Special thanks to Kuchee for betaing!

Author Note: Sorry if it feels like things are moving slowly, I just want to be sure of where I'm going. All constructive criticism is welcome. Also, I don't know how necessary this is but I do in fact not own the source material, my name is not Hideaki Anno nor is it whoever owns Gainax...I'll just say that it's Barney.

Please enjoy my silly story.

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Chapter Three: Murky Water

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"Nghhh..." Misato rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, only to be met with another adversary; her head felt like it was bursting at the seams.

"Ah, shit...Shinji!" Misato waited for her ward to make his appearance, preferably with some Tylenol and a glass of...water. It would have to be water.

She didn't like having to rely on Shinji so much, but he never went out, so there weren't many times when they weren't around each other. Misato always talked about how he needed to hang out with friends more, but deep down she liked always having someone around to take care of her.

Ugh, when did I get back last night? Misato pressed her hungover head for answers but was only met with another wave of pain. It felt like ice cubes were inside her skull.

"Here, Misato." Shinji appeared already knowing what Misato would want. Misato nearly asked, what took you so long? But the alcohol hadn't killed all her manners just yet. Thank god.

"T-thanks," she managed to slur out between the frostbite in her head and overwhelming want to go into a coma and not get out until this fucking hangover left.

"Do you need anything else? Miso maybe?" Shinji asked. He was used to having to deal with Misato's drinking issues, maybe a little too used to it.

"Miso would be just great." She tried to sit up, but the bolts plunging into the back of her head had other ideas. "Dammit! Can you turn off the freakin TV!?" Misato didn't like swearing near Shinji, somehow it felt dirty, but she was NOT interested in the origin story of Sprite Cranberry.

"Oh, sorry." Shinji turned off the TV; he couldn't believe he had left it on all night. He cringed slightly thinking of the electrical bill, "I'll go get you some Miso."

"Thanks..." Misato groaned as Shinji disappeared into the kitchen.

Having nothing better to do, Misato stared out of the window that was beside the TV. It was hard to see through the small crack of light between the two curtains but Misato watched as two fat crows sat on the electrical wire. Not the most entertaining thing in the world, but at least her head wouldn't split open watching it.

A few minutes later Shinji reappeared with the soup, a nice sauna of steam rising off of it and into the hot noon air.

"Here you-" Shinji was interrupted as Misato quickly swiped it out of his hands and all but chugged it - the pain be damned. A small stream of of soup trickled down the each of the corners of her lips.

"Hah," she finished the entire bowl in a matter of seconds, leaving Shinji's mouth agape.

Misato noticed this and couldn't help but comment, "What? Never seen a girl chug a bowl of soup before?"

Shinji picked his jaw up off the floor before responding. "No, no I haven't. Did the Miso help?" he asked hopefully. It was already 12:30 so Misato didn't really have time to sleep it off.

"Wonders, say what time did I come home? Don't remember driving back." Misato wondered if perhaps Ritsuko had driven her back, but it didn't seem likely.

"Kaji brought you back last night." Shinji watched as her face scrunched a little at the anouncment.

"Ughhh." Misato lay back down with her body strewn across the couch. Her left leg was up across the back of the couch dangling in the air; her right leg reached the floor and her hands followed a similar path.

Shinji blushed and sputtered as he saw quite a bit of skin. Misato noticed and smirked, "Like what you see?" She may have tried not to swear too much around the boy, but she couldn't help but tease him. She was allowed to do that, right?

"Misato..." was all he got out. He could get used to helping her with her hangovers, but her teases were something his hormone filled body could never get over, and it never ceased to make him feel dirty.

"Hey idiot! Where's breakfast!"

Shinji's back stiffened as he turned to find Asuka. He had forgotten all about breakfast.

"Sorry, Asuka. I'll get on that."

Misato's smile dropped as Shinji left for the kitchen. Asuka plopped herself down on the couch and turned the TV back on.

"You know...you could stand be a little nicer to him," Misato said, sitting up. Asuka had only been here for less than a few weeks but it was obvious how she treated Shinji. Misato placed her hand on her forehead, her headache was not gone just yet.

"It's his fault he never stands up for himself," Asuka said matter-of-factly. She thought to herself for a moment before yelling at Shinji to put some sausages on the griddle; a nice sizzle was heard shortly after.

A candid okay was heard from the kitchen. Misato would've continued the argument with Asuka if her headache weren't killing her enough already. "Can you add some eggs?" Misato asked as another jolt of pain engulfed her head.

"Already on Misato!"

Misato didn't see it but she could've sworn he was smiling while he said that. Always ahead of things, she thought with a smirk.

"Good." She sighed as Asuka turned the channel to some gossip tween garbage, it started with some hot tips on how to get the hunk of your dreams! Misato rolled her eyes. Can't believe I used to watch this crap, she thought as douche one and douchette two began their list of makeup to use. She had seen enough of these when she was 17. She had no want to see anymore.

"I'm going to take to take a shower," Misato said to no one in particular. She had gotten quite a layer of sweat being wrapped up in the blanket all night.

