A/N: Blah blah blah, copyright, blah. I'm nice, so you guys get a two-for-one deal right now. Yay, plot! ...Then more relationship stuff. Darn.
EDIT: I don't know what the hell is up with 's formatting. I fixed it for those that were confused about the narrative change.

"Bullshit."

It was the first word spoken since we'd broke the news to them. Of course, it came from Soldier, but he said it as though he was denying an epiphany (that's a word you don't get to use a lot).
Spy and I were up in front of the overhead, with him stone-faced and me fidgeting non-stop. "HQ knew I knew too much," I said, sounding much more calm than I really was. "That's why they sent that message."
Engineer put a hand on his half-shaved, half-bald head. "Jesus," he muttered, shaking his head. "So, we're jes' sittin' here, waitin' to die?"
"Pretty much," I said lamely.
Spy's gloved hand touched mine for a split second as he stepped forward - it was weird how I was noticing these subtle little things now. "By now, 'eadquarters probably knows sat we know, so we much consider 'ow much 'arder eet will be for us."
"An' now, we're all paranoid," Demoman muttered, looking pale as he drank from his bottle of scrumpy.
"Well, what do we do now?" Pyro asked, wringing a glove in his hand.

Soldier stood up, a hand holding down his helmet on the table. "What we've been doing." He moved to stand up with us and, after looking at us, turned to look at everyone while tapping the table's surface. "We have a mission here. I just think the terms of treatment towards the REDs should be a little less severe, wouldn't you say?" Everyone gave noises of assent. "Also, I should mention tour final team member will be arriving tonight."
"Oh?" I blinked, giving a look to Spy, who met my gaze evenly.
"Now. If there are no questions, you're dismissed." Soldier stood up straight and looked at me. "We meet tonight?"
"Yeah. They're bringin' their Medic, Soldier, and Spy."
"Sounds like a good set-up. You want to come, or...?"
I paused, then surprised myself by shaking my head. "Nah. It'd be best ta keep the quo even, probably."
Soldier nodded, stepping away and gesturing to Spy and Medic. "Alright. Be ready, you two. We're meeting at four. Engie, try and get that line set up, alright?"

Engineer was going to set up an encrypted line between the two bases, just in case. He tapped his helmet in a small salute.
"Are you sure you want to stay be'ind?" Spy asked as everyone filed out of the war room.
I shrugged. "I don't have anythin' ta say. Besides, I wanna help Engie set up the line."
Spy nodded, then paused and said, "It feels good to 'ave everysing off your chest, no?"
I fought the urge to shoot back with, "You kiddin'? I'm not even close to having everything off my chest", but I just nodded and said, "Yeah. It kinda does." I put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Don't take too long. The new guy will get here soon, and I don't want to give him a reason to actually hate the REDs."
"Of course." He didn't move for a second. Then, he did something weird; he kind of twitched his head so that his chin rested on my hand for a split second before he slid out the door.

I stared after him. Huh.

-Spy-

He stared at his face in the mirror, taking in the dark circles around his eyes and the shadow of stubble starting to appear on his face. Without a word, he pulled on his mask, and it all disappeared, the cloth cool and smooth on his otherwise rough features.
Adjusting the cuffs of his shirt, he stepped out of his room and headed for the den, making sure his cloaking watch was working, in case things got ugly. And once Medic came out from his room, they headed out for the meeting spot.

They were early, naturally. Spy counted the exact number of minutes they waited before the RED Spy calmly scurried down the ladder - twelve. Following were the Medic and Soldier, the first of which showed immediate joy at the sight of his BLU counterpart. "Vilhem!" he exclaimed, pulling said doctor into a hug before starting up casual conversation in German.
No introductions were made; the Soldiers stared each other down for a minute before moving directly into planning. After a total of seven minutes, the RED spy motioned for his BLU counterpart to follow him down the tunnel, just out of earshot of the others.
"'ow ees Bryan?" He asked, both to stall and out of a need to know.
"Confused. 'e tries to be strong, sough."
RED nodded. "Typical American seese days, no?" He chuckled, then paused before adding, "We're getting our Sniper tonight."
"I suppose we are, too. Zee last member?"
"Oui. Eet would probably be best to tell zem right away of zee situation."

