"Alright! Scene forty-two, take three! Ready Lassie?" The Conductor smiled at his star, ruffling her hair.

Hat Kid sniffled, nodding. "Yup..." she muttered. She was so tired today, and she felt so cold. But she had promised to help the Conductor today! Besides, it was an easy day! Just hop on a spring, hookshot her way to a platform, save a cardboard puppy. Easy!

Rubbing her nose, she took a running stance. "Ready, ACTION!" Hat Kid ran up, hopping on the spring. But she misstepped, and missed the hookshot. She fell to the ground with a hard thud. Owls gasped, and the Conductor shrieked, "LASSIE! STOP THE SHOOTING!"

He rushed towards her, picking her up off the ground. She groaned in pain, her vision swimming. "Lass? Lassie! Ye'll be alright!" he turned to his owls. "WHAT ARE YE STANDING AROUND FOR YE USELESS PECK NECKS! GET A DOCTOR!" he screeched, picking up the girl."Ye'll be alright! Ye gotta be!" he rubbed her back as he paced on the set, owls scrambling for a doctor.

The Doctor quickly appeared to quickly take care of the girl. There was a slight hiccup as Conductor wouldn't let her go, but it was settled once she started whimpering. The Bird Doctor immediately found the problem. "You called me in time. She has the flu." she explained.

"It's just a flu?" the director was shocked. After all the hatted lass had gone through, she was rendered this helpless by a fever?

"Well, Influenza can be deadly in young children if it gets worse, and I'm unsure if her immune system has ever seen this kind of disease." she started to pack up her equipment. "She should go to where ever she's staying and gets lots and lots of rest and fluids. Do you know her caretaker?"

Hat Kid coughed, about to say that she took care of herself. But the Conductor stepped forward. "I am."

The Doctor blinked in mild surprise, but it was somewhat common knowledge that the director had grandchildren. "OK...you should stop the shooting and take her home."

The owls muttered to themselves. The Conductor? Stop shooting? Impossible.

The Conductor was silent for a moment, before whirling around. "Alright! Ye heard the doc! Pack it up! We're not shooting another scene 'till the Lass is in perfect health!" he barked. The owls stared at him. "Do ye have cotton in yer ears?! I said MOVE IT!"

As the owls scattered, he turned back to the doctor, shaking her winged-hand. "Thank ye, Doctor. But I'll take it from here. I've taken care of children and grandchildren who've been sick before. I'm sure the lass will be no problem!"

She nodded. "Good luck, Conductor sir."

With the doctor gone, he turned back to Hat Kid. She was now shakily standing up, using her umbrella to lean on. "I can take care-"

"No, ye can't." he said firmly. "I'm going to take ye back to yer ship, and I'm going to take care of ye." Deep down, the Conductor secretly missed taking care of his children and grandchildren on the occasion. "And I don't want any 'buts' about it!"

Hat Kid pouted. "But I can take care of myself!"

"Eh! What did I just say? Now, how exactly do ye get to yer ship?" he grabbed her arm. "What ye need is to be in bed!"

She gave a sly grin. "If you say so..."

Hat Kid, as she was instructd to, took Conductor to her ship. However, she failed to mention the method of travel they were going to use. After he had stopped screaming, the Conductor marveled at her ship. "Nice place, lassie! Not bad!"

She coughed, weakly crawling on top of the burger cushion. But she was suddenly picked up by the Owl. "Where's yer bed, lass?"

She yelped in surprise. She never really pictured the Conductor being able to pick her up like she was a baby! "Put me down! I can walk!"

"Don't fight me, Lassie. Is this it?" he walked down a purple hallway, Hat Kid still struggling in his arms. Finding her bed, he plopped her down in the middle. "Now I don't want ye to move out of this bed! Oh uh, unless you need the restroom of course." he quickly added the last part, leaving the room.

Leaving her in her room, he went to the main room. "Now what kinda soup did me mum make-"

The room went dark as a black void formed in the center, with the sound of thunder and a flash of lightning, a pitch black shadow pulled itself out of the void. "Hey, Kid! I got some new contracts-" the shadow cut himself off, realizing he was not talking to Hat Kid, but a very spooked old bird.

Conductor stood there, wheezing fearfully. Snatcher frowned. "Hey, old timer. This ain't your ship. Where's the kid?"

Finding his voice, he managed to reply, "S-She's sick. Ye'll have to come back-"

"Sick?" his voice was filled with concern. "Is she in pain, is she dying; oh no, the poor thing!" the smile crept back onto his face, and the concern was placed with a sick sense of enjoyment. "Now this I gotta see."

