"Happy BIrthday."

Maurice hugged Abby one last time before saying good-bye for the evening. He was so proud she had proven herself loyal enough to the KND not to be decommissioned. He knew that Sector V had to be suffering right now. There was a part of him that really wished he could tell them all Abby was still on their side, but like when he turned thirteen two years ago, it was a secret that could not be revealed.

As he walked down the street he felt as though someone was watching him. He looked over his shoulder to confirm there was no one around. He sighed gently and walked past his house to the park. He sat on a swing.

"You can come out now, Vaughn."

A teenage girl stepped out from behind an oak tree at the entrance of the park. She was dressed in a black hoodie and ripped jeans, her sneakers mud-splattered from the wet ground. Her black hair was pulled back with a bandana. She smiled at Maurice and leaned casually against the frame of the swing set.

"You really know how to hurt a girl's pride," muttered the girl sticking her hand in the pocket of the sweater. "I thought I was sneaking up on you undetected."

Maurice laughed and shook his head. "Trust me, V, you did. That's why I guessed it was you."

Vaughn's smile grew and she sat down on the swing closest to her. She began to rock gently and looked up at the sky.

"So, Ms. Lincoln is all prepared to infiltrate the teens?"

Maurice sighed and watched the stars with his friend. Vaughn had come from section C a year ago and had proven to be a great help in teen infiltration. She was great at connecting with all of the still commissioned operatives. The fact that Vaughn travelled a lot for familial reasons was a good cover up for when she needed to visit other operatives. Maurice considered Vaughn's question.

"I think she's been ready since the day she found out I was still commissioned."

Maurice chuckled. To his left he heard a gentle sigh, and turned to look at his friend. Brown eyes met sad green eyes and Maurice shook his head.

"You couldn't help him. You know as well as I that Chad had really lost his grip on the KND ideals."

"I know," the young woman stood up and paced in front of the swing set. "It's so wrong that he tried to get all those sections decommissioned. I know he is a total teen, but..."

Maurice nodded. "You still like him."

Vaughn paused and looked at Maurice. Her eyes scanned his face and she sat down on the grass. She looked defeated and sad.

"How did you know?"

The young African-American man sat with his ivory skinned friend. He wrapped his arms around her in a supportive hug.

"You've had a crush on him since before you two got commissioned. You told me once."

Vaughn sniffled. "He could have been the best above thirteen KND operative there ever was. It's like one day he just woke up and was totally adolescent. I'm so happy I was in Section C. If I had been here when he'd done that, seeing him in school..."

A tear slid down her cheek. "Abby is so lucky to have you. You never betrayed the cause."

"He knew what he was doing. He couldn't have been leader if he didn't know about the over thirteen team. Besides,I don't care how much of a hero 274 was, he turned out to be a glory hound and a jerk. I personally thought Numbah 19 was pretty good."

Vaughn smiled. "Thanks 9, I needed that. Listen, I have to get home mom and papa said they have a surprise. Have Abby ready for our meeting tomorrow."

Both teenagers stood up gave each other one last hug. Maurice gave his friend a once over, "Won't your parents care you're all muddy?"

"I was at the community garden before I came here." Vaughn winked and ran off with a wave.

Maurice looked around, making sure no one else was following him, then turned to head home.

oOo

Vaughn Carwin walked home thinking about all that had happened. A new over thirteen agent was operational, St. Tatiana's Catholic Academy was taking on Philips High School in a huge football game, and her parents had a surprise for her. Vaughn smiled to herself. She had a good idea what her surprise was, considering her sixteenth birthday was just a few weeks away. It would be just like her parents to do that. She really had great parents. They were strict with the rules they gave, but actually quite liberal. As long as they knew where she was and she was getting good grades, then they trusted her. She ran up the drive and slipped into the back door.

"Mom, Papa I'm home."

She kicked off her shoes and pulled off her sweater. She took off her bandanna and grabbed an elastic from the jar on the window sill and tied her hair it a messy bun at the top of her head.

"I'm going upstairs to get a shower."

Her mother's voice answered her, "Before you do that, Angel, could you please come into the sun room and greet our guests."

"I will after my shower mom, I'm filthy."

Her father answered her this time, "Punkin, could you please come here now."

"But Papa, I'm not wearing clothes appropriate to meeting guests. I'm covered in mud from the gardens. I don't want to track it all over the house and..."

"Vaughn Angelise Carwin, quit being rude and come in here. NOW."

Vaughn sighed and cut through the kitchen. She wandered down the hall until she reached the sun room. Her mother looked up and laughed.

"Goodness, dear, you weren't exaggerating about the mud were you?" She turned to her guests. "Angel is very involved, you see. She's been working on a community garden at St. Tatiana's."

The man sitting across from Vaughn's parents laughed. He was bald with a bit of brown hair and glasses. His wife was blond. When he stopped laughing he replied,

"Yes, our son is quite involved, too. Good grades, plays football, class president,"

Vaughn's mother cut him off, "Angel is top of her class. She's also the lead in the school play and..."

"Mom," Vaughn whined as a blush filled her cheeks. "Cut it out."

The adults laughed. "She a humble one our Vaugh," added her father with a grin of pride. Vaughn's blush grew. She really hate when her parents did this. "Is that alright dear?"

Vaughn blinked. Her father had asked her something that she hadn't heard. "Sorry Papa, I didn't hear you."

"I said, why don't you go introduce yourself to their son. He's out on the veranda." He turned back to his guests. "I don't understand why we haven't all gotten together before."

Vaughn quickly ducked out onto the veranda. She needed fresh air. After taking a deep breath, she realized she wasn't alone. 'Must be the son of our guests.' She turned to greet him only to have the wind almost knocked out of her. 'Don't let him know you recognize him. Don't blow your cover.'

