[The name of my OC is Lydia Romanoff and is made up by me.]

"He got you a happy meal? Well I suppose eyepatch isn't half as bad as I thought then. Not even Jerry got the idea of feeding me junk food past midnight when he had his shine to me." Dorothy said as we made our way towards the dining room for breakfast. We met up in the girls dormitory after I had sneaked away from Pip's room early in the morning.

"You're not upset that I left you then?" I asked her.

"Of course not. To be honest, I'm more upset that you didn't share your happy meal with me."

I laughed at her words and touched her arm apologetically.

"What happened after that? I mean after getting the letter from the ambassador?" she asked.

"We talked for a bit about it all, and then I fell ill again and Pip left me to rest. He had some matters in his office and I haven't seen him since." I said, remembering how exhausted I had felt all of the sudden and drifted off to sleep. Which might have been for the best, since our conversation wasn't a pleasant one.

"Well you don't have to wait for much longer." Dorothy said as we entered the dining room.

She was right. There he was. Sitting down at table near the middle of the room surrounded by his men whilst enjoying their morning cigarettes and coffee. It was strange. Everything was just as it should be. Nothing had changed. But I knew these two weeks would pass by way too quickly.

"I suppose we shouldn't risk it and sit down with them." Dorothy gave me a cautious look and I shook my head in agreement to that refusal.

"Not at all. We shouldn't draw attention to us that we can live without." I said.

If I only knew how right and wrong I was in that matter. We thought we were safe, both Dorothy and I, as we walked into the dining room like we normally did, only that we noticed that we were the only two from our school here.

Well except for one woman. And she didn't spare us the attention we avoided one bit.

"Knowles and Romanoff!" her voice shouted, like a queen from her throne in a chaotic castle hall.

She spotted us like two deer in front of a huge truck in the middle of the dining room, surrounded by the Wild Geese army. Her heels knocked on the wooden boards on the floor as she marched towards us like a furious Mary Poppins.

I think neither Dorothy and I had seen Miss Hepburn so angry before in our short lives. She had even managed to snatch all the gazes from the military men, including Pip who removed his cigarette from his lips and lifted his head towards us to inspect the situation. That was the last time I dared to sacrifice a glance at the man. He shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't bother watching. If I could, I would make him look away. But it was too late now.

The mug of salt had already been dropped on the cake.

Miss Hepburn stood in front of us, and her gaze landed on me first. Without managing another thought, she rose her hand and slapped me across the face from my left side with her feeble palm. Then she did the exact same with Dorothy. She wasn't a big woman, but her hit was hard enough to cause pain.

All the chatter in the dining room died down. Even the staff stopped whatever they were occupied with to behold the situation.

"What in the world were you two thinking?!" she shouted at us both. Dorothy and I looked at each other and then back at her in shock.

"You got into a fight with a mercenary soldier? A grown-up man in uniform?" she asked us in disbelief; her brown and green eyes staring at us fiercely.

Of course Dorothy was the one to speak up first.

"What kind of difference does it make if he wear a uniform Miss? We're in uniforms as well!" she said, giving my skirt a gently tug. I heard a few men chuckle at Dorothy's reply, but Miss Hepburn didn't care one bit about that huge audience. She already had the bite between her teeth.

I don't think I've felt so humiliated in my entire life. My face and my ears were burning and my heart was beating in a strange speed in my chest. All I was grateful for was that my fever had gone away. But if I wasn't careful with myself, I would certainly pass out at any second.

"Don't give any of your cheek to me Miss Knowles." she warned Dorothy with a stare that could scare away wolves. "You already took it though..." Dorothy muttered back, holding the side of her face that got slapped. I could still feel the pain too.

"Whatever gave you two the right to jump onto a solitary man like that?" she asked, gambling her stare between the two of us.

"I'm sorry Miss, but you make him sound like a victim." I said to Miss Hepburn in the most sensible manner I could, and her frown loosened a bit. But what she said next was still way too offending to be ignored.