Snatcher zipped down the purple hallways, with Conductor hot on his trail, squawking about 'leaving the lass be'.

The ghost peered into her room, finding her in bed. "Aww, hey kiddo! Heard you were sick!"

Hat Kid sat up. "Snatcher? What are you doing here?" she started coughing, and he grimaced.

"Jeez kid, don't cough out a lung." hovering closer, he pat her head. "Well I had to check on my BFF of course!" his tone was sickeningly sweet. "I was going to offer you a new contract-"

Conductor, who had been standing nearby, suddenly found his voice. "Ye were going to GET OUT!" the owl put himself between the girl and Snatcher. "The Lass is sick, she needs her rest, she doesn't need YE mucking about on her ship! Ye'd only make things worse, YE SPOOK!"

Snatcher sputtered, deeply offended. "Hey! I can take care of a child! I'm not a moron!" he angrily pointed at the bird. "I could take care of her better than you, old timer!"

Hat Kid sniffled. "Please don't fight. Can't you, both watch over me?" Oh how she'd come to regret that offer.

Snatcher and Conductor looked at her, then at each other. "Fine!"

The owl furiously muttered to himself as he looked through the Hat Lass' cupboards. The spook was gone - for now - and it was just him and the lass. Like he intended. She needed fluids, and soup was a staple for sick children.

Although he couldn't find any normal ingredients, but he was sure he could find something! He wasn't about to let the lass down!

Snatcher returned soon after, with a pile of books and strange, glowing mushrooms. Floating to her room, he grinned at her. "Hey Kiddo! Brought you gifts!" placing the fungi on the desk, dressers and bedposts. "These glow, so we can turn off these lights." using his talons, he roughly pinched her cheeks. "We wouldn't want to hurt your eyes!"

She yelped, pulling away and rubbing her cheek. "And I brought you books to read. Kids like that, right?" dumping an assortment of heavy books on her bed.

Picking one up, she read the cover aloud. "Law 101, Gold Edition." she gave him a disappointed look. "Thanks...Snatcher."

"Of course! Uh, not this one, that one's mine." he pulled a book out of the pile, and she glanced at the title. Something about 'Killing Kids 102". Wonderful. "It's nothing kid! Anything for my...'friend'." Vanishing into the floor, he appeared on the edge of her pillow pile. "I'm going to set up shop here, kiddo. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ignore that old timer and ask me!"

She nodded slowly, picking up the most interesting book in the pile. "Astronomy for Dummies!".

Back in the Kitchen, Conductor was standing on a pile of pots and pans. Cursing his short stature, he tasted the soup. He frowned, climbing down off his makeshift step stool and looked in the pantry. "I can't believe she doesn't have any!" he said angrily to himself. Rummaging through his coat pockets, he pulled out a small bag used for snacks. "Luckily, I have some on me."

Returning to the soup, he began to sprinkle in whatever was in the bag. Sampling it again, and finding it to his liking, the Conductor turned off the heat and ladled it into a bowl. "Lassie! Soup's on!" he announced, carefully entering her room. "I made ye some noodle soup. Ye really need to go shopping."

Hat Kid looked at the soup, taking a sip. Her face lit up. "This is good!" the Conductor shot Snatcher a smug grin. The ghost glared, sinking lower and pushing the book higher over his face. She continued slurping her soup, but paused. "What's these little brown things?"

"Oh! Those are mealworms!" he said proudly. "Ye didn't have any, but they were in some trail mix I had-"

She gagged, stumbling out of bed to the trash can by her desk and vomiting into it. The Owl frowned, unsure of what went wrong. His mom always made him mealworm soup when he was sick! And his kids had it, and his grand kids! He stuttered as she crawled back into bed, hearing Snatcher snicker behind him; "Strike one, gramps."

"What do ye mean?!" the owl hissed, turning to the ghost.

"Strike. One. It means that if 'caring for children' was a contest, I'm winning." he gestured to the books and mushrooms. "I got her entertainment and lighting. You made her barf."

"When's the last time ye were sick?" Conductor asked. Snatcher seemed like he was about to answer, but couldn't. He glanced away. "Ah thought so ye spook. The Lass doesn't need books and 'mood lighting'. She needs rest, comfort and fluids! Ye've done peck all!"

Slamming the book shut, Snatcher hovered dangerously close to the owl, causing him to stumble and fall on the ground. "I'll show you 'Peck all'!" Hat Kid, who had just settled back into bed after emptying the contents in her stomach, was rudely yanked out of her soft blankets.

