The girl snuck down the corridor on the balls of her feet, just as she had been taught. A lot of her lessons had bored her, but when Seth offered to teach her about being stealthy, she had paid close attention and soaked up as much information as she could. That had sparked her inner ninja, as Seth called it. Which is why she was creeping into the room at the end of the hall. The door had been cracked wide enough for her to slip inside.

The man sitting at the large desk seemed oblivious, making her grin. Just a few more steps and-

"What are you doing, Finley?" Ray asked. He hadn't even looked up from the paperwork.

She faltered in her steps, teetering on one leg. "Not fair. I was being sneaky," Finley whined, a pout on her lips. She was sure that she had mastered the lessons. Glancing back toward the door, she tried to riddle out her mistake, but nothing came to mind.

"You've got a long way to go before you can sneak up on me, kid," Ray said with a laugh. His green eyes were alighted with amusement. Finley was his best buddy's four-year-old child, and since her first breaths, Ray had loved her. The older she got, the more of her father he saw in her.

She hopped onto the other leg, swaying until she caught her balance. "I tried to sneak up on Belle, too. She ran away." Finley loved his cat, always picking her up and carrying her around.

"Cats have a sixth sense," Ray answered. He should chastise her for tormenting his cat, but he let it slide this time. Belle had taking a liking to Finley, despite her sometimes-rough treatment. He and Fenrir both had spent a long-time telling Finley to be gentle with Belle.

"Does that make you a cat, too?" She asked.

Ray snorted, having to set down the papers he had been trying to read. "How did you reach that conclusion?"

The girl shrugged and spun around in a circle. "I couldn't sneak up on you either." Finley rounded the desk and came up to him, standing on her tiptoes to get a view of the papers. "What are you doing?" she asked. Her other ventures around the headquarters had led her here. Luka and Sirius were out on the training grounds with some soldiers, Seth had gone into town, and her dad was out on patrol. Out of boredom, she had come to see him.

Ray ruffled her hair, and replied, "Applications to join the army. Do you want to help me look them over?" He knew all too well that busy days got her down, since she had no one to torment.

"Can I use the stamp?" Finley asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"If you use it the right way this time," Ray said. The last time he let her do it, she had made marks all over the page and barely anything was legible. The time before that, she had used the stamp all over herself when he hadn't been looking. It took hours to scrub all the ink off her skin.

Finley bobbed her head, already trying to climb up onto his chair. "Daddy told me that it makes your work harder, so I won't mess it up this time."

Ray lifted her up to sit on his lap. He couldn't help but laugh at the way she'd worded it, like there was a possibility she would do it in the future. "Well, thanks for your concern, Fin." He opened the drawer to retrieve the accepted and denied stamp along with the ink pads.

"What does it say?" She asked, picking up the accepted stamp.

"Here," Ray started, guiding her hand to the green ink pad. Pressing it down into it and then letting her stamp the page in the designated spot. "You tell me."

Now that the letters were the right way, Finley stared down at it. Sirius had been working with her to teach her to read bigger words, and her dad helped her read books every night before bed that he wasn't on patrol. She started spelling it out loud, and then started to make the sounds. "Ac.. ted…" She mumbled and running her finger of the letters. "Ray, why are there two cs?

"That second one sounds like an S in that word," Ray answered, scanning another file.

"Why?"

Ray raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why what?"

"Why does that sound like a s?" Finely retorted.

"It just does, Fin," Ray replied, unsure of what else to tell her. He wondered how Sirius handled the mouthy girl. She questioned anything and everything, wanting a concrete answer that she could comprehend.

Finley fell back against him dramatically and tilted her head up. "But whhhhhhy?" She drew the word out, showing how bored she had become with sitting here.

Ray smacked his hand lightly against her forehead to make her stop. "Okay, brat. I get it, you're bored. I could use a break anyways. What do you want to do?" he asked, setting down the file. He knew that he wouldn't be able to work with her in a mood.

"I wanna…" Finley turned awkwardly, only keeping her balance by holding onto Ray's sleeves. She now sat facing him, still gripping tightly to the material and rocking back and forth. Her eyes scanned the room around them as she hummed, thinking. Her head cocked to the side and she asked, "When is daddy coming home?"

"Do you miss him?" Ray asked. It was unusual for her to ask that. He knew this child to be completely independent. She dressed herself, albeit most of the time it took Fenrir an hour to convince her that she'd put her shoes on the wrong feet. She could entertain herself well enough, knowing where she could and couldn't go by herself. And she rarely asked for her dad when she knew he was working.

Finley giggled and rocked back as far as she could without falling into the floor. "I want to hide and scare him!" she announced.

That was just like her.

"Does someone need a makeover for this little escapade?" Seth said from the doorway, a pleasant smile on his face. He doted on her the most, although he wished she might be more girly.

Her hair was the same shade as her father's and almost as short. The whole base had to be cleared of scissors that she could access. It only took one snip for her to ruin the locks and have it cut shorter to be evened out. And the girl enjoyed wearing the little leather jacket that Ray had bought for her more than any dress.

"Seth!" Finley scrambled to get off Ray. In her hurry, she ran smack into the edge of the desk with enough force to knock her off her feet. "Ouch." She rubbed the spot for a moment, getting her sense back. It took a lot to make her cry from an injury. That is how often she hurt herself. Once on her feet again, she grabbed Seth's hand and tried to drag him with her out of the office. "Make me look like a ghost!"

Seth let her lead him, always eager to assist in her plans. She brightened up the headquarters, with both her messes and her adventures. It was quite fascinating how she managed to be so content playing by herself. He watched her struggle with the door handle before giving her a little help. "You have to turn it one way or the other, not back and forth."

"I'd say we've got about an hour until Fenrir will be back from patrol," Ray said, having tagged along for the show. He would thoroughly enjoy any way that this turned out.

"Then we had better get started, huh?" Seth lifted Finley up to sit on the edge of his desk. He instructed Ray to find an old white sheet that could be fashioned into a dress and take it to the courtyard to get a little dirty.

Finley could hardly stop from smiling. This had to be her favorite pastime. Mostly, the victims were ones of opportunity when she would hide under a table or behind the couch. But she enjoyed these the most, when she could dress up and be really scary. "Seth! Seth! Can we put ketchup on the dress to make it look like blood?" She asked, eyes gleaming with excitement.

"That sounds like a perfect idea, and maybe Luka will let us put some flour in your hair to make you really ghostly," Seth replied, beginning to smear white face paint on her cheeks. He had bought it for this occasion, knowing her obsession with scaring people. It amused him how she liked scary things and Fenrir loathed them.

It wouldn't be too long until her plan was set into motion.