"Perhaps that could be the situation. You were two ganging up on one person after all."

"I'm sorry again Miss Hepburn." I raised my voice at her, earning her attention back. "When he held Dorothy down, it was like beating a Persian carpet with a fly smacker. How can you make victim of such a person?" I asked her and I saw her brows furrow in confusion at the paradox I just had used, but I didn't have much else to compare it to and I earned a few chuckles from the men. But I didn't dare to look at Pip. Not after just being hit in the face by the hand of my teacher.

"So you do admit to beating the man?" Miss Hepburn asked me.

Dorothy stepped back in then.

"But she wouldn't have done it unless I had taken him down on the floor!" she said innocently and to our utter amazement, the soldiers in the dining room began cheering and clapping their hands like excited men watching a burlesque show.

But when Miss Hepburn scanned the crowd of men around us, even their loud and savage voices died down. I always liked Miss Hepburn. But when she got angry, I didn't want anything to do with her.

"I always knew this mix was a bad one." she said whilst glancing around at the mercenaries. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. I was quite certain she counted to ten in her mind.

"Dorothy and Lydia." she said, now using our first names. "I only want the best for the two of you. I've been worried. And now after all this worry, I got angry. Let us speak another time when it's more suited." One could hear how much she tried to not sound upset when she spoke, but there was still some anger trapped in her eyes.

"Today we have a trip planned to the local Zoo. The two of you would've known this if you were to be found yesterday…" she said, eyeing us both and we looked down at our feet awkwardly.

"You have a 15 minutes to finish your breakfast, and then we shall depart. Be ready by then." she said, mostly to Dorothy, then she looked at me.

"Unfortunately, Lydia. I did not sign you up for this trip since you've been in sickness and I wasn't sure if you'd be able to join us." Miss Hepburn said.

I blinked at that information. I never knew anything about a Zoo in the first place, so I didn't really mind not going.

"It's alright." I said.

"No it's not!" Dorothy protested. "If she won't come with, I won't either!" she said, sounding stubborn. Miss Hepburn sighed, still looking at me. "If your really want to join us we could rent a cab. I'm afraid the buses are full." she told me, but I didn't want to be any more trouble for Miss Hepburn so I kindly refused.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I must go. I hope you won't get yourself in trouble during these 15 minutes. I'll keep my eyes on the two of you." she said and exited the dining room.

Dorothy and I stood awkwardly in the middle of the dining room. Ever so slowly, the men began talking again, but I was quite sure that most of them still had their ears and eyes open in case we would offer more entertainment for them. We began walking towards the buffet slowly. Some of the men were still watching us shamelessly.

"Shut up Lydia. You're going to the Zoo with me." Dorothy decided. "We won't let her ruin our fun just because we gave Jerry what he deserved." she said, and I noticed some of the men smirking at the mention of him. He was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't care much for any Zoo today, Dory." I told her. "And I don't want to arrive in a cab by myself, that would be awkward."

"Fine." Dorothy said, and halted. She had to do it near Pip's table too, so he could hear everything we were saying.

"If you don't care about any Zoo then I won't either." she said victoriously. "Don't be silly, you're already signed up so Miss Hepburn expect you to. But I'm a lost cause since she never counted me in, in the first place." I said and continued walking, but I needed to stop and turn around because she was too stubborn to move out of her spot.

"Again: fine..." she said with a smirk. I wondered what she was on about, until her eyes traveled to where Pip was sitting.

No.

"What do you think?" she asked him.

"Don't involve him!" I shouted at her and Dorothy grinned. "It's just a question."

I shot my eyes at Pip, who looked amused at the scene behind his morning coffee.

"Don't answer her." I told him. The men around us turned their heads with foolish smiles on their faces. Before any more awkwardness happened, I made sure it wouldn't.

"Dorothy, come on. You can manage another day without me." I told her and pulled her arm. She rolled her eyes and dragged after me to the buffet.

"I suppose. What's a Zoo really, in comparison to this place? You got Tarzan looking after you."

