back at the kitchen table again, was quickly turned a shade of bright pink. "Seven years," she told him, fingering the wedding ring Nigel had failed to notice before.

For some reason, this greatly angered Nigel.

Voice layered with sarcasm, he said "So what next?" He gestured toward Hoagie and Abby. "Are you gonna tell me that these guys are married, too?"

Hoagie whistled innocently. Abby pulled her hat over her eyes.

Nigel's eyes widened at the thought that he had actually guessed correctly. "No way..."

Kuki gave a huff in annoyance. "They got together before Wally had even worked up the courage to tell me how he felt!"

Abby smirked. This was clearly an old joke between them. "That's right." She thrust out her hand, where her own set of rings glistened on her finger. "Ten years, baby!"

"Why the crud are you so worked up anyway?" Wally asked as he rejoined the group. "You should be happy for us, mate."

Nigel sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just that you guys were all moving on and taking these big steps in life, and I had to miss that."

The other four exchanged glances with one another before looking back at Nigel, each with a look of incredulity on their face.

"Did you even hear yourself when you were going on about the GKND?" Hoagie asked. "We were stuck here living average lives while you got to do things that were, well, out of this world!"

That earned him a slap from his wife, but Nigel actually chuckled lightly. Oh, how he had missed those lame jokes.

"Not to mention that you got to spend an extra seventeen years as a kid," Abby added. "You were living every Kids Next Door operative's dream!"

Palms flat on the table, Nigel leaned in close. "Believe me when I say that I would've given all that up to spend one more day with you guys."

The entire room fell dead silent.

Having achieved the desired effect, Nigel changed the subject. "So fill me in on the details. I don't want to miss a thing."

Thus the others began telling Nigel everything that occurred since he left. Abby and Hoagie grew even closer over the years and began to date at sixteen, marrying four years later. Wally had procrastinated until the last possible moment to ask Kuki out, the night of their graduation. Always afraid of a relationship, it wasn't until five years after that they wed.

Then there were the kids. Hoagie and Abby's youngest daughter CJ, being only a year younger than Sydney, was her best friend, and the two could never be parted. Meanwhile, their eight-year-old son Dimitri, seven-year-old daughter Annie, and Wally and Kuki's son Lee of the same age were now the new Sector V of the Kids Next Door. Lee was a bit quiet and introverted, but also the most vicious fighter out of the three when provoked. Dimitri was calm and laid back, but also extremely lazy. This was why his sister Annie, despite being a year younger, was head of the Sector. Intelligent and ambitious, it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone if she became Sector Leader in a few years.

This last part of the conversation sparked something in Nigel's mind. "Speaking of which, how's Rachel been?"

His friends went quiet once again, each giving nervous glimpses to the others.

"She became... different," Kuki said at last.

Nigel's brow furrowed. "How so?"

Kuki bit her lip anxiously. "Ever since you disappeared she became more and more... off. She just wasn't as sharp as she used to be."

"Numbuh 5 thinks she figured out that we knew were you went, but we couldn't tell her," said Abby. "And that unhinged her even more."

"After a few months," Kuki continued. "She stepped down from her post and she... she went looking for you."

The shock displayed on Nigel's face was nothing compared to what he felt within.

"She searched every corner of the Earth," Wally told him. "And after that, she went beyond. She spent a whole year searching the galaxy."

"By then she began putting it all together, so she returned to the Moon Base," Hoagie continued. "She tried recruiting a team to go outside of Milky Way, but no KND operative had ever done that before. No one was willing to take the risk."

"She was declared mentally insane by the Kids Next Door Scientists," said Kuki, finishing the story she started. "And decommissioned."

Anger suddenly began welling up inside of Nigel. "She was only eleven? Who was the idiot who made that decision?"

Abby folded her arms across her chest. "Me."

But that wasn't enough to quell Nigel's fury. "Why in the world would you do that?" he cried as he jumped to his feet. "How could you have been stupid enough to believe she had gone crazy?"

"I didn't do it because I thought she was wrong," Abby yelled. "I did it because I knew she was right!"

Nigel slowly sank back into his seat.

"I was afraid your cover might have been blown," Abby explained gently. "And I also did it for her own good. I thought it would be for the best if she forgot about you."

Nigel nodded. "So she's fine now?"

Wally coughed awkwardly. "Well, not exactly."

Nigel was taken aback. "But if her memory got wiped, then she wouldn't remember any of the reasons she went all loopy. Why would she still have problems?"

Every head turned to Hoagie. Realizing the position he was in, the tech geek cleared his throat self-importantly."

"Decommissioning is not an exact science," he explained. "While the memories themselves can be erased relatively easily, the emotions pertaining to them are not quite as simple to remove. Some particularly strong ones may still remain even after the process has been completed. My theory is that Rachel retained the anxiety and worry she had when you left, but she doesn't know why, or towards whom. And, well, you can imagine what that kind of frustration and instability can do to a person."

