Sorry it took me so long to update. The holidays have been killing me. I don't know how long this chapter will seem on the site, but it is FOUR PAGES LONG on open office. That's, like, four days of work. Just kidding. It didn't take that long. It took five.

"Yeah. Wanna make somethin' of it?", Emile said to Yume, glaring as if she had threatened him.

"No. Uh, sorry.", she replied hastily, "I should be going now-"

"Where would you go?", Kat asked, "We're on a boat."

Jorge cleared his throat to keep his team from getting more off topic, "Yume here has volunteered to be our guide for our, er, stay in Seattle. She'd go everywhere with us, and, of course, we would pay for food and board for her-"

Emile raised his hand, "I vote the kid sleeps outside!"

Jorge glared, then continued, "She says she knows the city well, as well as I know Reach-"

"Jorge.", Carter said, "She's a teenager."

"Your point?", Jorge asked.

"My point is that you are entrusting our lives with a child."

"You didn't seem to have a problem trusting other children back in training, Commander. Why not trust one now?", Jorge replied, tightening his grip on Yume's shoulder painfully. She thought she heard a crack.

Noble Team seemed a little taken aback, and all of them were confused as to why Jorge so wanted the teen to be their guide—but he had had their back and saved them enough times to gain their trust, and they decided his judgment was as good as their Commander's.

"If you're up, we are, Jorge.", Carter said, leaning back in his seat.

Jorge nodded grimly, and was about to go back outside with Yume when a voice on the radio told them to get back in their car. They walked down the stairs again, Yume in front, thinking, "Please don't trip and fall on me, please don't trip and fall on me. . .", Jorge thinking, ". . .sideways. . .Gotta go through sideways. . .OUCH."

Noble squeezed between the cars, Jorge bumping into a truck so hard the car alarm went off, and finally got to their van.

"Okay, kid, you're between Thom and Rosenda, in the back." , Carter told Yume, jerking his thumb to Thom and Rosenda. Yume nodded, then sat in the middle. Both Thom and Rosenda were pressed up against her, and Yume wondered if she would be able to escape the car if she needed to. The answer was no.

"So where should we go first?", Carter asked, looking at Yume in the review mirror.

"Why not go to the ferris wheel first, I guess, then we can eat.", Yume suggested.

"If we are loading onto that hamster ball we saw across the water, I will not be followin' you around anymore.", Emile turned around in his seat and glared.

"Uh, sorry?", Yume shrugged apologetically, "Uh, you need instructions?" She asked Carter nervously.

"Nope.", Kat replied, "I have got it under control." She plugged in the location in the GPS, and everyone moaned. They had had to listen to the thing chatter for the hour and a half that Kat had been navigating. Thom had begged Jun to take over again.

In less than five minutes they were unloading out of the van, and walking down the pier to the ticket booth. The ferris wheel towered over them, the line wasn't long for the tickets, though, and Noble stepped right in.

"So what happens when the big man steps in? Will he break it?", Emile asked, gazing up at the ferris wheel.

"No. People bigger than him have gotten on there and it hasn't broken.", Yume replied.

Everyone stared at Yume, "There are people bigger than Jorge?!", they all exclaimed.

"Well. . .not in muscle. But, y'know, overweight people.", Yume answered. The Spartans all made 'Oooh' expressions, and Carter bought their tickets.

"So why the he** do we have to stand in line twice?!", Emile cried angrily, desperately trying to avoid touching the many civilian women around him. He didn't want their flowery perfume rubbing off on him.

"There are normally bigger crowds, during the day. It's a way for them to keep the crowds under control and organized.", Yume explained, standing under one of the umbrella shaped heaters that stood every few feet along the line.

"Are civilians really that un-disciplined?", Thom asked, his brow furrowed.

"They are often compared to cattle when there is a sale or other attraction.", Yume answered, joking. The comment earned her a smirk from Emile, quickly changed to a scowl.

"Yes. Yes. YES!", Jun exclaimed, as they were at the front of the line.

"How many?", asked a bored looking teenager in a blue and black uniform.

"Eight.", Carter held up eight fingers.