She whimpered as Snatcher held her. He readjusted the pillows, grabbed a blanket from her bed, and when it was done he roughly tossed her in the new pile of pillows. "See? I know comfort bird brain!"

Hat Kid whined, sinking into her pile of pillows. "Help!" she weakly flailed her arms out as she sank deeper.

Conductor started howling with laughter as the ghost tried to dig her out, but kept losing her in the pillows. "What did ye say earlier? Strike one? Now we're even!"

The shadowy figure glared at him. Placing Hat Kid back in bed, she groaned and buried herself deep within the comforts of her blankets as they started to argue again. This was going to be awful.

"My dearest of diaries. I fear I will not last another second in this ship." Hat Kid was hiding in her diary room, deep within the pillows. She was writing in her diary, wanting to tell someone - anyone! - about how awful she was feeling. "Snatcher has been no help, his understanding of 'care' isn't the best. He read to me about how to properly dispose of a body then tried to get me to nap."

Outside the pillow fort, she could hear them argue. "YOU LOST THE KID?!"

"WELL WEREN'T YE WATCHING HER, YE PECK NECK?! YER IN THE SAME ROOM!"

She shuddered, stifling a cough that would give her away. She was so tired, and cold, and hungry. "I don't trust anything the Conductor cooks anymore. You'd think I would've learnt after the meal worms, but no. He offered me another soup, promising there weren't any worms. It had bird seed in it."

"Lassie! C'mon out Lassie! This isn't time for games!"

"She couldn't have gotten far."

"The worst part is their stupid 'Strikes' and the arguing. Is this a contest for them?!" at last count, Snatcher had ten strikes, and the Conductor had twelve. Snatcher was a lot more petty in his dishing out of strikes, but Conductor often gave multiple strikes for one offense. Like when the ghost accidentally scratched her cheek, the owl flew into a rage she hadn't seen for quite some time.

"Escape is impossible. I am a captive in my own ship. It is time I turn...to the darker arts. Signing out." Hat Kid gasped as she saw the pillows above her being lifted. Hiding the diary, she laid down and pretended to be asleep. She felt large, ghostly hands pick her up.

"I found her! I can't believe you lost her! That's a strike-" before Snatcher could finish his gloating remark, she reached up and grabbed a lock of the fluff? Fur? Hair? around his neck and yanked down as hard as she could. He yelped in pain, glaring at her. "What was that for, brat?!"

He plopped her down on her bed, and she immediately curled up. "Go away. I want to sleep." she growled.

Snatcher frowned, smoothing the section of fluff she had pulled at. "Fine. I'll leave you alone. Jeez you're still strong-"

In the main hub room, Conductor peeked his head out of the kitchen. "Ye found her?"

"Yeah...she's being a brat." he hissed.

"She's probably just hungry. The poor lass hasn't liked any of the soups! She needs more fluids." He frowned. He wasn't a poor cook by any standards, but he wasn't the best. And his strange additions to overall normal soups did leave much to be desired.

"Good luck old timer! She's being a jerk." he laughed, 'sitting' on the burger cushion and reading his book. "Out of curiosity, what's in that soup?"

Conductor looked down at the bowl. "Oh, the usual. Carrots, peas, noodles, some chicken-" he gingerly pulled out an entire chicken foot from the bowl. "Normal things."

Snatcher's eye twitched. "Oh...OK? Have fun with that." he returned to his book as Conductor entered Hat Kid's room, humming to himself.

Hat Kid grumbled, hiding her face in her blankets. She was just starting to fall asleep too. "Hello Lassie!"

"No." she groaned from under the sheets.

"Now I know yer tired, but ye haven't eaten yet. And that's no good. C'mon now." he started to pull back the blankets.

"No!" she said, firmer this time. "Not hungry. Go away." she was very hungry, actually. But she wasn't hungry for whatever he was offering. Knowing the Conductor it'd have something weird in it.

"OK now yer just being stubborn. Ye need yer fluids-"

She sat up, pointing at the door. "Get. Out. Or else."

His fists balled up in anger. "Lassie! Now listen-" she reached up and plucked a feather off of his cheek. He winced, rubbing the area where she pulled it. "Ow?! What was that for?!"

"Get. Out!" she flopped back down in her bed, pulling the blankets over her head.

The Conductor muttered darkly to himself, setting the bowl on the desk and stomping out of the room. She felt kinda bad, but they weren't listening to her! Every time she'd say something they'd brush over it. She needed help.

