Jenna politely excused herself from the rest of the group, and went inside to Katherine's room. She found the HoloDeck wired to Katherine's Laptop, as usual, which suggested that Kass really went back to Albia. Jenna flipped up the monitor, woke up the computer and UN-paused Creatures. She loved playing the hand, which completely fascinated her. She had total control over all her friends, aquantences, enemies, ect, and it felt so good! She often checked up on the grendel using grendel selector cobs, and beat him a couple of times for good measure. (She was a norn, you didn't expect her to be pro-grendel, did you?) As she made her rounds, she checked on the sick, elderly, young, and so on. At the very bottom of the norn list was Kass, so, just for fun, Jenna selected her.

Kass was down in the cellars, where we last left her, looking into her hootch cup. Kass needed a drink bad, so she tipped the cup up and gulped down the full container of liquid. As she did, she felt a hard thwack. Whizzing around, she saw the hand.

"What are you doing?" Boomed the hand, controlled by Jenna.

"Katherine? How did you find me?" Gasped a scared (And, by this time, very drunk) Kass.

"This is Jenna." The hand replied. "Now, tell me, what were you doing with that hootch?"

"I was just... <hic> having a drink!" Kass slurred together, obviously beginning to feel the effects of the hootch.

"Follow me." Jenna commanded as she made the hand float across the floor to the dock. Kass teetered behind her, barely able to walk. Jenna led her onto the mover and pushed it over to the other dock. She then attempted to get Kass in the temple elevators, but there was a male norn on the other side, and getting her past him without so much as a kiss was a big challenge. But she managed, and then led Kass into the garden. She activated the HoloDeck for Kass, and sent her to Earth. Kass sat on the HoloDeck for a while, dazed.

"Whir..." She dizzily responded. Just then, Katherine, Susan, Blip, Karr and Lydia all filed into the room.

"You never make an effort to understand my poetry!" Susan argued.

"It's way over out heads, how's that?" Blip responded.

Karr took a look around, seeing the drunken Kass sitting there. "Kass?"

"Woo!" She sort of slurred. Then she kind of tripped off the HoloDeck. "Do you like kisspoping as much as I do?"

"Oh gosh!" Katherine exclaimed, and pulled Kass away from Karr. "She's drunk! Karr, take Lydia and go into another room, I don't want her kisspoping you and regretting it later or something, and I don't want Lydia to see her mom like this."

Karr sort of blinked a bit, then grabbed Lydia and exited.

"Blip, you should follow them." Jenna suggested.

"Why?" He asked.

"Kass is drunk, therefore her sex drive is maxed out." Jenna began to rant, "Now, I am AWARE you have no ability to reproduce, but Kass is drunk and 'randy', and you should NEVER doubt what that sort of norn can do to anything. She could probobly mate with a blender successfully." Blip couldn't argue with that sort of logic. (And from the dents on his side, he knew he'd better never argue with Jenna for as long as he was still operating.) He left.

"I'd think," Susan started, "if we could restrain her until she's sober, we could get an explanation/confession out of her."

"Can you hand me the laundry basket out of the closet?" Katherine asked. Susan retrieved it, and Katherine flipped it over on to Kass, creating a sort of "cage". Then she positioned a few books and such on top, which kept her from tipping the laundry basket over.

-------

It was a little later. Kass had just woken up, and put a paw to her head. It hurt horribly. Very, very slowly, she tried to remember what happened, and why she was in an upside down laundry basket. But nothing really came back. All she could remember was playing with Lydia, then going back to Albia, being in the cellars, and then...

Oops.

Blackout. That's what must've happened, so obviously she was drinking. But that still didn't explain what she was doing here, on earth, under a laundry basket. Either she just sort of put herself under there, or someone discovered her and trapped her. Oh, gosh, if someone discovered her drinking, that would be the end of that. Karr wouldn't love her, and Lydia would be taken away...

Jenna came in the room and found Kass awake. "We caught you drinking.", she remarked.

Kass was stunned, not only at Jenna's frankness, but at the fact that she let herself be caught. She had always been so careful! What went wrong?

"What happened?" Kass asked, hoping to make sense out of the whole ordeal.

"You don't remember?" Jenna replied.

Kass hung her head. "No..."

So Jenna retold the whole tale from beginning to end. "And now," She added, "all you need to do is admit you have a problem, and we can help you."

Kass was horrified. "But I don't!" She insisted.

Jenna stared at Kass for a minute. "All right," she started, "if you can go a week without hootch, or any other kind of alcohol, then I can believe you. But if you can't, then, well, I can't believe you either."

Kass shook her head. "Deal. Now, can you help me out of this laundry basket?"

-------

Kass was sitting in the living room, on her hands. She was hoping desperately that no one would come in, and ask why she was sitting on her hands, because then there was a possibility she'd have to SHOW them her hands. They had been shaking very badly lately, and if anyone saw that they had been shaking, and still were shaking, then that would start all this, 'Kass, we think you're an alcoholic, please admit it.' Stuff again, and she was too proud to admit such a thing.

"Mommy!" A small voice called. It was Lydia. Lydia bounced through the room, arms outstretched, climbed on the couch, and gave her a big hug.

"Oh!" Kass thought. "What do I do now?" She shook her pride back, mainly because Katherine, Jenna, or Karr weren't in the room (Those three were the main people insisting on 'helping' her), got her hands out from under her hind, and hugged back.

Her hands began to tremble again.

Lydia pulled back. "Why are your hands all shaky?" she asked.

Kass winced briefly, then replied. "They just like to shake, I guess."

"Gramma says it's a'cause you're sick." Lydia answered, with all innocence.

"What did Gramma say I was sick with?" Kass just had to ask.

Lydia made a face, then tried to answer. "Al-co-hal-iz-em" She replied, stumbling over the syllables.

Kass looked at Lydia for a second. "Out of the mouth of babes..." she thought to herself. Then she shook herself and sighed, "I don't think that's what it is."

Blip and Katherine came into the room. "Katherine, is it necessary to test that here?" Blip asked.

"Yes, It is." She replied back.

"Test what?" Kass questioned, ready to change the subject.

"Absolutely nothing!" Blip sputtered, then tried to fly out of the room.

Katherine grabbed his base. "I wired his AC adapter allow him to draw more power. When he was first wired, I accidentally made it so that as his parts get older..."

"More mature!" Blip instead.

"Whatever. Anyway," Katherine continued, "they need more electricity. And since he's almost..."

"Don't say it!" Blip begged.

"What? Eight years old?" Katherine half giggled.

Blip glared (Best he could) at Katherine.

Just then, Kass got an idea. "I'll leave you two alone to test your DB or whatever thingie-majigger." She slyly responded, and excused herself.

Everyone sort of went back to what they were doing for a second.

"Wait a second..." Blip started. Kass' plan occurred to him. "Isn't today the day your mom was going to make bourbon balls?"

"Oh yeah!" Katherine giggled. "Remember the last time, when the grendel got loose and started drinking ... the... Oh my gosh!" It hit her, too. "Kass!" Katherine unplugged Blip, and they both ran into the Kitchen, only to find Kass with a bottle of bourbon in her hands...