Katherine blinked hard, trying to keep awake. Apparently Kass had gotten in a spot of trouble with the grendel, because there she was, being beaten by him. Katherine rubbed her finger over the touchpad, trying to move the hand on the screen.

"It.. it won't move!" She proclaimed. The hand had frozen. But the grendel and Kass hadn't.

"What? That can't be right." Jenna argued. Everyone watched the screen for a second. The grendel took a punch to Kass, and then giggled. Kass, oddly enough, didn't scream. Instead, she paused a second, and then smacked him. Again. And again. The Grendel screeched (Best a grendel can screech) in pain, then ran away.

Jenna looked at the screen in awe. "I don't believe it. The grendel.. running away from a norn?"

"You beat up a grendel once too." Blip reminded Jenna.

Katherine blinked heavily again, then she quit Creatures and put the computer to sleep. "And now," she announced, flipping over on her side, "I am going to bed. If anyone has a problem with this, speak up now." No one said anything, which was fine by Katherine, because in the silence, she fell asleep.

* * *

It was now around early afternoon. Katherine was working on the computer up in her room.

"All right," she whispered to herself, "Kass is selected..." She then typed "Push mover".

Back in Albia, Kass was alone in the garden. The hand swooped over her, gave her a tickle, and asked her to "push mover". Kass took a quick look around the area, and decided to push the mover that sort of looked like a black teleporter. She stepped on the platform, and pushed...

And there she appeared, on Earth. Kass took another look around. Where was she? She'd circumnavigated Albia several times, and NEVER found something resembling this. Ever. A large animal came toward her, said some words she didn't understand, and then slipped a glass tube over her.

In truth, Kass had teleported to Katherine's room, and was now being taught proper English by the attachment to the HoloDeck Katherine once used to teach Jenna and Karr.

As the attachment was running, Karr wondered into the room. He took one quick look at Kass, and then turned toward Katherine. "Who is she?" He asked.

Katherine grinned. Was her plan working? "Oh, that's a norn named Kass, I was just doing an experiment on her..."

The contraption shut off, and Katherine removed the tube. "Kass?" She asked. "Are you OK?"

Kass shook her head.. "What are you and where am I?"

"I'm the rest of the hand. My name is Katherine. I'm a human, which is a little like a Shee. This is Earth, another planet. And this is Karr, another norn."

Karr looked rather dumbfounded. "He-Hello.." He nervously stuttered, waving a bit.

Kass nodded a bit. "Hi. Nice to meet you." She held out a paw for a handshake. Karr hesitated a bit, then grabbed her paw and shook it hard. Instincts were kicking in on him that he'd never felt before.

Katherine muffled a giggle. Karr was making a total fool of himself! She got herself together, then suggested, "Karr, why not show Kass what outside looks like?"

"S-Sure.." Stuttered Karr, then rushed out the door. He, however, forgot to let go of Kass' hand, so she was pulled with him.

Just then, Blip floated in. "What was that about?" he asked. "I just saw Karr dragging that norn you were working with last night by the paws downstairs ... which was kind of hard on her..."

Katherine let out the laughter that she'd been muffling. "Karr just met Kass. I plan to breed them. Anyway, he made a total fool of himself, because either he REALLY likes her..."

"Or it's because she's the only female he's ever met besides Jenna, which is not a fortunate thing considering she's nearly a pensioner." Completed Blip.

"Exactly what I was going to say." Katherine agreed. "Really, people make total fools out of themselves when they're in love."

"So," Blip changed the topic quickly, "shouldn't we be watching?"

"Oh yeah!" remembered Katherine. "I'll get Jenna, she'll want to see this."

-------

Katherine, Blip, and Jenna quietly filed behind the chainlink fence separating the front from back yards. Karr and Kass didn't notice them as they slowly sqenced up to the barrier and peeked through.

Karr was standing beside Katherine's mom's flower bed. He took a quick look through the flowers, then picked a small, purple pansy, and held it out toward Kass.

"Would you like this?" He asked nervously.

Kass had never seen a... thing like that before. "Plant or weed?" she asked.

"Plant." Karr answered, briefly remembering that Kass probobly still thought like a traditional norn, and was brought up different from him.

Kass took the flower and ate it, in traditional norn fashion. "Fuzzy.." She said, in-between chews. Just then, the next-door neighbor's dog started barking. Norns were living creatures, and dogs feel it their duty to bark at living creatures, so he was actively doing his duty. "Neat.." Kass turned toward the dog and began to approach it. "Animal?"

Karr dashed to her side. "Wait.. those are dogs. They're kinda vicious, and Katherine said they'll hurt norns.."

"Dog?" Kass repeated.

Karr mentally thwacked himself. Kass still thought like a norn, even though she was capable of human thought. "Dog, it's a type of animal."

"Dog." Mimicked Kass. "I'm going to go get a closer look." Karr stood speechless, as Kass hopped the fence (Quite a feat for a two-foot norn), and began to pet the dog.

Finally, Karr gasped, "Kass, please, PLEASE don't.." The dog growled at Kass as she stroked him. Then he lunged forward, snapping at her.