Cooking Cat!

She would know what to do. But the phone was all the way in the Machine Room, and her two 'caretakers' were in the kitchen and hub room. She slowly stumbled out of her bed. Hat Kid knew she could do it, she had snuck through Dead Bird Studios, twice.

Wrapping a blanket around her like a shawl, she put on her Time Stop Hat.

She hugged the hallway wall as she shuffled to the door. As soon as it opened due to her presence, she slowed down time. She dashed as far as she could, which had her reach the steering wheel. Time came to it's normal speed, and she saw Snatcher look up at the open door. Staring at it for a moment, he eventually hummed to himself, and returned to his book.

Hat Kid smiled. So far, so good. She just had to sneak behind the ghost, and get to the door. Tiptoeing behind the ghost, she slowly, ever so slowly crawled to the door. However, she forgot they were motion activated. It opened as she was about to sneak in the door, making a loud noise.

Snatcher looked up from his book, looking surprised. But it quickly shifted to anger. "Kid?! How did you get there?!"

She squeaked, darting inside. She could hear Snatcher yell angrily to the Conductor, who angrily roared back. She had to hide! Ducking behind a couple boxes, she heard the door open. "How in PECK did she get out of her room?!"

"I'm convinced the kid is a Half-Demon, at least. But she can't have gone far!" She could hear the two leave the room. She crawled as fast as she could to the phone, dialing the emergency number Cooking Cat gave her.

A sleepy voice answered the phone. "Hello? Do you know what time it is?"

"Cookie! You gotta help me!" she whispered as loud as she could.

"Is this the little girl with the hat? What's wrong dear?"

"SoIgotsickandsomefriendscameovertohelpmebutthey'renothelping PLEASE COME UP HERE!" she wailed.

"Lassie?! Oooh, yer in BIG TROUBLE MISSY!" Hat Kid could hear the Conductor stomp down a hallway.

"Please hurry! And bring soup!" she quickly hung up the phone, much to the dismay of a confused Cooking Cat.

Hiding behind some boxes, she watched as the Conductor entered the Machine room again. She could swear she saw his ears twitching. "I know yer in here, Lassie." he hissed, voice low.

She gulped, sinking back down. She hadn't thought this far. Hat Kid had an angry Conductor in this room, and Snatcher who knows where. She could try to dart to the Science Room, although that'd be difficult. What if she-

"FOUND YE LASSIE!" she felt herself being lifted in the air by a very irate bird. She squealed, weakly kicking and squirming. "I'm VERY DISAPPOINTED in ye, Lass!" he growled, dragging her back to her room. "Oi! Spook! I found her!"

Snatcher appeared, sticking his head out of a wall. It was only natural that he'd be able to phase through walls, the Science Room probably wouldn't have stopped him. "There she is! You little brat! Giving me and bird brains over here a heart attack!"

She pouted as Conductor placed her on the bed. "I feel like I'm trapped in here!"

Snatcher pushed the owl out of the way, getting in her face. "I. Don't. Care! You don't make the calls, kid. You are sick, and if you do not get better you will die."

His mind flashed to a cold, dark dungeon. The ghost shook his head to rid himself of the memory.

Conductor shoved past him. "Lassie what ye did was irrrresponsible and dangerrrous!" Uh oh, he was rolling his 'R's. Not a good sign.

But Hat Kid continued to pout, turning away from them. "You two are terrible caretakers!"

The Conductor gasped, deeply offended. Snatcher shook with silent rage. The room went dark as shadows took over the lights. "Then die for all I care."

The ghost grabbed the angry bird and dashed out of the room, leaving Hat Kid in total darkness.

"Never fear! Cooking Cat is- AUGH!" Cooking Cat almost dropped the pot of soup. She wasn't sure what to expect after the phone call, but an angry ghost on a burger cushion? Not one of her expectations.

Snatcher looked up from his book, glaring at the cat. "Who are you?"

Regaining her composure, she smiled. "I'm Cooking Cat! I was called by the little girl?"

His expression darkened. "Oh. So she called a cat. Wonderful."he hissed, returning to her book. She could hear loud rattling and swearing from the kitchen. Loud, slurred swearing in a thick accent. "The brat is in her room." the ghost said, gesturing to the doorway.

Cooking Cat nervously nodded, slinking towards her room. The lights were off, and she could hear...sniffling? "Sweetie?" she turned on the lights. "It's me! Are you OK? Is that ghost bothering you?"

