Author's Notes: This story will display the vast inexperience our favorite doctor has when it comes to dealing with the little "volunteers" that will take part in this revolutionary program.


"Miss Halsey! Kelly started crying!" exclaimed a panicked six year old while he tugged on the white coat of the female who had brought him to their current setting.

"Yes! Thank you John I noticed!" said the irate woman through gritted teeth curved upwards in a clearly false representation of a smile that was completely transparent in masking her current mood, ….well to an extent. Children were not included in that wide spectrum and the connotation flew completely over his head. She was currently surrounded by a throng of screaming and hyperactive children who were either in the stages of playtime or curiosity at the foreign environment.

A trio of kids to her right was playing a hopscotch game while another group was engaged in trading Pokemon Krypton edition holocards. A screaming girl was also running around them as a boy chased after her with a mischievous smirk while his hands tried to grasp the fringes of her long hair. The others were making conversation with each other; the topics were usually relegated to: favorite Metal Morpher characters, preferred Galactic Unicorn character, most awesome Universal Grappling Consortium moves, why girls are icky and boys are dumb and grubby. All in all it was a varied range of topics that had nothing to do with why they were all really in this strange white room.

It was times like these that Halsey wished they had waited a few more years to retrieve the candidates. The children were completely impervious to any authoritative aura that she thought she possessed, sergeants, lieutenants, and majors had all been cowed by her harsh tone and frigid ice blue gaze. However these children were not impressed in the slightest, the only figures of power that they knew of were their parents, who were mysteriously absent, couple this with the fact that they were surrounded by others of their age and the end result was an unscheduled playtime.

John and Kelly however noticed that something was strange, for John it was the way the woman smiled when he snatched the coin from the air, it was almost predatory. Kelly on the other hand started getting scared of the new surroundings, her family always ensured that her mother or father were with her at all times when she went out, and if that was not possible her older sister, Mary would take up the task ensuring that she was never left alone. She started tearing up when she could not find her mom or dad, and when Mary was nowhere to be found she started sobbing. John tried comforting her as best as he could but his limited repertoire of soothing statements was inadequate in calming her down, she shook her pigtailed head and started clenching the stuffed pink bunny in her hands even harder, it looked like she was strangling the poor thing, confused and slightly scared John rushed off find the strange woman.

"John I will take care of it shortly!" Halsey yelled over the high pitched voices, patting his head in what she hoped was a reassuring manner as she tried to maneuver through the hopscotch game and the girl trying to use her as a shield against the boy that seemed intent on grabbing her hair.

Finally getting to her destination she let out a small sigh of relief, John appearing beside her as he had smartly followed her through the path she had created in her wake. Then she noticed how hard the little girl was sobbing and realized that she was completely out of her element, but with John looking at her in such a hopeful manner she just had to try and prove that she could handle this.

"Kelly darling, don't cry it will all be fin-"

"I want my MOMMY!" Kelly screamed, gasping to take a large mouthful of air before she continued crying.

"KELLY BE SLIENT!" Halsey was now trying what she believed to be "tough love", her mind was starting to panic and she decided to use an alternate method, it seemed to work because the child stopped bawling, then she looked at her in a scared manner before she resumed her cries of distress and started scurrying away from Halsey very very quickly.

"Kelly come back! I'm sorry!"

"Did you know Catherine stated in her profile that she did not want any children, at all?" Mendez stated as he watched the spectacle with a tinge of amusement.

"Yes…..I take it that this was not what she had in mind, was it?" Lord Hood replied

"Not even close" Mendez remarked as he took a sip of scalding coffee, watching as Elizabeth Halsey tried to hug the weeping girl with brown pigtails while the child repeatedly tried pushing the doctor away and striking her with a pink stuffed animal, a young boy was beside them patting the lamenting lass on the head gently and speaking to her in what he assumed was comforting tones.

"Aren't you going to help her?" Lord Hood asked as he observed the scene before him, fighting the urge to laugh as the good doctor was bopped on the head by a bright pink bunny wielded by one very distressed little girl. For some reason he couldn't turn away, it was like watching a car crash, and it was the only time he had seen the iron lady so utterly mortified and lost.

"No way in hell" Mendez replied as he took another gulp of his coffee.

Hello everybody, sorry about the lateness of my other stories(it takes time to write those!), but I do have another Halo story in the oven, and a new Zelda chapter in the works. If there are any grammatical errors please inform me of them.

As always reviews are welcome!