The teen broke the Spartans up into two groups, and they settled in two different cars. "What is this?", Jun asked, pressing his hands against the tinted glass walls of the ferris wheel car, "Are they going to gas us?" The wheel started to turn, and Jun fell back into Yume's lap.

"Please. Get. Off. Now.", she said, trying to breath.

"Okay.", Jun said quickly, getting up and sitting back down next to Emile. Emile had his arms crossed, his lower lip out, pouting.

As the wheel rotated, the Space Needle peaked out from behind a skyscraper. Jun tensed up, pointing, "It's a Covie Spire! We gotta take it out! Jorge, use your telepathy!"

Jorge looked at Jun wearily. Emile said, "You'll have to forgive him. He's mentally unstable."

Yume nodded slowly, then explained, "That's the Space Needle. Depending on how much money you have, we can eat there."

Jun nodded, stroking his beardless chin, "Yes. Yesss. Excellent sniping position." Yume rubbed her temples.

In the other car: Rosenda, Thom, Carter and Kat decided that it was a great view. "It's nice to be up high but not shooting at something.", Thom said. The rest nodded in agreement.

"So, how do you think that kid's doing over there with Skullface and Snipey. Either one might break down and kill her.", Kat asked.

"She'll live, as long as she sticks with Jorge. If she gets caught in a room alone with Emile and makes any sudden movements, she's screwed.", Rosenda crossed her arms, her face serious. She did not want non-Covenant blood on her hands, but she knew Emile just liked the color.

Back to Jorge and Friends: An ominous creaking was sounding from above them. The very metal of the ferris wheel. "Uh, hate to be rude, but how much do you all weigh?", Yume asked as the car swung a little to far forward.

"Well, Big Man only weighs 193 kilos (430 lbs).", Emile claimed.

"Yeah. Only. That shouldn't be enough to screw this up, though. . .", Yume said, "Wait, how much do you weigh?", she asked Jun and Emile.

"Ehhh. . .about 106 kilos (235 lbs) each.", Jun answered, "How much do you weigh?"

"About 55 kilos (120 lbs).", Yume answered without hesitating, breaking the popular teen-girl-hides-her-weight stereotype.

"Lightweight."

"And that would be enough to break this?" Jun asked nervously.

"Possibly."

But the ride was slowing, and they came to rest at the bottom, Jorge exited first, smacking his head right into the top of the door. Yume winced—that had to hurt. She was suddenly glad she wasn't so tall.

"All right, let's eat!", Thom cried. His stomach growled. "Something other than MREs!"

"Wanna got to the Crab Pot? It's kinda pricey, but you can try it."

"Is there a lot?", Jun asked, "Of food?"

"Yeah."

"Is there beer?"

"Most likely."

"Then we'll go.", Jun proclaimed, picking Yume up easily and swinging her over his shoulder.

~##~

The Crab Pot was dark, crowded, and noisy. It would have been confusing for most people, but it was downright uncomfortable for the asocial Spartans.

The waitress seated them at a long table, with a red checkered table cloth. In the squares were little red crabs. As Jorge sat down, his wooden chair creaked ominously. It was much to small for him, and his feet stuck out from under the other side of the table. Yume suppressed a laugh.

"It's cold in here.", Jun whined, "I'm glad we're inside, and not by the water."

"What can I get ya?", a teen waitress asked, chewing gum with her mouth open.

"Eight beers!", Jun exclaimed.

"Seven beers.", Yume corrected.

The waitress irritatedly scratched out the first order, fixing it. "And to eat?"

The Spartans looked at Yume expectantly, so she just ordered for them, "Ten or twelve servings of the crab pot..." The waitress scribbled it down, then flounced off.

In a few minutes, the Spartans received big glasses of amber alcohol. "Sure ya don't want some?", Thom offered.

"I can't, I'm underage."

"Oh, right. I forgot that normal people don't handle alcohol well."

"No, we don't, especially when we aren't even done growing yet."