Karr hopped the fence and smacked the dog back, all in one motion. The dog winced, and took a step back. "Kass," Karr snapped, "follow me." He then took Kass by the arm, and pulled her over the fence. "Please," he desperately pleaded, "NEVER do that again."

"I would have been fine!" Kass argued.

"I don't want to take that chance." Argued back Karr.

"Look," Kass snarled lightly, "I've been on my own all my life. I never had a mom or dad to raise me like you did, because I was told by other norns that they died. So I've always been shunned. I know how to take care of myself."

Karr got a look of discouragement on his face, then turned to go inside. But before he did, he turned and said, "I'm going inside, follow if you want." He then dragged himself inside.

On the other side of the fence, Jenna began to scale the chained links. "I can't watch this anymore." She whispered down to Katherine and Blip. Then she flipped the fence, and fell on her hiney. Picking herself up, she called to Kass, "You like him, don't you?"

Kass turned toward Jenna. "Who are you?"

Jenna walked toward Kass. "My name's Jenna, I'm Karr's mom and resident den mother." There was a slight pause, then Jenna pressed again. "Are you gonna answer me?"

"Oh!" Kass declared, and threw her hands up in confusion. "I don't know..."

"Trust me," Jenna explained, "I know that look in your eyes. Sex Drive's high. 'Don't think I don't know these things, because I can easily figure them out."

Kass winced. Jenna was right, she secretly did like Karr, ever since that little 'scene' in Katherine's room. Did she have to admit

it, though? "Maybe..." she coughed.

Jenna spun Kass around and held her by the shoulders. "Don't deny feelings. They get worse inside, until the pressure's just so great," Jenna squeezed Kass' shoulders hard. "That it'll hurt you more than you will know. But if you let it out..." Jenna let go of Kass' shoulders. "All the sudden, the pain is gone!"

"Ooh.. She has a point." Kass thought to herself. "OK," she admitted, "I.. guess I kind of found my soul mate early." Kass grinned. That did feel better. They both hopped the fence, and came face to face with Katherine and Blip. "Wait-a-minute..." Kass turned toward Blip. "What the hey are you?"

"My name's Blip. I'm kind of like the learning computer, only I'm waaay more complex." Blip explained.

"So," Kass slyly started, "what'd happen if I.. pushed you?"

"No!" Blip begged in despair. Kass chased him up to the front yard, giggling all the way.

Katherine knelt down to Jenna's level. "That was a great speech." She admitted.

Jenna poked Katherine in the stomach. "You could use the same advice. I gave it partly with you in mind." Then she slowly started to go towards Kass and Blip, so as not to strain her aging joints.

Katherine stood stunned for a second, then shook herself and joined the rest.

------------

It was late at night, again. Kass and Karr were lying on the floor, awake. Of course, one didn't know the other had awaken.

"Karr? 'You up?" Kass turned to where Karr was lying.

"Yeah." Karr whispered, so as not to wake up anyone else.

"I- I just wanted to thank you for what you did today. I realize now that was really brave of you." She whispered back.

"Oh." Karr bluntly sneered. "What changed your mind?"

Kass leaned over and gave him a kiss. "That's what changed my mind."

Karr rubbed where Kass had kissed him. Could it be? A weird, exhilarating feeling came over him. He leaned over and kissed back. Then, they both gazed into each other's eyes, and kissed... It felt like they couldn't stop. In fact, they just got in deeper, and deeper, until that faithful noise rang throughout the house..

"Kissssss-POP!"

Karr pulled back and put his paws over his mouth. What had he done? "Oh, my gosh..." He choked, "If I got you pregnant, I'm so sorry.."

Kass was visually shaken too. "No, really, it's OK... I don't think I am..." she tittered, but she wasn't so sure. A weird sensation was going on in her stomach. She rubbed it gingerly.

"Oh darn!" Karr leaned toward her. "Oh, gosh, I did get you pregnant, didn't I?! I'm sorry! I just should have asked or something." Deep down, Karr wanted to have children with Kass very badly, and he felt ready, but he didn't think Kass wanted any. She just seemed to enjoy her freedom so much, and kids might end that.

"No, it's OK. I've kind of always wanted a baby, someone who looks like me, someone to carry on my tradition.." Kass replied, rubbing her stomach more. She was kind of excited, but scared at the same time. What she said made Karr feel better, but not for long. The covers on Katherine's bed began to stir, and his mother began to raise up. There was a loud snork, and Katherine sat up, which woke up Blip, while Jenna stopped snoring, and then the whole parade looked at Kass and Karr.

"What's going on here?" Katherine asked, rubbing her head.

"I thought I heard a Kisspop." Blip remarked.

"Oh my gosh!" Jenna's eyes lit up. "Did you..." Karr nodded shyly. Jenna flew toward her son and hugged him.

"So," Kass nervously asked, "do I just step on that mover thing, go back to Albia, and we can check to see if I'm going to have a baby?"

"Oh, no!" Katherine replied. "Of course not. I'll have to run a lab test on you, because the HoloDeck reacts with fetal fluids to make deadly toxins. You'd die immediately if you were pregnant. Ever wonder why Karr was the first norn to be born on Earth?"

Blip shook himself a bit. "It seems like we used this cliffhanger before.