Author's Note: This fic is dedicated to xSCx GHOST, who wrote the part of Baird (this is adapted from a MSN RP), and without whom I wouldn't even be into Gears in the first place!

We actually started off RPing normal-age Jenny and Baird (early 30's) at first, but one day after many, many plots we went... what if they met when they were younger? Say, he was 16 and she 18? I liked the resulting plot so much I decided to sit down and add, prune and adapt it into a proper story—the one that follows.

The young woman sighed, shuffling papers as she waited at the front desk. This was not how she'd planned on spending her day off—waiting for some 'genius' brat and his ex-thrashball player escort to show up to give them the tour of the facility—but Abel (the director of the research facility, and an actual genius) had suddenly and violently become ill that morning, and was still worshipping the porcelain goddess at that very moment. Poor thing. So she'd have to do the government butt-kissing for him. She was anxious to just get this over with. She heard the security-buzzer, and held down the button to speak. "Yes?"

The voice that responded was impatient, snotty, and unexpectedly high-pitched. "Uh, we're here for the frigging tour."

On the other side of the door, Cole shook his head and picked Baird up by the scruff of his neck, something he was easily able to do given their size difference. He was six years older than his young friend, and built like a train—hence his namesake—from years on the thrashball field. He looked his friend dead in the eyes. "Be polite to the lady now, you hear?"

"Why should I be nice to some bitch like her?" Baird frowned, cringing as he dangled in the air. "Oww... stop it."

"And you wonder why you can't get laid." Cole sighed. "Man, just don't embarrass me in front of her, even if you don't care."

"Shut up, Cole." Baird raised his hands in the air. "You don't embarrass me, then."

"Heh, you do a fine enough job of that on your own." Cole let his friend sway for another half-minute, amused, and then set him back down on the ground again.

The young woman pressed a button, and the doors slid open. She quirked an eyebrow up, Islander accent punctuating emphatically-"I could hear you, you know." Her cropped-short hair and high cheekbones as well as her sharp features made her seem imposing, even if she was wearing soda-bottle-thick glasses.

Baird had been about to protest what Cole said when the door slid open. He walked in, all cocky, glaring at her and trying to draw himself up and look impressive when he stopped in front of the desk. "Yeah, so?"

The young woman stood up, adjusting her skirt and dress shirt with a crisp snap. "You are Augustus Cole and Damon Baird, yes? Jennifer Valtair, pleased to make your acquaintances. Abel is very sick and cannot be with you today." She brushed off Baird's brusqueness immediately, and smiled down at him in amusement. Next, she flicked her eyes over to Cole. "Your friend is like a Pesang sleeve dog. Fiercer than his size."

"He'd probably bite your ankles, too." Cole guffawed.

Baird frowned some, but didn't respond to that jibe. "Hey, girl... the sooner you give us this damn tour, the sooner we'll be on our way doing more important things. You know, like saving your worthless asses."

"The things we make here make sure you can continue to fight, little boy." She got up from her seat, and began to walk down the hallway. Baird frowned some more, silently mocking her when she turned her back. He followed her, glancing at Cole. Noticing the look on his face, Baird just sighed. He would shut up... for now.

"To the left is my lab, I am currently working on improving the protein gain of myco." There were stacks and stacks of petri dishes, along with high-powered microscopes and other lab equipment. Some of the dishes were glowing. "You probably don't find that terribly interesting, but it is useful. Should the war go on for years to come, lab-grown protein will prove a vital supplement to stretch out meat supplies. To the right is ammo manufacturing, can always use more of that these days…"

They go through several other rooms with various research, some medical, some technological. Improvements to the Jack-of-All-Trades line of robots, more commonly called JACKs, fake muscles, bionic brains, improved computers, a Hammer targeting core, as well as the original model. "This was the very first prototype Abel, Dr. Mauris Ivo, and the late UIR Minister of Science made. As you can see, it was much bulkier, harder to aim. We have since streamlined it for field use and tightened the targeting algorithms."

