Credit where it's due, I only own the OC.

York had heard that an agent they hadn't met had been brought in from the field. He was worried about how Carolina would react, considering what had happened after the last time a new member had joined their ranks. He caught up with the red head on his way to the mess hall.

"Hey, Carolina." He greeted, half expecting her to lash out at him. Surprisingly, she seemed to be in a good mood.

"Hey, York." She returned with a pleasant smile. York smiled back, still a little nervous.

"Have you heard about the new agent?" He questioned, testing the water. Carolina nodded.

"I ran into her in the locker room. She seems nice." She said.

"You aren't…worried at all?" He asked.

"Worried about what?" She returned. York gave her a shrug and she stopped walking. "York, do you have to make me say it? No, I'm not worried, she isn't better than me. She was running intelligence missions out of a different location and now she's here, that is." She said, finishing with her arms crossed. York held his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I was just worried." York said with a grin as they started walking again.

Wash was seated in the mess hall, talking to the new member along with North and South when York and Carolina joined them. "Hey guys, this is West Virginia." Wash said, initiating the introductions. York leaned over and shook the girl's hand.

"Call me West." The girl corrected.

"We've met." Carolina said, giving West a nod. West nodded back.

Wash stole glances at West while she chatted with South and Carolina. West was gruff, but still beautiful. She had piercing blue eyes and her hair was cut to a short bob with her dirty-blonde bangs cut straight across her forehead.

North had noticed that, like most people she met, South was openly hostile with West. It wasn't a huge note in North's mind, it was just South's nature. In fact, she was mean to him every now and again.

It usually showed itself in little things, West would sit in front of South's locker and South would give her a kick to move her out of the way, or West would beat her in a training session and South would yell at her and storm off. Of course, the reverse also happened. West would get mad in return when she was yelled at or kicked.

They still worked well on missions, so well that North was almost jealous that the pair could work almost as well as him and his twin. It wasn't in North's nature to get jealous, so instead he was happy that South had found a friend. Because no matter how much they yelled at each other, he was sure they were just a pair of competitive friends.

You can imagine North's surprise when, after weeks of yelling and kicking each other, he walked into the mess hall to find his sister and West giggling like school girls at a table by themselves. Concerned that, knowing South, the girls had pulled off some prank, North joined them at their table.

"Hey, South, West." He greeted. Both girls were still laughing.

"Hey, North." West managed between gasping breaths.

"What have you two been up to?" North questioned, looking at South who was just beginning to compose herself.

"I don't know what you're talking about." South returned, trying to force down the grin on her face.

Just then, York burst into the room with a huge grin on his face. He walked over to their table and placed both hands on it, leaning forward. "I just had the best dream." He announced to them before pushing up and walking away to retrieve his food. North turned back to the girls with a curious eyebrow raised. West shared a look with South before the two of them burst into laughter again.

"Okay," West said, trying to calm herself but failing miserably, "we might have talked to York in his sleep when he was dozing in the lounge."

"And borrowed a certain someone's voice." South finished. She looked over at West again and the two broke out into new fits of laughter. North shook his head in his best 'while that's really funny, it isn't appropriate' face. North could tell by the bounce in York's step whose voice they had borrowed. The two girls stuck their tongues out at him in synchronization.

Around the same time that South and West became inseparable, Wyoming noticed a change in the other two girls. Carolina and Connie seemed very eager to have male company when they would otherwise be left alone with South and West. The only reason he noticed was because the last people in the locker room one day were Connie, South, West, and himself. Connie didn't normally make a point to talk with him, but when he was getting ready to leave and she wasn't quite done she hastily asked him about a knock-knock joke.

Very much the same thing happened with Carolina. When they were the last ones in the locker room other than South and West, she had struck up a relatively normal but albeit odd conversation about field tactics. In fact, Wyoming probably wouldn't have marked this behavior as odd if Connie's nervousness hadn't already piqued his interest.

He was almost let down when about a week later things returned to normal without the cause making itself known.

A few weeks later, Wash ran into North in the mess hall for an early breakfast. Wash sat down with his friend and they ate in silence for a few minutes after greeting one another. Wash began to fidget just before he spoke up. "Hey, North…" He began, scratching the back of his head.

"Hmm?" North responded, looking up from his plate. Wash fidgeted again before responding.

"Do you think…maybe it's possible that…West might think I'm cool?" He stuttered out. North stared at him for a moment.

"Do you like West?" He asked nonchalantly.

"No! I mean, yes, but…I don't know?" Wash said, rubbing his forehead with his palms in frustration. "I guess I just want to know if it's possible. If I liked her, do you think she might like me back?" He continued after gathering his thoughts. North thought for a moment.

"I suppose it's possible. I haven't seen anything that would indicate that she didn't like you." North replied. Wash visibly relaxed.

"Thanks." Wash said, reaching across the table to clap his friend on the shoulder.

North was walking down the hallway, intent on asking South to run some training sessions with him. He reached her door and tapped the code into the access panel. As the door slid open there was a shout.

"Holy fuck, North! KNOCK!" South screamed. North stared at what he saw for a split second before backing up and letting the door slide shut again.

He stood there, his heart pounding. Had he really just seen what he thought he did? He stood still fighting with himself. Had he been imagining it? Should he try again just to be sure? No, he couldn't look again. He had to go. He had to…had to…He was losing his train of thought now. Wash, that's right. He had to go talk to Wash.

Wash didn't understand what North had been talking about. Something about their earlier conversation and him not being right. Did that mean West did hate him? He didn't think she did; they got along well, didn't they. It's not like he was madly in love with her, just interested, so he wouldn't mind staying friends. But what exactly did North know that he refused to say. He hadn't been acting like he normally did.

Wash mulled this over as he made his way to the locker room. When the door slid open, he finally understood as he was met by much the same scene North was.

"Uh, wow." He muttered, frozen still. He didn't have the survival instincts North had to make him turn tail and run. A pink helmet collided with his face, knocking him backwards. He rubbed his cheek and stumbled backwards as two faces pressed close together stuck their tongues out at him.

Thanks for reading!

I just want to make it clear that I wasn't insinuating that any of the freelancers are against same-sex relations, they all had reasons to be weird-ed out: The girls because they would have seen them together, North cause it's his sister...you get it :D