Nigel could hardly believe it. Smart, level-headed Rachel McKenzie had gone insane, and it was all his fault. It was because of him that Rachel was convinced to stick with being the Soopreme Leader, and this time it was because of him that she chose to abdicate her position. His duty to his former superior was clear.

Rising from his chair, Nigel looked each of his best friends in the eye and spoke in the same commanding tone he had used as their Sector Leader.

"I have to see Rachel."

Are you sure you want to do this?"

Wally had just pulled Nigel up in front of Rachel's house (while he had the ability to control any KND vehicle in existence, the workings of the average car was still a mystery to him).

Despite his friend's worries, Nigel remained firm. "I owe at least this to her."

He was just about to let himself out when Wally's hand suddenly grasped his shoulder.

"Wait, I almost forgot," he said, fishing something out of pocket. "Just a little something that ought to be returned to you."

Finally finding it, Wally held out Nigel's old sunglasses.

"We each got a turn at being the Sector Leader, and I was the last one," Wally explained. "But none of us could pull these off like you could. It just wasn't the same."

Nigel cautiously picked them up, as though the ancient accessory would disintegrate at his touch. Then, almost reverently, he placed them inside his pocket.

He tried thanking his friend, but his throat felt like sandpaper. It didn't matter, though; Wally completely understood what he meant.

After he stepped out of the car, he took in the sight of Rachel's house. But he realized with a jolt that it wasn't her house. It was his.

"Why did you..." but Wally's car was already gone.

There must have been some mistake. Rachel had lived in Washington DC when they were kids. So of all the places she could have gone, why here? And where were his parents?

Not sure of what else to do, Nigel walked up to the doorstep of his childhood home and knocked. He could hear something shuffling within the house, and then the door opened to reveal a person entirely contrary to what he was expecting to see.

He still wasn't entirely used to how time can change someone. Maybe he was crazy, but a part of him expected to see a ten-year-old girl standing before him, just as she was when he last saw her. Instead, peeping out from behind the door was a tall, terribly thin young woman, her long blonde hair stringy and unkempt, bags sitting under her hollowed eyes, and an oversized teal T-shirt covering half of her pajama bottoms.

But the lively green eyes betrayed her identity. It was Rachel McKenzie.

"C-c-can I help you?" Her voice was shaky, but otherwise it was exactly the same.

It suddenly occurred to Nigel that he hadn't come up with an excuse to come see her. He had a feeling that something like "I'm the guy you lost your mind looking for!" wasn't going to cut it.

"I'm, uh, leading an investigation concerning the former owners of this house, and I was wondering if you could answer a few questions."

The funny thing was that he wasn't really lying.

Rachel stared at him. Every sensible bone left in her body screamed for her to slam the door in his face. But there was something about this strange man- she couldn't quite put her finger on it- that made her trust him. So she opened the door wider, allowing him to come inside.

She led Nigel into the living room, which looked precisely as it did when he was a child. He ran his hand along the tree trunk protruding out of the room's corner.

"Very unique setup," he commented. "A house built around the base of a tree."

"A tr-treehouse, really," Rachel replied. "I let the neighborhood k-k-kids use it. They p-practically live there."

Nigel smiled at the memories of the many sleepovers he had with his fellow operatives there.

"What are your qu-questions?" Rachel asked.

Nigel turned around to study the woman closely. With her wringing hands, eyes darting back and forth, and stuttering words, it was no wonder people thought she was nutty. It saddened him to see his old friend reduced to living like this.

"What do you know about the people who sold this house to you?" Nigel asked, taking a seat.

"Well, it was a middle-aged woman with r-red hair, who was moving to B-B-Boston."

Mom.

"All I r-remember was that she was v-very sad."

Sad? Apart from Kuki, his mother was the most cheerful person he knew. "Why did she sell?"

"She had a husband and y-young son," Rachel continued. "But the boy disappeared and was presumed d-d-dead, and the father p-passed not long after,"

Although he retained a calm composure on the outside, Nigel was hit by unbearable pain within.

Dad...

"They say he died of a b-b-broken heart," Rachel said. "As if he c-couldn't live without his child."

Nigel had to pinch the bridge of his nose to stop the flow of tears. His friends' loneliness, his father's death, Rachel's condition... was joining the GKND worth seeing the lives of those closest to him fall apart?

Making a mental note to track down his mom as soon as he got the chance, Nigel pulled himself together just enough so he could continue the interrogation. "And why did you buy the house?"

Rachel looked around. "I'm n-not sure. There was j-just something so familiar about it. I thought that maybe I c-c-could remember... never mind."

For the first time Nigel felt a twinge of hope. If she could still recall at least some of her past, then maybe this wasn't so impossible after all.

Rachel suddenly turned back to him. "Now I have a few qu-questions for you."

Nigel snapped out of his thoughts at the request. "Okay..."

The girl stood up. "Why did you falsely claim to be an investigator so you could talk to me?"

Nigel was dumbfounded. "Well, I-"

"No excuses!" she shouted. "You didn't show me any badge. It's basic protocol of a PI to show proof of your identity before investigation."