The BLU Spy nodded, then turned back to the Soldiers. An agreement had apparently been made, as they nodded and hesitantly shook hands before turning away from each other and making their ways to the opposite ladders.
When Soldier relayed the "act like you're shooting to kill" plan, Spy couldn't keep his eyes off of Bryan. It was funny how often he was referring to the Bostonian by his real name instead of his code name; professionalism was starting to take a back seat to the whole 'people are killing each other because of a game' thing.
He also noticed, however, a change in Bryan; he was hiding something now, behind his sometimes forcefully cheerful demeanor. He hadn't been as naive as to assume it was nothing; he was immediately suspicion when he had first noticed it. But as opposed to what the rational side of his brain said, which was that Bryan was either withholding vital information or was really a double agent, something in his gut told him that this wasn't about work. It was something more... personal.
Their eyes met briefly, and Bryan smiled. There was something strangely sad about it, but Spy couldn't tell exactly why.

-Scout-

Spy kept staring at me. I could see in his eyes that he was trying to figure me out, and that he was second-guessing himself.
I tried to give him an encouraging, 'don't worry about it' smile, but it wasn't too convincing, if his steady, unchanging expression was any indication.
Not even five minutes later, we heard wheels grinding up sand. This surprised us because we hadn't seen a car since before coming here, and everyone else had arrived on a train.

Our Sniper came in with, literally, the clothes on his back and a rifle bag. That was it. His face was shielded by a wide-brimmed hat, with one side flipped up and a circlet of sharp teeth around the middle, and yellow-tinted aviator glasses. A five o'clock shadow darkened his strong jawline, which tightened slightly as he eyed us all up and down before asking in a gruff Australian accent, "Which one'a ye is Soljah?"
Soldier nodded and headed over to him. Spy casually came over to sit on the arm of the couch. In fact, it was so casual, I immediately knew that something was up.
Soldier pointed down the hall, and then made some gestures that suggested he was directing the newcomer to the overlook we had, where he would providing supporting fire during battles. I saw the Sniper's expression change into one of mild disbelief, probably at the "acting" plan or the schedule, and his eyes boredly went over us again.
And stopped.

On Spy.

His expression immediately hardened, and he cut into Soldier's explanations. "Oi'll figyah it out. Don' worry 'bout me room, oitha; Oi sleep out in me campa." Without one more cold glance at Spy, he turned on his heel and headed out.
"Not exactly social, is he?" Engineer said, calmly turning to Spy. He'd seen it, too, since he asked, "What was that about?"
Spy paused. "I don't know. I 'ave never seen sat man before in my life."

Somehow, I knew he was lying.

It was later that night that I got up out of a dead sleep to go to the bathroom. As I was heading back to my room, though, I saw that Spy's door was open just a crack, showing a sliver of light in the dark hallway. I heard him speaking as I approached, quietly and defensively: "Believe me, eef I could 'ave said somezing -"
"But 'che didn't." The Sniper's voice sounded accusing, and oddly hurt, as it cut him off. I immediately knew that my suspicions were right, and even though my mind scolded me on eavesdropping, I inched closer to the door.
"Because by business took me elsewhere."
Sniper gave a little snort. "An' this is yer business?"
"I guess eet ees."
There was a minute of silence. I stuck my head towards the sliver of door that was open, and saw Spy sitting cross-legged on his bed. A book was lying open and upside down under a gloved hand. Sniper was leaning against the desk across from Spy, hat off to reveal professionally cut, although unkempt, brown hair. Cracked, somewhat bitten nails drummed against the wood. "Ye could've left somethin'," he said.
"I 'ad no time, cheri." My eyebrows furrowed at the use of the term. "Zee move was... sudden."
Sniper seemed mildly satisfied with this. "Oi undahstand the secrecy. But Oi don't completely forgive ye."
Spy nodded. "Understandable." He uncrossed his egs and stood up, extending a hand. "Comrades, non?"
Sniper took it and gave a two-fingered salute. "Roight. Lesee if ye aim as good as ye persuade."

I was halfway down the hall by the time Sniper came out from Spy's room. For some reason, the fact that they knew each other bothered me, since the undertones of their conversation sounded... personal.
I habitually turned on the light in my room, and caught a glimpse of something in the corner of my window. It was caught in the bush, flapping slightly in the wind. When I opened my window and untangled it from the dead branch, I found that it was a picture.
After five second of looking the picture over, a quiet breeze picked up outside, creating a serene atmosphere that was lost in the familiar sensation of confusion washing over my mind. Because I recognized the young woman smiling at me, sitting at a table with a long glass and umbrella garnish. Scribbled in the corner was her name.

Lillian Micheals.

My mom.