Baird stared at it intently, making that certain 'I love you machine' expression. "Oooo..." He tilts his head a little. "Hmmm."

"Want to touch it?"

Baird breathed inwardly, smiling. "Yeah..."

Cole chuckled. "Don't tell him that… we gonna be here all day while he picks it apart."

"Too bad. The glass is there for a reason." She smirked and kept moving to the next room.

Baird pressed his hands and face against the glass, and stared at it with longing. "Awww."

"Come, little puppy. We have much to see."

Baird slowly walked away to follow them, muttering, "Don't call me that..."

"You are small, cute, and you yap a lot. It is appropriate, no?"

Cole tried hard to stifle his chuckles, but to no avail.

Baird growled, looking away with an angry frown.

Jenny lead them on to the next room. "Abel's working on hard-light holograms—holograms that can touch and be touched. There are a variety of uses for them, such as basic nurse duties, moving supplies, etc." She presses a button and a hologram dressed in cleanly pressed scrubs appeared from a pedestal in the center of the room.

Cole gave the hologram a once-over as he walked around it, the nurse raising an eyebrow quizzically as she kept silent watch. "Whoa..."

Baird, however, was seemingly unimpressed. "Yeah... that's great."

Jenny nodded. "Very." She put her fingers to her lips, making a loud whistle as she walked onto the factory floor. She then pointed out the various machines that were being put together as they whizzed by. The technicians welding things together stared as they walked by. "As you recall, we did research into synthetic muscles, positronic brains, bio-integration with computers… and this is the end result." She was tackled by a giant, fluffy black dog, circuits under a thin, clear skin showing in his neck. "We have not completed his fur coat, but he is almost—" She interrupted herself to laugh, being licked. "Midnight, you silly pup."

Baird stared back at the scientists, suddenly feeling wary of them as he moved on. "Cole?" He whispered to his friend. "Uhh... N-nevermind." He blinked and looked down at the robot dog. "Holy shit."

Apparently Baird had forgotten that many of these technicians used to be Indies until recently, of course they'd stare. Well, that and the two of them had to look an odd pair. Cole chuckled as his friend stared at Midnight. "Maybe if you ask real nice, she'll let you play with her dog, Damon."

Jenny took her glasses off and put them in her pocket, hair skewed to one side from rolling around with the dog. She gave him a pet and stood up, him giving a tinny woof at Baird.

Baird stared back down at Midnight. "Uhh..." Midnight shoved his head in Baird's crotch, sniffing it, lifting him up a little as he did so because he was such a huge dog. Now that he understood the human, he sidled up for pettings with a low, metallic woof.

Jenny chuckled. "It's the dog brain."

Baird backed away. "Hey! Keep that thing away from me before I use it for parts."

"He don't get touched down there often." Cole smirked, but he still planted himself between Baird and the dog to prevent any further incident.

Jenny raised an eyebrow. "Or deal with pets that often, apparently."

Cole got awkwardly nosed as well, but he shook it off and petted the dog. "Unless you'd told me, I wouldn't have ever guessed he was an android dog."

"That's fucked up!" Baird interjected. "What else are you people doing here? Some fucked up science experiment you really shouldn't be doing?"

"Nope, that's about it." Jenny reached over to pet the dog as well. His tail thumped between her leg and Cole's as he wagged it. "It's not like we killed a healthy dog, he had terminal cancer, and this... it saved his life."

"You're turnin' red, man," Cole chuckled under his breath to his friend.

"No, I'm not." Baird frowned... and then slowly felt his cheeks. "Fff. Shut up."

Jenny seemed oblivious to this, and took a squishy red ball from her pocket, throwing it for the dog. She ran after him, playing a little ways away with a soft smile on her face. "Good boy!" She called, rubbing his belly when he returned to her with the ball.

"You got the hots for the lady scientist, don'tcha."

Baird shot his friend a glare for that comment. "No! Hell no! Her? Ffffffff!" He laughed.

"I seen the way you stare at her ass as she walks, man." He guffawed. "You're protestin' too much."

"Noooo..."