~##~
Five waiters walked around their table. "Sh**.", Emile swore, "We're surrounded-"

"No, they're bringing your food.", Yume explained, as they dumped ten bowls filled with potatoes, crab parts, shrimp, corn, clams and oysters into a giant heap on the table. The waiters laid white plastic bibs that smelled strongly of—plastic.

"Eww. Do we have to wear these?", Jun complained, holding the bib at arms length.

"Yeah, what are we, babies?", Emile growled.

"If you don't wear them you'll get grease all over you, trust me.", Yume tied her bib around her neck.

"Fine."

The Spartans hammered at crab legs (the head of Jorge's broke when he hit too hard), gnawed on corn on the cob (Emile accidentally bit part of the cob off), and Rosenda and Kat having a drinking contest.

"It's a good thing you're over age, Kat, or we couldn't do this.", Rosenda laughed, the five glasses of beer not even affecting her.

"Yeah, one year less and I would've had to lie!"

"Ahahaha. . .Not that it would hurt to do that. As soon as we were augmented we could drink as much as we wanted!"

All the Spartans were laughing, but Yume remained silent at her end of the table. It just reminded her that she wasn't part of the group, and that she never would be part of this one. She wasn't a Spartan, and could never relate to their experiences fighting the Covenant. She sighed, tearing a mussel out of its shell.

The huge pile of food disappeared, and Noble wiped their hands on the useless little towelettes.

"You can go wash your hands in the bathroom.", Yume pointed the restrooms out to Emile, who was cussing at his greasy hands.

"F*** YOU!", Emile exclaimed, his hand slipping on his doorknob.

~##~

"So where are you guys staying tonight?", Yume yawned in the back of the van.

Kat furrowed her brow, "What do you mean?"

"You don't have a hotel?"

Kat shook her head.

"Okay. Let's just drive around for a bit and see if there are any vacancies."

It became a sort of game, spotting hotel signs, getting really excited for a bed. But ever single sign said, 'No Vacancies'.

"Da**", Carter swore, rubbing his eyes.

"Eyes on the road, Commander.", Emile japed. The clock in the front of the van read 2 A.M., and even the Spartans were getting drowsy.

"Why don't we spend the night in the car?", Thom suggested from the back. "All in favor say 'ay-"

"AYE!", he was interrupted by a chorus of enthusiastic ayes.

Carter stopped in a parking lot, and paid the parking bill for overnight parking.

Thom stretched out over the backseat, but he hung over the side. "Hm. Yume, you wanna sleep up here?"

Yume nodded, then they switched places: Thom stretched down the middle of the van, Emile and Jun leaned their seats back all the way, pressing into Yume's legs (but she didn't mind). Carter and Kat did the same thing ("Kaaaaaaaaat, I don't have enough leg room!")

"Rose, why don't you sleep in the back here?", Jorge offered his spot among the luggage.

"Where will you sleep, Jorge?"

"Under the van. I've done it before."

Jorge climbed out of the back, and the van rocked a little as he squirmed down under it. Yume covered herself in her jacket and fell asleep immediately, briefly thinking, "I really hope they're not dangerous. . ."

~##~

Sometime in the night, Yume got very cold. The car was off, leaving the group to their own body heat. It wasn't enough, though, as she was shivering under her jacket. Half awake, she crawled off the seat, and laid, half next to and half on, the nearest heat source.

That would be Thom. She rested her head on his shoulder, worming her way next to him, then fell asleep, warm and comfortable.

~##~

Something was pushing at him, edging into his space. It pulled at him a little, then settled next to him, still and breathing deeply.

It was too small to be a Spartan, to tall to be a Grunt, and didn't stink like Covenant, anyway. Thom opened one eye, his body tense but making it seem like he was still asleep. Yume's short hair and sleeping face came into view. He shrugged, not minding it. Besides, he had been cold, before she decided to share her heat.

The midday heat was magnified by the van's windows and leathery seats. Thom was just starting to get uncomfortably hot, and Yume stirred next to him. "Oh, my lo-!", Yume started, seeing she was laying very close to Thom.

"Howdy.", Thom sat up, and she put as much distance between herself and the Spartan as possible.

"Can you feel the love tonight?"