Ugh, did Kaji wrap me in this? The mental image of Kaji kissing her goodnight with a blanket in hand was enough to make Misato all but jump off the couch and into the shower, pain be damned.

"Okay..." Shinji said as one of the yolks popped rather loudly.

"Did you pop one of the yolks!?" Asuka asked-yelled from the couch. "You know I like them whole!"

"Sorry..." Shinji mumbled, thinking, you didn't even ask for eggs.

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"Kaji." Commander Gendo Ikari looked at the stubbled bachelor with something akin to anger. Well, Kaji guessed he would be feeling something like that. He could never tell.

"I'm-" Kaji was about to say...something. It wasn't often that he was lost for words, but this was not how things were supposed to go. Not at all.

The commander wasn't interested. "Fix this," was all he said. He wanted to just kill Kaji now and be done with it but he still had uses for him, uses that not many could hope to fulfill.

"Yes...sir." Kaji didn't stop to count his blessings as he made his way out of the commander's office, his tie flapping in the wind from the large doors.

"Hello, Kaji," Ritsuko greeted the elderly bachelor. Well, elderly as far as bachelors went.

"Ah Ritsuko, what brings you to this fine part of the lands?" Kaji asked the question in his usual demeanor, with an extra serving of charm.

"Just letting the commander know that the tests will be running a little late today." It wasn't a lie, but not quite the truth either. Ritsuko was used to telling these sort of half-truths.

"That so..." Kaji studied the eyes of his old friend - though not that old - and didn't find anything but the cold, scientific gaze that Ritsuko always had nowadays. "Well don't let me keep you. To be honest, I wasn't really expecting you to show up after last night."

"Me neither, but alas, the world beats out a hangover." With that said, Ritsuko headed through to talk to the commander. After Kaji's screw up on Over The Rainbow they couldn't just wait for Adam to wash up on a shore on some undiscovered island in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

The doors closed behind her and a shiver went up the good doctor's spine. The room was chilled and held no personality, a perfect room to assert your power over someone else.

Gendo didn't greet Ritsuko as she made her case, his steel cold eyes hidden behind the orange tinted glasses he wore, and his hands propped and covering his mouth.

"Commander," she gave a small bow before continuing, "we have assessed that Adam is somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, most likely it has drifted to the northern end." She spoke with no emotion, her eyes cold as ice.

"I see..." Gendo stared at the woman, waiting. Perhaps for something to crack, perhaps for her to shed her clothes.

Ritsuko gulped a little at the silence; she couldn't completely kill her emotions after all. "Yes, also we will have to set back today's sync test an hour, Rei is in need of more maintenance."

Gendo was in no mood for more setbacks but there wasn't much he could do. "Fine."

With that lovely conversation over, the good doctor made her way out of the overhearing room, her eyes fixing on a new goal: getting Rei back together for the sync test.

She took the elevator down to the deepest levels of the facility, where only those who know it all were allowed to go. She inserted her key card into a slot and was given 10 seconds to enter a password into a small panel to the left of the door. The panel rose into the wall the moment her card left the slot, revealing a computer terminal. Just another wall of security.

G-E-N-E-S-I-S, she typed into the outdated keypad. The door opened with a swoosh and she stepped in. For a man so cold he sure loves his theatrics, she thought with a little humor. She was allowed to have that. Wasn't she?

Given a glance the room would've looked like any other laboratory of the facility. Along the walls were computers and wires twisting over each other, with numerous air vents to combat the heat. There was no window, of course, only cameras that connected directly to the commander's office. It would be an unsettling fact, if she knew about them. As much as she told herself otherwise, she didn't know everything.

The only thing that would really draw attention was the large cylindrical see-through column in the middle of the room. Numerous plugs and wires were going in and out of the top and bottom.

It was filled with a murky LCL, and something else.

"Hello, Rei," Ritsuko greeted the tube with a clipboard. In response the entity inside the tube twisted and turned, as if in pain.

"I'll have to change out your LCL," Ritsuko said, making a note of it on her clipboard. Just another problem for me to deal with.

"HeeElo AcaJi," the tube spoke. Its speech was barely recognizable, feminine and broken. Its voice was that of an adult.

Ritsuko pressed a few buttons on the computer and the tube began to drain. "You have a sync test in 45 minutes," stated curtly.

"OcAh." It was now speaking with a child's voice. Her entire life was repeating over and over, the clock never ceasing to reset.

Once the tube was entirely empty, all the LCL going through a grate in the bottom to be filtered, bits of flesh and bone made a mound on the bottom.

One by one, they came together, strands of blue hair coming out of the muck and making a head of unkempt hair. Bones cracked and screamed as they were forced together, flesh stitched itself into one.

Slowly, they became the form of Rei Ayanami.

"Get dressed before we see the commander." Ritsuko flicked open a latch guarding a small grey button that said DEPORT in big white letters. She pressed the button and the glass that kept Rei in the tube disappeared into the ceiling.

"Yes ma'am," Rei said, heading to a bag that was tossed onto a nearby table. Inside was her plugsuit. The bright white and blue color pattern were a stark contrast to her personality.

