Again sorry for not uploading. Corrupted files are a pain in the ass. I actually finally fixed all the files yesterday but I decided to just upload the chapter today instead. Sorry again!

Chapter 9: Help from a friend

Cross winced again as Washington was slammed into yet another wall.

"I think I'd like to surrender." Wash gasped as he fell to the ground in a heap. Tex just gave an evil laugh as she walked up to his crumpled body.

"Come on." She teased. "We just started." Washington slowly got up and looked at her. She poked him and he fell back on his ass. "Fine, if you say so." She finished as she turned around and left the training arena. As soon as she had left, Cross left the observation deck to help him.

"That was quite a beating." he mused as he kneeled down by Wash's side. Wash remained silent. "Uh, Wash?" he asked.

"Huh? What did you say?" Wash suddenly commented as he sat up. Cross just sighed.

"Listen," Cross said after a second. "Why don't I help you out so you don't get your ass kicked the next time you train with Tex or any other agent?"

Washington looked at Cross, then slowly smiled. "I accept." He answered.

INSERT TRAINING MONTAGE AND ROCKY THEME SONG HERE

Washington fell onto his bed completely wiped out and exhausted. For the past three hours, Cross had trained Wash in hand to hand combat. By the time it was over, Wash was tired, sweaty and cranky, but mostly, he was hungry. He slowly got up and headed towards the mess hall. On the way he passed by Crosses room where he could hear constant curses coming from. He decided to leave him alone for the time being.

Once he was at the mess hall, he saw Tex, North, and York sitting together and eating. He grabbed his food and went to sit by them.

"Hey Wash what's up?" York greeted him.

"Oh, nothing much." He responded. "Just getting some food."

The group went back to talking about random crap. However, every now and then, North and Tex would make eye contact and she seemed to be trying to communicate with him. It took him a few minutes but he finally realized that she wanted to be alone with agent Washington. He thought fast of how to make this happen.

"Oh, York." He said loudly. "I think I remember where your towel is." York stopped talking and looked quizzically at North who quickly stood up.

"What towel?" he questioned.

"Just get up and leave." North leaned down and whispered to York.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

"Bu-"

Suddenly in one swift movement North grabbed York and pulled him away from the table and out of the mess hall.

"Dude what the fuck?!" York yelled at him.

"SHHHHH." North responded. "Tex was trying to tell me to leave Wash and her alone!"

"Why?" York pestered. North went quiet.

"I don't know." He finally answered.

"So what's it like having and A.I. in your head?" Wash asked.

"You feel the same except it just seems like someone else is in your mind with you." She answered honestly. "Imagine renting out part of your brain to somebody." Wash thought on that for a while.

"Does it ever become annoying?" He finally questioned.

"Well, sometimes." She answered. "Especially because they can read your damn thoughts." Wash's eyes grew wide at the thought of that and he started murmuring to himself. Their conversation eventually turned to other matters mostly about missions and past experiences. Slowly, Wash grew up his confidence on telling Texas about his feelings. Finally, after about 30 minutes of talking, Wash steeled his nerves.

"Hey Tex." He started. She looked at him with a small smile and an innocent look on her face. "I just wanted to tell you that I-." He was about to say the important part of his sentence when he was interrupted by F.I.L.S.S.

"Agent Texas and Agent Carolina." She chirped. "Please report to the director's office immediately." Tex sighed and got up. The moment was ruined and now she had to go somewhere. She gave an apologetic smile and left the room leaving an upset Washington behind her.

"Son of a bitch!" Cross yelled from underneath his desk. "I knew I should have spent more time wiring this piece of shit." He was stuck underneath his desk trying to rewire his computer so it would work. So far all he had found was hundreds of tangled wires, some dust and a small agrarian society. Suddenly, Cross heard his door open. He pulled himself out from the forest of crap to see Washington standing in front of him.

"Hi Cross." He said solemnly. Instantly Cross knew something was wrong.

"Okay." He sighed. "What's wrong?"

"So you know agent Texas?" Wash asked. Cross nodded his head. "Well I, uh, kind of, um, like her."

"Yeah she's my friend too." Cross answered slowly. Wash shook his head.

"No I mean I like like her." Wash finally spilled.

Cross went dead still.

After somewhere around 20 minutes, Cross finally wrapped his head around what Wash had said. It was another 10 before he could speak.

"Okay." Cross said slowly. "You first have to get to know her." He thought for a second before thinking of something. "Okay so you know her as an agent but not as a real person." He continued. "How about you ask her out on a date?" Wash though for a second before slowly nodding.

"That could work." He finally answered. Cross smiled.

"Then that's the plan." He stated confidently. "You ask her out on a date, when she gets back from her mission.

"Agent Texas, Agent Carolina." The director greeted. "Your mission is to sneak into enemy territory and retrieve an agent with vital information on Insurrectionist plans and strategies. His operative name is Agent New Hampshire. He will be wearing Light blue armor with Pink as his secondary color. Good luck you two."

Agent Texas and Carolina saluted then headed towards the landing bay. They had a job to do.

And boom. Chapter 9 is complete. R&R. See you next Friday when my stories hopefully won't be corrupted or missing (have to rewrite about three stories). Also, writing romance is HARD.