"If I only knew she would've hurt you, I would've let her slap me instead." Pip said and breathed out a portion of smoke in the air. We watched the horizon of forest once again from the bench.

"I can't believe Dorothy tried to convince you to make me come with her to the Zoo. That was embarrassing." I said, sitting cross-legged on the bench with my shoes removed on the grass.

"You got awfully odd priorities when it comes to concerns." he chuckled and looked at me. "You'd rather have a slap in the face than your friend lurking an opinion from an old man like me. How sweet isn't that?" he asked with a smile

"It's a sensitive matter." I told him. "And with all your men looking… What must they think of us?" I asked and shook my head with a sigh. Pip's heavy arm fell over my both shoulders, his large hand grabbing my upper arm from the other side of me from where he's sitting.

"That I'm lucky as hell." he said proudly.

"Then what about me?" I asked, looking up at his profile.

"Less lucky. Your teacher shouldn't have been so harsh on you. You would've learned your lesson with the scolding only. There was no need for her hand." he said.

"But there's need for yours." I said unthinkingly, capturing his hand that was caressing my arm.

"Of course, you can always have my hand." he said and leaned down to snuggle his nose into the side of my face. "I love how I always manage to put color on your face without doing much." he whispered, and I giggled bashfully.

"At least you don't have to force it out with violence." I said, and Pip looked at me thoughtfully, almost with pity.

"I hate to hear you talk like that." he said.

"I'm sorry Pip. I'm just embarrassed." I said, tucking a loose hair behind my ear.

"It is for me to feel embarrassed. I was one second from standing up from my chair if she hadn't made your punishment mutual. I suppose the strike Dorothy got, distracted me from doing something completely tactless." Pip said.

I looked at him, wondering.

"Would you have-" I stopped myself, not knowing how to fill in that sentence.

"I don't even know myself what I would've done." he admitted. "Perhaps pull you away from the situation and run out here with you. I'll consider it next time, if something similar happens." he said, and not at all in a joking manner.

"Would you do that for me?" I asked, feeling myself gape a little.

It was hard to know exactly what went through his mind back then when he was just one of the people in the crowd.

"I would do anything for you Lydia."

One would think that might've been a very bold thing to say in such a complex and messy situation like this. But Pip never misused his own words. He was always sincere.

A wind blew past us, and I found myself snuggling closer to him. The sky was grey and cloudy, like there would be rain soon.

"How will you spend your day now, when you got spared from a day in the Zoo?" he asked me.

"I was hoping you'd let me know." I smiled up at him, and he looked down at me tenderly.

"I'll be practicing shooting this evening. But until then, and after, I'm all yours."

My smile faded a bit when I saw how he looked at me with so much affection.

"Can I kiss you Pip?" I asked suddenly. It all came out in a dramatic whisper, and to my surprise, the captain looked more blissful than amazed.

"Of course you can." he said calmly.

I almost regretted my question when he looked down at me attentively, leaving it all up to me alone. I glanced down at his mouth before tipping my head to the side and leaned up towards him carefully, almost cowardly.

Pip sat completely still, and I got the impression that he was pulling further and further away from me but I got proven wrong when I felt the curve of my lips nudge his. Even when I pouted my lips, I didn't get any response from him, but I remained for a while before I was half satisfied and move away.

It was a gutless peck that a ten-year-old would give their sweetheart.

"What was that about? Didn't you want it?" I asked him, slightly offended. But Pip appeared to be more satisfied with that little action than I was. That silly little cowardly kiss that barely counted as a real one.

"I was curious about what you were on about." he said and took a blow on his cigarette.

"What I was on about? I told you I would kiss you." I deadpanned.

"You said it, but I wanted to see how you would put it in action." he said, meanwhile breathing out some smoke and adjusted his hat. "Don't worry. It was very nice. I'll remember that."

"Very nice?" I repeated his words and wanted to imagine I was raising an eyebrow at him. Pip hid a laugh as he made himself comfortable next to me.