She grabbed a lamp that happened to be sitting next to her. "If your some sort of crook, I'm warning you, I'm trained. Not really sure how, but I am. Now tell me why you're really here!"

Not a single stutter. Right here, giving him that all-too-familiar death glare, was Soopreme Leader Numbuh 362.

Nigel decided it was time for a confession. "I want to help you."

Rachel laughed. "So you're one of those psycho doctors? I'll have you know that I passed every test you people threw at-"

"No, no, no, it's not like that," Nigel said hurriedly. "But tell me, is the majority of your memories from the ages of, say, six to eleven very hazy, like it's one long blank period where you can't recall much of anything?"

Eyes wide, Rachel lowered herself back onto the couch.

"That exactly right,"she said, so shocked that she didn't even realize she was still clutching the lamp. "I c-c-can't remember anything... except f-for him."

Nigel didn't want to see Rachel relapse back to her stammering, but he pressed forward anyway.

"Who?" he asked as he leaned forward and gently pried the lamp from her hands.

"I d-don't know his name, or even what he looks like," she said. "But I d-d-do know that he was always there me, even though I wasn't there for him.

Nigel was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"I c-can't say the specifics," Rachel explained. "But I remember scoffing at his beliefs and d-dreams..."

Denying the existence of Numbuh Zero.

"G-getting in his way of helping the ones he c-cared about..."

Trying to stop him from abandoning their mission to save Lizzie.

"And not having f-f-faith in his abilities."

Taking the responsibility of stealing the Delightful Children's cake from from him and his teammates and giving it to Sector W.

Rachel stared into space sadly. "Eventually I just d-drove him away."

"No you didn't!" The words escaped from Nigel's mouth before he could stop them.

The girl peered at him curiously. "How d-d-do you know?"

Nigel shifted in his seat nervously. "Because I... used to know this kid, too."

He saw Rachel give a small start, but he kept going. "You don't seem to realize what a big impact you had on him. You taught him about the importance of being a team, and how to have a little fun instead of constantly obsessing about work. I think he was glad that you were a part of his life."

Nigel stopped to consider the words he just said. Apart from his teammates, Rachel had been his closest friend. There were some things he could talk with her about that Lizzie would never have understood: troubles on missions, problems with his parents, fights with his friends...

That was when Nigel realized why he really came here. It wasn't because of any obligation to serve his leader. It was something much, much more.

Rachel leaned across the coffee table and grasped the man's collar, pulling him forward so there was hardly any space left between them.

"Tell me his name," she begged.

She looked so desperate, so longing, that he took a deep breath and said, "Nigel Uno."

Not a hint of recognition passed in Rachel's eyes. She released him from her grip and curled herself into a human cocoon on the couch.

She wanted so badly to remember, to be able to say that she knew that name. But the only thing familiar to her was the bitter self-disappointment that's been eating her insides for decades.

"J-just leave me alone," she said, the words muffled by her knees. "L-like everyone else already h-h-has."

Wishing more than anything to help her, Nigel quickly ran through all of Hoagie's lectures on decommissioning. You can't simply eradicate five years of memories, the nerd had told him once. Sometimes the patient comes across something that could remind him or her of an event in their past. And every now and then, like a row of dominoes falling on top of one another, the memory that resurfaces is strong enough to bring forth all the others.

He suddenly became very aware of something bulging out of his pocket. As he reached in and closed his fingers around the object, an idea began to form in his mind. He didn't know if it would work, but it was worth a shot.

He brought himself up to full height. "I already made the mistake of leaving you once," he said, pushing his sunglasses over his eyes. "And I promise you that I won't make it again."

As Rachel stared at him, images raced through her head like the reel of a film. Joining the KND, Nigel, becoming Soopreme Leader, Nigel, spending months searching the entire solar system, Nigel, her last views of her beloved Moon Base before being decommissioned, and of course...

"Nigel!"

Not wanting to spend another moment away from him, Rachel leaped across the table and into Nigel's arms. She came at with such force that the glasses (which were almost too small to fit on his face now) were knocked off, but neither took notice. Her legs wrapped around his waist, needing as much of her senses as possible to believe that he was really here, and to make sure that never got away from her again.

"I'm so sorry," she said between heart wrenching sobs. "I should never have given my brother that mission. You deserved it more than he did."

Of course, that's what caused all this. Their last conversation had been an argument, incidentally occurring the same day he was recruited. All this time she had thought it was because of that that Nigel had left.

Nigel pulled her even closer to him. "You have nothing be sorry about. It was all my fault. I ignored the most important thing you ever taught me: I put work above friendship."

A pair of feet hit the ground as Rachel lifted her head to look up at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain later," Nigel said with a grin. "But there are more important matters that need to be dealt with first."

Rachel's mouth had barely opened to form another question when Nigel stopped it with his lips.

As the two kissed, Rachel's hands refrained from their wringing, her eyes now longer darted back and forth, and from then on, she never stuttered on a single word for the rest of her life spent with Nigel by her side.