Hat Kid's head poked out of the pile of pillows. Her cheeks were stained with tears, with fresh ones welling in her eyes and snot leaking from her nose. Her sniffles became louder as she started to cry, wading through the pile of pillows. Cooking Cat set the pot of soup down and hugged the poor girl.

"Sweetie! You're freezing!" the cat was very concerned now. "Tell me everything that happened."

Through tears, she told the cat how Conductor and Snatcher tried to care for her, but did a poor job and got much too wrapped up in their idiotic point system to do a good job. "A-And then Snatcher yelled at me, and I tried to take a nap, but my lungs hurt and it hurts to breathe!"

"Hurts to breathe? Honey that's not the flu, that's Pneumonia! You need to lay down! I brought that soup like you wanted-"

"Does it have meal worms? Or seeds?" Hat Kid sniffled, laying in her bed and shivering.

"What?! No! It's chicken noodle!" she said. "Who gave you meal worms?"

"The Conductor."

Cooking Cat opened her mouth to say something, but paused. She picked up the bright green mushroom off the bed. It sprayed a large amount of spores in the cat's face. Coughing, she asked "Who brought you mushrooms?! These aren't going to help at all! These are going to make you worse!"

"Snatcher did." she replied, in between bites of soup. The little alien girl was slurping down soup like her life depended on it.

Cooking Cat was seeing red. Grabbing all the mushroom she could, she started to storm out of the room. "Stay here, dear."

The Cat burst into the living room like a tornado, throwing the mushrooms at the ghost. "Ow! Hey! What did I do to you!?" Snatcher hissed.

"You have no idea what you've done, do you?!" the cat shrieked. She was out of mushrooms as ammo, but she still was very, very angry.

"No?! What did I do?!"

"You made her worse! These stupid mushrooms turned the flu into PNEUMONIA YOU IDIOTIC NOODLE!"

Snatcher stuttered, the angry glare shifting into a surprised and concerned frown. "W-What? Pneumonia? How?!"

"These spores you dummy! Your mushrooms got into her lungs!" she ranted in an exasperated tone.

The kitchen doors burst open. "HEY! WHADDYA THINK YER DOING?!" The Conductor leapt down to the bottom floor, and marched over to the cat. "Who do ye think ye are to storm in here and-"

"Who do you think YOU are?! What kind of sick things did you try to feed her?!" she jabbed a finger at his chest. The Owl flinched, but quickly regained his composure. "What kind of freaky soup did you give her?! Meal worms?!"

"Those are classic staples for owls-" he tried to defend himself, but it only seemed to make it worse.

"SHE'S NOT AN OWL!" Cooking Cat shouted. The Conductor's 'ears' drooped and he took several steps back.

"B-But...I didn't.." he stuttered, lowering his head.

"It doesn't matter what you intended. It's what you've done. And you two made her worse!" she scolded, tapping her foot.

The two were quiet, before Snatcher quietly muttered, "Oh god, I told her to die."

Cooking Cat glared at the two of them. "Get out. Both of you."

Thanks to the proper care Cooking Cat gave her, Hat Kid's health improved drastically. She wasn't as cold anymore, and her cough was going away. Colors returned to her cheeks, and she was feeling much better.

"Cooking cat?"

"Just call me Cookie, dear." the cat purred, patting the girl's head.

"Um, Cookie? I feel kinda bad for being so angry at Snatcher and Conductor."

"I don't!" she sang, cheerfully. Those two deserved it in her book.

"They were trying their best!"

Cookie scoffed. "Trying their best to kill you!"

"Cookie!" Hat Kid whined. "Can we go see them at least? I'm feeling much better!"

Sighing, the cat sat on her bed. "...how are you feeling?"

"Much better! Honest!" Hat Kid leapt out of bed, hopping around. "See? See I'm better!" She sniffled a little, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

Cooking Cat knew that the little alien wasn't going to let up. "Fine. We're seeing Conductor first. I know he doesn't have deadly mushrooms in his studio. I hope." Hat Kid squealed with joy, pushing the cat out of her room so she could change into her dress and cape.

She adjusted her top hat. She really missed it. Sprinting out of her room, she was met by Cooking Cat. "Before we leave, take your medicine."

Popping the pill into her mouth, Hat Kid opened the hatch. "Ready?" extending her hand to the cat and opening her umbrella. The Cat smiled, taking the girl's hand.

Floating down the Dead Bird's Studios, several owls and penguins outside took notice and pointed. The owls seemed much more anxious, quickly heading inside. Hat Kid skipped inside, Cooking Cat close behind. Reaching the counter, the girl rang the tiny bell. "I'm here to see Conductor?"