"It was a very appealing and memorable peck." he said, but it made it even worse somehow.

It wasn't even a kiss. It was a peck.

"It was the first time I kissed you by my own record so you should at least give me some credit Pip." I nagged.

"I am giving you credit." he assured. "Only that, for a moment, I didn't think you would actually dare."

"Am I that weak to you?" I asked him, and leaned forward to peek at his face from underneath the hat.

"Now, don't go overboard." he said softly with a deep chuckle. "Don't be so hard on yourself Lydia. I did enjoy it. From the bottom of my heart, and I will remember it in the oddest of moments."

"Fine I believe you." I told him at last, giving up. "But I will never ask you that question ever again." I said stubbornly and slummed down next to his side.

"Well aren't you a funny one. Angel lips and tongue like a razor. Sometimes, Lydia, you can be curiously unfeeling." he said, taking the last blow of his cigarette before throwing it on the grass, this time rejecting the stuffed teacup altogether.

Pip turned to his side and looked at me. He moved his tobaccosmelling hand to put another few loose hairs behind my ear.

"But you love me, and I wanted to feel that love. I wanted your blessing, without me asking for it, and I will surely remember it." he said.

"Thank you Pip." I merely whispered, feeling foolish for doubting him.

"Stay this innocent, Lydia. Don't let the world make you hard. You got something that I lost a long time ago." he said melodramatically.

"Innocent? I don't know. I already want to kiss you again." I grinned and looked down at my lap with a blush. "But do keep in mind that you are the one and only to blame for it."

"Yes, I usually am." he said, watching me with a curious fascination. He leaned down closer to me and my hands moved up to hold his face. When our lips united this time, Pip spared me the embarrassment and kissed me back fully, pulling me in by my waist. I felt drops of rain beginning to fall on us.

It felt too good. Way too good to be true. I pulled away, but I still held his face in my hands, looking at him with concern.

"I know you want to play your part in Poland's troubles and I respect that more than anyone else on earth, but I just can't seem to stop counting every minute and hour." I told him whilst caressing my thumbs over his cheeks. His hat gave him protection from the modest rain that seemed to only drop one raindrop at a time; but our clothes had already gotten patterned with them.

Pip glanced down at my lips and reached up to capture my hands in his bigger and moved them down in between our waists where he was holding them still.

"You're in love Lydia, and I don't blame you. There's nothing to be ashamed of." he said and it felt like the last breath had left me when he said this so bluntly.

"But I am the lone wolf that walks in solitude and all places are the same to me. I have nothing to promise you and nothing to share with you. If you wasn't so very sweet to me, so sweet you made me think all things were possible, I wouldn't let you anywhere near me Lydia. My little sweet Lydia..."

He started laughing in the middle of this and it was like hearing a cry of pain in a morning service in church. The rain had started pouring down mercilessly.

"But we should really get back now. Put your shoes on or you'll get filthy." he said and leaned down to pick them up for me.

I sniffed and put them on clumsily while sitting on the bench with an ocean of emotions inside my heart. I grabbed Pip by the arm and we walked together over the field with the sound of rain increasing.

I cursed to myself as I found it difficult to walk with all the thoughts and emotions running berserk in my human shell with him beside me, so near me this entire time. It was eating me up from within. It was truly a burden to not know if your heart was broken or not.

"Are you alright?" Pip asked.

"My shoes are sticking into the mud." I growled in annoyance without looking at him. My fingers were digging into his arm, not to cause him pain but because I knew he could take it.

I wasn't angry at Pip, just at myself for feeling the way I did.

"Do you want me to carry you?" he asked me and I looked up at him, almost appearing offended by his kind offer.

"I can manage very well on my own two legs thank you." I told him in all of my bashfulness.

"I find it alluring when you're angry." he said in the middle of our unexpected terrain hiking, but he kept the pace and did not badger with me further about it. He gave me his full permission to be upset and walk off my emotions.

Well, some of them.