"Do I know you?"

Vaughn feigned cool disinterest as she leaned against the banister. She was now face to face with the boy she'd had a crush on for almost ten years. The only thing was, he wasn't much of a boy anymore.

oOo

Chad Dickson's flashed a charming grin at the girl he knew had once been Numbah 19 of Sector C. He and Vaughn shared some great memories. Well, not really shared. It was obvious Ms. Carwin had been decommissioned, so she probably didn't remember him at all. Let alone recognize him. Looking over her though, he realized he barely recognized her too.

During his time as leader of the KND Numbah 19 had been his right hand. She'd been like an advisor to him. They'd done training together. She'd actually almost been head of the KND. He remembered Vaughn getting tagged only a few seconds before time was up. She'd panicked and caught sight of him. Before Chad had been able to react, she'd dove across the room and hugged him. He'd heard her whisper "Tag", just before the timer sounded. She'd been his second making sure everything ran well while he was off on missions. It was stupid kid stuff, but when he'd left escaped being decommissioned his only regret was not trying to take Vaughn with him. He couldn't even try to bring her into his teen plans once she became a teen.

He'd been so busy with trying to destroy brats that he'd forgotten her birthday. It didn't matter though. She'd been in Section C then, so they couldn't have hung out. She was here now though, and it seemed a lot had changed.

Vaughn had always been cute, but now that she'd blossomed into a young woman she was something else entirely. She wasn't all cleaned up, so he could only imagine how good she looked then. Right now, she still looked pretty nice.

Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, but the whisps that fell around her face looked soft and silky. Her small t-shirt was muddy, as were her jeans, but they clung to her curves in a way that almost made Chad's mouth water. Her green eyes, pale like mint, flashed with something. Then he caught another flash of green. This one wasn't coming from her eyes, but from her abdomen where a sparkling, green naval piercing was placed. He met her face again to see she was frowning. He watched as she took a step back and wrapped her arms protectively around herself. She repeated her question.

"Do I know you?"

Chad shook his head. "No, I guess you don't." It was a whisper.

"What?"

The blond young man smiled handsomely. "I said, you probably don't. I'm Chad Dickson, my parents are talking with your parents."

Vaughn eyed him with an unreadable expression. "You're not my type. No matter how good our parents think we'd be together"

Chad was taken aback for a second. He didn't know what shocked him more that she seemed to think this was a matchmaking play by their parents, or that she'd just said he wasn't her type. He knew he was her type. She'd had a crush on him the whole time they were in KND. Then again, maybe getting decommissioned fried her brain.

"If I'm not you're type why are you blushing?" Chad leaned against the railing on the porch and gave he a defiant look.

Vaughn looked shocked for a moment. He watched as she put her hand to her cheek to feel for heat. His palms itched to do the name. 'Never said her crush on me was one sided.' After a moment, Vaughn laughed.

"It's embarrassment not attraction. My parents are bragging that I'm Ms. Super teen. FYI, your parents are doing the same."

Chad groaned a little in embarrassment. "They've been doing that since I was a kid."

Vaughn laughed again and turned to look out on the yard. With her back turned Chad found it easy to sneak up behind her. She placed his hands on her shoulder and turned her around. He pressed her against the railing.

"I bet I can prove I'm you're type," he murmured pressing closer.

Vaughn laughed nervously. "You're acting like a hormone crazy teenager."

"I am a teenager," pointed out Chad with grin. "You are too."

He hadn't meant for it to happen like this. He'd planned to just flirt with her a bit, see if, even after decommissioning, she still liked him. He hadn't expected her to have grown up so much. Nor did he realize how her rejection, even jokingly, might affect him. He also didn't realize that she'd be so soft and warm and smell like vanilla.

"W-What are you doing?"

Chad pulled back a little and looked in her eyes. She looked nervous, but didn't fight him. He was glad for that. First, because he didn't want her to fight him. Second, because he was much stronger then she was and could probably keep her still even if she did fight. Chad had been playing football since he was a eight. He'd also hit a growth spurt a while ago. So now at 16, Chad Dickson was 6'2" of strength and sinew. Plus, of course, all the charm, brains, and charisma he'd had when he was younger. He smiled seductively.

"Just trying to prove I'm you're type."

He watched as Vaughn's eyes went wide as he dipped his head. He chuckled softly, she was kind of cute when she was scared. They were only a breath apart when he heard his mother calling him.

"Chad, Chad dear are you outside with Mr. and Mrs. Carwin's daughter?"

Char cursed under his breath, then called out. "Yes Mom, I am."

"We're going home for now."

Once again Chad cursed and stepped away from. He didn't want to go home. He wanted to stay where he was. Well, maybe no exactly there. He wouldn't mind going inside with Vaughn. He wondered what her bedroom looked like. He heard Vaughn make a noise that sounded like mixture between no and a gasp. He realized his father had said something.

"What was that?"

"I said, we're just going home to clean up. The Carwin's are taking us to dinner. Then afterward we adults are going to go to a party, and you kids can stay at our house until it's done."

Chad smiled at Vaughn who looked like a lamb looked in a room with a hungry wolf. She ran to the door where both sets of parents were waiting. She looked at her father.

"Papa, I have homework. I think it would be best if I stayed home and worked on it. At least let me come straight back after dinner."

Her father ruffled her hair and smiled at the Dickson's. "She what a little go getter she is. It's okay honey, I'm sure you'll be able to get it done before the weekend is over. You deserve a stress-free night."

Chad waved good-bye. "Thanks for having us Mr. and Mrs. Carwin. I'll see you soon Vaughn."

As he was leaving he swore he heard the young woman mutter, "Yeah stress free like a heart attack."

Chad smiled to himself, he'd just have to help Vaughn with some of her stress.