chapter by me...enjoy

Chapter Seven

Hoagie sat at the round table at TND headquarters Sunday morning with his chin rested upon his folded arms. He didn't want to dare look Numbuh 362 in the eye as she stood up at the head of the table. He took a glance at Fanny, who seemed to be kicking herself inside as much as he was. For the first time working together, they had failed completely.

"Right, as we know the original idea of sneaking into her house and stealing the evidence was a bad one." Rachel drummed her fingers as she spoke quietly.

"So, what do you propose we do then?" Nigel enquired, glancing at Hoagie for a mere split second before returning his attention to the front.

"Well, luckily we always have a backup plan." She pulled a roll-easy white board with a timetable written on it. She pointed to the first box with writing in it under 'Monday'. "Right, Monday morning at first period is English. Besides myself, who's in this class?"

Abby and Patton raised their hands, and Rachel continued.

"Right, so the three of us are to keep an eye on Ms. Tessla at all times. Now, for the Tuesday Shop Class, which is Numbuhs 2, 23 and 4, you need to do the same thing. And the rest goes for the week. Anytime she leaves the room, check her desk unnoticed. She has important information of the adults' new plans, and we need to get them away from enemy lines. Understood?"

Everyone nodded once, and Rachel nodded back. "Right, this meeting is dismissed."

All the present operatives got up and shuffled out of the room in pairs, muttering to each other and sharing gossip they'd been holding onto for the time of the meeting. All except for Fanny however, who opted to stay behind and plan a little more with Rachel. But her curiousity of not looking at anyone got the better of her, and she peered up to see Hoagie bringing up the rear of the leavers.

Her mind wandered back to last night; the way he held her so protectively, the way the warmth of his body calmed her, and the way he was so soft to lean upon…

She shook her head furiously. So what if he wasn't as hard as a wood plank to hang onto? What if he was warm and more protective in his hold? What did that seriously matter to her anyway? She had Albert, and that was all she needed, right?

Well, she thought he was all she needed. They never fought or even had a snip at each other. He treated her like a princess and gave her all she asked for. And was just so nice…

Too nice. She analyzed it carefully. He was just too nice to her. But isn't what every girl asks for in a guy?

"Fanny, are you busy or something?" Rachel inquired as she seated herself, snapping her friend out of her trance.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking." She replied with a half-hearted smile. Unfortunately, Rachel saw right through it.

"You aren't fine. I saw you having a perv as he walked out."

"I was NOT perving on anyone. And even if I was, it'd would be on my boyfriend." She made sure it got through Rachel's head that she was indeed happily taken be another boy.

"Right, your boyfriend…" She trailed off, looking as if she wanted to ask a question but didn't want to in fear of a bad reaction. But it seemed the temptation and curiousity got the better of her. "Fanny, mind me asking what happened last night? Because the tension between you two is so thick you could cut it with a knife."

Fanny knew it was her boss, but she couldn't help but glare at her. "We went to the house, got the USB drive and left. That's it."

Rachel knew then she was avoiding the question. "You know what I mean Fanny."

"Look, nothing happened!" Fanny got up in a boiling rage. "We did the mission and failed, end of story!"

And before Rachel could breath a word, the fiery redhead had already stormed through the door.

-----------------------

Monday morning couldn't have come quicker, meaning phase one of the weeklong plan was to commence. Though, Hoagie had this tiny nagging feeling that it wasn't going to work. That is was just some trick, and they were playing right into it. But as his duty as a TND operative, he had to think positive. Though, he didn't see how he could think positive now.

Abby walked beside him and Wally that morning, both noticing he wasn't doing as good as made out to be to Nigel. To them, Hoagie seemed almost…depressed.

They got to his locker, and both Abby and Wally looked from him to each other. Neither of them knew what to say. Abby opened her mouth, then thought the better of it and closed it again. Their answer however, came just in time as Rachel grabbed the technician's arm, send a silent apology and stalked off with him. Abby folded her arms with a smirk, before tipping her hat over her eyes and heading off with her Aussie friend in the opposite direction. If anyone could sort him out, it would be their supreme boss.

"So, how about you tell me what really happened last night." Rachel stated, pursing her lips as Hoagie rolled his eyes.

"What, because Fanny didn't tell you squat you assumed I would?" He stopped, and sighed. "Look, nothing went on. We almost got caught, but didn't. That's really the only other deal that happened."

"So then why aren't you two even looking at each other then?"

Hoagie stopped, trying to figure out how he'd worm his way out of this one. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of anything.

"Hoagie, you can't keep pretending everything's fine." She stated, placing a hand on his shoulder. "If this...war you two are having keeps up, I might consider putting you both on the sidelines for a break."

"You can't do that!" He finally got the courage to say.

Rachel sighed, seeing how much this idea irked him. To be honest, it pained her to even think about it. "Well, it's a qualified rule Hoagie. You either sort things out with her soon, or you're both out of job until you do."

She took one last look at him with uttermost pain, before leaving for her class.