I don't know why I didn't turn down her offer, and leave, right then, but, I didn't. It was strange to be, in a way, working together. She offered me full use of her computer, and the password-inator that had allowed her access to my secret compartment. I'd have to confiscate it later, of course, but in the meantime… I suddenly had more access to O.W.C.A. than I'd ever had before.

While I delved deep into the archives, she was busy tinkering with old pieces of inators I'd personally destroyed. Only instead of building something evil, she was working on replicating the equipment I was used to working with. I was surprised to realize that I was looking forward to testing her versions out.

We kept on like that for hours. The comfortable silence between us was vastly preferable to her brother rambling on and on about his evil plots and back stories.

After a while, I realized that she was the only one working. I was just watching her. Something about the situation bothered me, and it took a moment to figure out what it was. I quickly jotted something down on a piece of paper, and handed it to her. 'You ought to smile more.'

She stared at it, then at me. "I was smiling?"

I nodded.

"Well… I was just thinking how I could use this technique in the latest plot I have brewing."

And she's back. I rolled my eyes, and started writing again. 'Why do you do that? Every time I try to show you that you're not evil, you try harder to be.'

"You don't think I'm evil?"

I switched to the computer since I type faster than I write. 'I think you could be if you wanted to. But you obviously don't.'

"Where have you been the past five years? Oh yeah, thwarting me!"

Technically, your brother. I sighed. 'I don't know why I bother.' I really didn't. After all, why should it matter now, after all these years?'So what's your scheme? Might as well give me the monologue now and save some time.'

"It's not ready yet. You know how these things work."

'How can it not be ready? You've had three days!'

"I've been a little busy." She shot me an accusing glare, then refused to say another word.

I couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't because she didn't really have an argument. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that she'd always played the sidelines. Never getting involved if she could help it.

After we'd turned in, I fell asleep almost instantly. I woke up an hour later, instinctively on edge. I lay in bed for a moment, wondering what had woken me, when I realized that someone was crying. Considering where I was… I rolled over, and tried to go back to sleep. After a few minutes, I sighed, and got up.

I slowly opened the door, just meaning to peek in and make sure she hadn't hurt herself somehow. She was in bed, curled around a pillow that wasn't quite muffling her quiet sobs. Despite myself, something lurched in my chest. She just looked so, vulnerable. There it was again. Through all the fights, the rambling, the countless hours of traumatic back-stories, I'd never seen her hurt this close to the surface.

I hesitated. She was still my enemy. But… even the comfort an enemy could offer would be better than just, leaving her there to cry her heart out alone. I crept into the room, and eased onto the side of the bed. She barely noticed as I put my hand on her shoulder. Her only reaction was to bury her face deeper into the pillow.

She'd had a hard life, and I knew most of her story. Looking at the picture of the crooked man on her nightstand, it all flashed before me as if I'd seen it, instead of just heard it. Born the youngest of three children, her parents had practically ignored her since birth. Her oldest brother, an evil scientist bent on world domination, was the only one to care for her. According to her, she'd never have survived if he hadn't watched out for her.

My nemesis had told me his back story many, many times during the five years I'd fought him. According to him, the same parents had neglected to show up for his birth, forced him to work as a garden gnome, of all things, named their dog Only Son, made him wear dresses that had been intended for a baby girl that turned out to be the middle brother, and disowned him for not jumping from the high dive, forcing him to move in with ocelots. Apparently Rodger had been enough for them, and when they finally had the daughter they'd wanted, they'd treated her just as badly as their oldest son. Doof, a teenager trying to make his way in the America at the time, had taken her under his wing, helping when he could. Shortly after that, he'd married his now ex-wife, and they'd had a daughter of their own before splitting up. I still didn't know what had suddenly changed enough for her to come all the way over here to move in with him, but I did know that Vanessa and Hilda were the two bright points in his life.

I glared at the picture. She could adore him all she wanted; but right at that moment I was pretty ticked off at him. She may not have survived without him, but I highly doubted she would have decided to be evil without him, either, and what kind of thing was that to do to a kid?

I reached for her other shoulder, and started to massage them gently. It had calmed me down the time Mom found me crying in the middle of the night. I shoved aside the memory of Terrance Turks, and focused on Hilda. She'd stopped crying, but she had her face buried so deeply in her pillow, I was afraid it was because she'd smothered herself. I gently reached to pull it away, but she put up such a fight, I decided she was fine, and let her keep it. Mom had spoken comforting words to me. I couldn't do that, so I did what I could, and hoped it would still have the same effect.

When the tension left her shoulders completely, I reached for the pillow again. It came away easily this time, and I slipped it under her head, and smoothed out her covers. I resisted the urge to kiss her forehead, and wondered where it had come from in the first place.

I shrugged, and headed back for my own room, deciding that Mom must've done that to me, or something.

A/N: Okay, sorry for this, but I just couldn't resist. For one thing, Perry trying awkwardly to comfort a crying girl is just too cute to pass up! And yes, my Terence Turks comment is a reference to that "Hey look, it's Agent T! Too soon?" comment from Monogram in The Remains of the Platypus episode in season 3. Not a huge moment, but it did get me wondering, and there you go! (Yeah, tramatized teenage Perry needed comfort from his Mom after a mission was too good to pass up, too.)

Thanks for reading this far! Feel free to drop a review! (Seriously, it's free. ;)