-1Author's Note: It would seem that it has been a great while since I've written anything. More than two years, in fact, I believe. Well, that needs to be fixed. Off the bat, I warn you - highly tempermental author on your hands. I can take bad reviews, what I cannot take are blathering ninny hammers who've nothing better to do than write bad reviews for fanfics to a show they do not like in the first place, or to a story that has a coupling they don't like. It's a cartoon. Get over it. Not a one shot (for clarification to those people who keep sending me "I hope you write another story continuing this soon" after every chapter)

It was probably the least likely turn of events. If you had asked Hoagie Gilligan at eleven who he thought would ever end up betraying the Kids Next Door, his first, and only, answer would be "no one". Even after Chad left. Even with the horror stories he heard about the kids who refused to undergo decommissioning, and turned evil.

He himself had escaped the decommissioning, but by playing by the rules. He was inducted into the Teens Next Door, the teenage branch of the Kids Next Door. Their numbers were slim, but they were the best there was. They had served their terms in the KND in such a way that they just could not be let go of, not even on their thirteenth birthday.

She had been scheduled to become one of them. Sorta ruined it, though, didn't you? he thought bitterly, jerking his wrench away from the part of the engine he was tightening. To say he felt embittered was to make a mountain into a molehill. Why am I even thinking about this now? he thought, briefly glancing over the rest of the engine block to ensure that nothing else was wrong with the C.O.O.L.-B.U.S.

Because you ran into her today, the more logical side of his brain answered. Even now, a year later, Hoagie was not over the shock. Or the hurt. He had known…well, he had known even then that there was no hope for him to be with her. That she would never think about him in the way that he constantly thought about her. But he had not expected her to turncoat. No one had.

So unlike you, Fanny… He noted, for once his mind not immediately associating her name with a snake. She had always been so strong. Full of anger, especially towards the male gender, yes, but never weak. Until that one day. Hoagie's mind played it back to him, more vivid then he ever wished to remember.

"I can do it myself, you stupid boy," she'd snarled at him as he tried to help her dress her wound. Her ankle had been broken in the most recent assault against father. "Second wound in two weeks' time.."

Hoagie had studied her in that moment. She looked sad for a moment, but it had been a very small peak behind the mask. It was enough. That was the day Hoagie decided there was more to Francine Fulbright than he had ever thought before.

"I'm tired a' this," she'd said suddenly. Hoagie didn't understand what she meant. She seemed to forget that he was even there, her eyes showing how deep in thought she was. "Kids are just all weak. All o' us…" She had sighed then. "Only one thing fer it, and I just may have to…"

"Have to what?" Hoagie pressed, suddenly feeling a cold sensation traveling through his body. Something was very wrong here.

"Nothin, ya stupid boy! Go find something' else tah do, you're annoyin' me."

Hoagie shifted back to reality as she shook his head. He had been the only one with a warning of what Fanny had intended to do, and he had not taken the opportunity to do anything. He'd been distracted. That one moment of weakness had let him peer enough into Fanny to pay attention to her and see the other good traits. They never quite outweighed the bad, but somewhere along the lines, they had drawn even.

It had been the day of Hoagie's decommissioning that Fanny had taken action. An extreme assault on the Kids Next Door, hitting all the right spots. The moon base had never been the same. The current leader, Numbuh 53, had finally given in and invited Hoagie up to the moon base to repair it. The word about the Teens Next Door was out, though 53 had countered it with a rumor that there was only, and had only ever been, one team, and that's all there ever would be.

He was about to leave for there now. But he was frazzled. His thoughts kept drifting back to Fanny. Her moment of weakness. Her betrayal. And more interestingly, today. He had seen her at the café most of the TND members liked to hang out in. Wally and Nigel had tensed when they saw her. Rachel had looked like she was about to cry.

But Hoagie had just observed her, noting every little thing she did. She ordered a vanilla latte with chocolate sprinkles. She had four more freckles than she had the day she attacked the moon base. Her hair was still the exact same style, save a tiny clip in her hair. A butterfly. Hoagie just sipped his drink, watching her. Memorizing everything about her.

And when she turned to leave, he noticed something the others were too angry to ever hope to see.

Her eyes met his, and in that deep pool of green, he noticed something that filled him with hope. Sadness. In his heart, he knew she regretted what she'd done.

Since then, all he could think about was her. She was often on his mind before then, but now…now the siren wouldn't leave him alone. Part of him wanted to go to her, to see if he was right.

But deep down, he just didn't want to get hurt again. Opening up that can of worms was offering not only his heart, but that of the Kids Next Door.

And he wasn't sure he trusted her not to crush them both.