"Ah! Yes, his little star. He's been talking about you. He's on set, go on in." the receptionist waved his hand towards the door. The owls were wandering the set, and the recording light wasn't on, so the two walked right in. Several owls asked how she was, and if she was feeling better.

"Lass? What are ye doin here?" The Conductor swiftly appeared on set, flanked by several owls. Seeing Cooking Cat behind his lass, he took a step back. "Aren't ye sick?"

"I wanted to see you!" she bounded towards the owl, tackling him in a hug. Cooking Cat stood nearby, and she couldn't help but smile.

"See me? Why?" he hesitantly returned the gesture, unable to deny the small child the comfort of a hug. Curse his grandfatherly instincts.

"Because I missed you! And I'm sorry for being a brat." Cooking Cat's smile faded. She didn't really think she had to apologize for that.

It was clear the Conductor thought the same way. "Lass, ye weren't being a brat. I wasn't listenin' to ye. I was doing what I thought was best for ye...if ye were an owl." he grumbled, angry at himself. He glanced, or what looked like a glance, at Cooking cat. "And...and...I'm...sorry."

The owls gasped, they had never expected to hear their boss apologize. He turned and snapped at them. "What are ye, fish?! Quit yer gasping and get back on set ye low lifes!"

Cooking Cat stepped forward. "That was mighty big of you, Conductor. I'm sorry too. And, I don't think we properly met. I'm Cooking Cat."

He hesitantly shook her hand. Cats were no good in his eyes. They were shifty and always looked after themselves, and a particularly nasty one had taken his granddad to the grave. But this one liked the lass, so he supposed not all cats were like that. "Ay. Thank ye for taking care of the lass."

Hat Kid knew convincing Cooking Cat and Snatcher to make nice would be difficult. He was a soon-de-ray. And she knew that it'd be hard to get into his squishy inside full of the love and feelings he said he didn't have.

But he did and she knew it.

She led Cooking cat to the tree Snatcher called his home. The Subconites muttered and whispered as she passed. "Hey Newbie! The boss was really worried about you! He thought he killed you!"

"Really? He cared?" she asked one.

"Totally! Although he's too proud to admit it."

Hat Kid 'awwed' and Cooking Cat seemed surprised. She didn't take the giant, shadowy ghost to care about anything. Asides from himself anyways.

Hopping inside the tree, she found Snatcher reading a book titled 'So You Accidentally Murdered Someone'. He jumped at seeing Hat Kid. "K-Kiddo! You're OK!" he nervously grinned, tossing the book behind him. "Good to see you in my forest again! I thought you kicked the bucket!"

She jumped onto the arm of his chair. Cooking Cat watched intently, it seems that the Ghost hadn't noticed her yet. "Aww, were you worried about me?" Hat Kid asked, eyes sparkling.

He scoffed. "No! I was upset you didn't die by my talons!" he tried to be threatening, raising his claws above her head. Cooking Cat was about to jump in, but Hat Kid was unphased. She hugged him tight.

"I missed you! And I'm sorry I was such a brat." she pet his chest fur as she apologized. The ghostly figure hesitated, then slowly pat her back.

"Y-You're fine, kid." he finally noticed the cat lurking in the background. Glancing between the kid, and the cat, then back to the kid. He pushed Hat Kid off him. "What have I told you about hugs?!" he snarled, crossing his arms.

Cooking Cat giggled. Someone was self conscious about his image. "I'm here to apologize as well. I might have been a bit too harsh."

Snatcher did not shake her hand. He huffed, picking a book from his bookshelf. "Fine. Whatever. Both of you get out of my forest before you breathe in mushroom spores and die, or something." he dismissively waved his hand.

"Well, you need to get back to bed missy. Say goodbye to your friend." Cookie purred. Hat Kid nodded, giving Snatcher a kiss on the cheek before hopping down

Snatcher grumbled, rubbing his cheek. "Don't get me sick!"

"Bye Snatcher!" Hat Kid cheered as they started to leave.

He couldn't help but smile softly. "...bye kiddo."

Back on the ship, Cookie Cat tucked her into bed. "Get some rest, sweetie." the cat purred, kissing her forehead. Turning off the lights, she left the room.

Hat Kid smiled as she drifted off into sleep, dreaming about worms, mushrooms and cats.

xxxxxxxxxx

This was going to be a short story. And then it wasn't. WHOOPS