She put in on, ignoring the pain as the plugsuit stretched and pulled her skin; the LCL certainly didn't make her skin slick. Ritsuko looked at her, writing notes at almost every move.

"Alright," Ritsuko said once Rei got the suit on. She opened the door to the elevator and headed towards it, Rei following behind. "Now for the commander," the good doctor mumbled.

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This is the life~, Misato thought as warm water poured over her, the soap on her body slipping off and into the drain, the smell of breakfast wafting in from the kitchen.

She turned the water off and stepped in front of the mirror, her hair damp and made raven-like by the water.

As she grabbed a towel and wrapped around her hair she noticed something that ruined her good mood in a flash.

She let the towel down and it hung in her hand. She stopped and stared at her body. Through the abuse she had put it through over the years, from constant drinking, the occasional smoke, and flurry of all-nighters, she had thought that it had handled everything well.

But as she looked at her body she noticed all the little sags - from her breasts to her rear she noticed the lines of age dancing across them. They were hard to spot, but not invisible. And to top it all off, there was the disgusting blemish sliced across her stomach, a scar she had been carrying most of her life.

She frowned. Her body was a big point of pride to her, and age was destroying it. Ahh, what it would be like to be young again. To be held by a young body. She liked to think of what it would be like to be held by a young man, to have a chance to do it all over again. second impact had taken her teenage years, it was so unfair...so damn unfair.

"Misato! It's done!" Shinji yelled, breaking her thoughts.

"Give me a minute!", she yelled as she finished drying her body off. Her skin had a bit of a shine to it, but the headache was gone at least.

When she was done she tossed her towel into the corner, thinking that Shinji could get it later, and headed to the kitchen. She was dressed in her usual work clothes and her phone was in her pocket.

Her mouth watered as she eyed the eggs, sausage and pancakes, her insecurities all but erased in the face of Shinji's cooking.

"Is something wrong, Misato?" Shinji asked. Misato had been standing still for 15 seconds straight. He had been waiting for her before he started eating; Asuka, on the other hand, was already halfway through her plate.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing" Misato sat down at the table but before she could eat, her pants started buzzing. She dropped her fork that already had a chunk of sausage, and checked to see who it was.

"Yeah, Rits?" she asked curtly. She was hungry and not in the mood for setbacks to satisfying it.

"Hey Misato," her voice sounded a little hollow over the phone, "Just wanted to let you know that the sync test is going to be delayed until 5:00."

Misato checked the time. 2:00.

"Alright, that all?" Ritsuko said no but Misato hung up anyways. She could deal with that at work.

"What was it?" Shinji asked, swallowing a bite of pancake. He was surprised that Asuka hadn't criticized his food yet.

"The sync test got delayed till five" she said as she drank a cup of orange juice that Shinji had laid out, "I swear I can't even blink without someone bothering me."

Shinji all but slapped himself as he remembered what he was supposed to do. The app!

Misato noticed Shinji's look. "What's the problem," she asked as she gulped down some orange juice.

"I-it's nothing. Just remembered something," he said as he sliced off another piece of pancake. Both Misato and Asuka found it funny how Shinji ate, never biting anything whole, instead slicing piece after piece off.

"What?" Misato didn't like her questions getting ducked, especially by Shinji.

"Just...I just remembered that I had some dishes to do from last night." He wasn't fully lying but he still took an extra long sip of water as Misato eyed him.

"Okay then..." It was pretty obvious that Shinji was lying what with taking the 30-second drink of water and tapping his legs under the table.

The rest of breakfast was spent in the usual manner, though with a little less teasing than usual.

"So Shinji," Misato covered her mouth as she swallowed some sausage, "how do you like that phone I got you, it's the newest model you know." With all that Shinji did for her, she thought it was okay to splurge on him a little bit.

"What!? Why don't I have a new phone!?" Asuka yelled. Since when does the brat get special treatment!?

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"There you go, Pen-Pen", Shinji said, dropping some sardines into his food bowl. The warm water penguin looked unpleased that it had taken the human so long to get his food but he accepted it anyway.

Wark!

Once Pen-Pen gave his gratitude, Shinji headed towards his room. He had only three minutes until they had to go and he figured that was enough time to get rid of the app.

Alright, now where did I put you, he asked himself as he began his search.

Drawer...no. Bed...no. Closet? No. Where was it? He began to wonder if perhaps he had left it in the bathroom or the kitchen, but alas he had run out of time.

"C'mon Shinji! Get your lazy butt out here!" Asuka yelled at him, her temper already on extra spicy after finding out about the new phone.

"Okay!" he took one last glance around his room before leaving.

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Chapter Three: Murky Water End

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Author Note: sorry if the ending seemed a little abrupt.

I tried to make my writing of scenery and rooms a bit more detailed without forcing readers to all see the same image, I want people to have their own interpretation of rooms. Tell me if you think I'm doing that and also tell me what you think of things this far, it's only the beginning of the story. Next chapter coming out tomorrow~

Peace.