"Then why do you look like a tomato?" He laughed harder. "Man, even your ears are red."

"Shut up!"

"Uh-uh, this is too good to miss." Cole pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "My little buddy's growing up."

Baird sighed. "I swear, man..."

"You swear what?"

"I'll... uh..." Baird's frown deepened. "Fuck off, man. God dammit."

Cole grinned. "Aw, c'mon man, I think it's cute."

"Stupid."

"Admittedly." Cole raised an eyebrow. "Ain't no way she'd go for a lil' shrimp like you." It sounded like a dare.

"What?"

"You heard me. She can't be more than two years older than you, but she is significantly more grown up."

Baird sighed again. "I don't give a shit."

"Heh, you always say that, even when it's something you really do care about."

"No I don't..." Baird's eyebrows and lips were bent down into as much of a frown as they could go.

"Do too." Cole smirked. "Puffed out your chest and everything when you walked up to her, like—" He walked around for a bit, crossing his arms and jutting his chest forward and head to one side in a parody of Baird's cocky strut.

"I do that all the time."

"Not quite like that." Cole chuckled. He started smirking but didn't warn his friend, as he noticed Jenny sidling right up behind him, head next to his.

"You called?" She said in his ear.

Baird narrowed his eyebrows for a moment at Cole, giving him a questioning look. "Ahh! Motherfucker!" He quickly jumped back, arms flailing for purchase. "Fucking assholes."

Cole laughed, bending over and slapping his thigh. "Whoo, you got him good."

Jenny laughed. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist."

Baird muttered to himself and shook his head. "I hate you..."

"Why ever would you say that?" She tilted her head and adjusted her glasses, looking amused. "Now, would you like to go back and take apart the Hammer? I have to supervise you, of course."

Baird shifted around on his feet impatiently. "Are you done, then?"

"Yes." Jenny rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. It felt odd for her to be around people her age, to say the least.

Baird gazed at her carefully, frowning somewhat. "Okay."

Jenny and Midnight trotted ahead of them back to the Hammer room. She opened the door and deactivated the security mechanism around the control core and Hammer trigger. "There you are."

Baird picked it up and examined it for a few minutes before carefully putting it back down on the table to dismantle it. He then checked out every piece of the weapon. "Hmm..." He glances back at the two of them as if to make sure it was really okay, smiles a little, and then resumes work piecing it back together.

"Now… how old is he again?" Jenny asked, looking sidelong at Cole.

"Sixteen." Cole replied.

"I'm not going to say how old I was thinking. That would be best."

Baird whipped his head around, sensing he was being talked about. "Why...? How old did you think I was?"

"Fourteen, tops." She shrugged.

Baird let out a long, heavy sigh. "And why's that?"

"How small you are, and your voice, it is…" She put a finger on her lips. "Not very deep, and sort of… scratchy, yes."

"Oh, shut the fuck up." His lip curled as he pulled his goggles over his eyes.

"It's not my fault nature was unkind to you. It's a shame."

Cole squirmed to hold in a laugh. He was not gonna laugh… not gonna… more at the goggles than anything else. Baird did that when he was sulking.

"Ffff... Stupid bitch."

Jenny grinned. "Whaaaat, you can't take it, stupid boy?"

Baird put his hands on his waist. "Screw you."

Jenny smirked, catlike, eyes narrowed. "Only in your dreams, little one."

"Fff..." He smirked back. "I wouldn't touch you with a 33 foot pole, ugly whale."

"Yep, Baird. Women are just lining up to beg for you." Cole was suddenly dying laughing. He had remembered a conversation the two of them had a few weeks back on patrol, which had started with Cole and another Gear talking about their first time, and ended with the kid interrupting to talk about his sexual prowess, and how since he was a genius, women were just lining up to beg for him. Right.

Jenny's brow furrowed for a second, but then she burst out laughing as well at what Cole said.

"Shut up!" Baird grit his teeth, kicking the chair over with a clatter, and stormed off toward the entrance. "I'll wait outside, assholes."