John sat at the edge of his bunk, tapping his foot impatiently as one of the songs Fred was fond of blasted from a music player. The door opened, and Mike, Jerome, and Douglas came in, looking haggard and drained, but Jerome was holding the bouquet they'd been sent to retrieve.

"Finally." John got to his feet, approaching. "What took you guys so long?"

Jerome held up a finger, breathing heavily, before shoving the bouquet at John. "Do you know how fucking difficult it is to get flowers without money?"

"Without money?" John repeated with a frown. "You guys realize we still get paid by the military, right?"

Mike huffed and puffed, his hands on his hips. "What?"

"They deactivated the Spartan Program, but they never gave us an official discharge." John replied. "We're still on UNSC payroll. Halsey updated all our address information. We still get the pay checks when the pay period comes."

"…what?" Douglas quietly questioned.

"I thought you guys knew that." John raised an eyebrow curiously. "How do you think we've been able to survive on this farm for so many months without selling a large chunk of the stuff we produce? And how do you think Halsey pays the land tax?"

"…son of a bitch." Mike shook his head, turning around, "Well, there you have Fred's fuckin' flowers!"

"Good work, team." John nodded, setting the bundle down nearby. "Fred should almost be done."

As the old adage went, John spoke of the Devil and he appeared, Fred emerging from the bathroom wearing a white t-shirt and simple pants, following John's advice to make sure it was nice, but not too much.

"Well?" Fred anxiously looked down at himself, then up at the others expectantly. "How do I look?"

John looked Fred up and down, before giving an approving nod. He passed the bouquet over to Fred. "You'll do fine."

"I don't know how you can say that…" Fred let out a sigh, sitting on his bunk. "I mean… Jesus, you know this is me, right?"

"Fred, don't worry," John placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure Kelly is having some butterflies as well."

"I shouldn't have done this, this was a bad idea, bad plan, bad everything." She muttered, pacing around anxiously. She was in a dress, you know, the nice but not too nice kind. "I can't do this, I can't do this-"

"Hey, hey, hey." Cortana stopped Kelly. "You like Fred?"

Kelly stopped, looking the other girl in the eyes, before slowly nodding. "Yes."

"You want him to know you like him."

"I suppose…"

"Then you can do this." Linda stepped in, tapping Kelly encouragingly. "If it helps, Cortana can go to the café with you guys, just, you know, separately."

"Hey!" Cortana spoke up, affronted. "Why are you volunteering me!?"

"Because you're normal enough to blend in." Linda pointed out.

"…Damn." Cortana cursed, knowing the redhead was right.

"If you don't want to-" Kelly began.

"No, no, Kelly, I'm glad to help." Cortana replied. "Just put out at being volunteered… You'll be fine, we promise."

"Okay…" Kelly breathed, willing her beating heart to be still.

A knock came from the door, all heads snapping to it.

Kelly took a breath. "That's him." She whispered.

Cortana turned, raising an eyebrow. "Want me to get it?"

Wordlessly, Kelly nodded.

Cortana listened to her friend's request, walking over to open the door. On the other side was Fred, looking all awkward and sheepish, and holding a bouquet of flowers. Red and Yellow roses.

Despite knowing damn well who they for, Cortana had to indulge herself. "Well, hello to you too, stranger. Are those for me?"

"Wha- um, no, they're for Kel-" He looked past Cortana, stopping as he caught sight of Kelly. Smiling, Halsey's duplicate stepped to the side, watching. "Kelly… you look… good."

Kelly blushed, pointing at him. "You don't look so bad yourself." She replied.

Fred self-consciously tugged at his shirt with an empty hand. "I underdressed. You ready to go do that… that thing, you wanted?"

"You mean our date?" Kelly asked, gulping.

"Y-Yeah," He cleared his throat, "I just, you know, didn't know what you were calling it. Date… Date's good. You ready to go on our…" His lips twitched and he looked up, "Our date…" He chuckled, as if it was really, really hitting him. "Ready to go?"

"Of course." She nodded, looking at the flowers.

"Oh, um, these are for you." He handed them over, "I didn't know what kind of flowers you liked, so…"

"They're perfect." She smiled. "Shall we?"

Fred nodded, taking her hand and leading them out.

Cortana waited a few moments, watching with a smile, before she dashed off as well.

John sat at a table in the back corner of the restaurant, a gaudy place that looked like it was trying to emulate the best of a bygone century. A line of ancient arcade machines, or at least reproductions of them, beeped noisily in an offshoot room nearby. The place was crowded, going through a dinner rush, and John did his best to melt into the background noise, glancing around.

Eventually, who he was looking for entered, Fred and Kelly going to sit down at a table.

John watched as they sat in a palpable silence, ordering their food. "Come on, Fred… don't just sit there, talk."

"So," Fred began, looking across at Kelly, "Not a bad place, is it?"

"Nope," She agreed, "It's very… disco."

"Yeah," Fred looked around, frowning, "I don't know what era they were trying to nail down though. 70s, 80s, 90s, or 2000s." He looked back at her, curiously raising an eyebrow. "How'd you know about this place?"

"Well…" Kelly began, "You were always taking an interest in 20th century culture, so I figured it might be good to note…"

"Hey, it all worked out all right, didn't it?" Fred chuckled. "Not a bad choice, at all. So…" He awkwardly cleared his throat, shifting. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Kelly looked down, biting her lip. "Well… er… you know how everyone pokes fun at us, says we have a thing going?"

Fred's smile dropped, as fear began to take hold. "Oh, you… you want me to stop them? Cause I can-"

"No, no." Kelly shook her head. "I sort of realized… they're right. At least… a little." She looked at him frankly. "I asked you out so no one could interrupt us. Because I have to tell you. I… care about you, Fred."

Fred blinked, straightening. "Huh?"

"I still think you're a stupid, impulsive idiot, who gets way too into old cars and chases, but…" She swallowed. "I think those are the parts I like about you most. I don't want to spring it all on you at once, but-"

"It's fine." He cut her off, blinking. "I, um… I care too. About you. I care about you too." He cleared his throat, nodding. "All that crazy stuff we've done since getting here… I couldn't do it without you. I mean, I could have, but I didn't want to."

"…so, it's agreed then." Kelly blinked, getting her hopes up. "We both… care, right?"

Fred nodded, realizing her meaning. "Right."

"So why haven't either of us done anything?" She questioned.

"…fraternization regs?" He threw out there, shrugging. "Doesn't matter, I suppose. They might've neglected to take us off the payroll, but we're not on active duty."

"Is that… permission?" Kelly blinked, looking at him almost eagerly.

"I… if you want it to be." Fred replied, letting her make the decision.

Kelly decided there was only one real way to know for sure how the next step would feel. She leaned across the table, gently kissing him.

John quietly coughed, turning away from the sight, before he caught sight of a brunette sitting at a table across the place from him. 'Wait,' He thought, 'Of all the people…'

Cortana slowly turned away, double taking. Her jaw fell open, as John blinked. 'John!?' She mouthed from across the way.

'Cortana?' He mouthed back, 'How?'

'We can't go off the damn property without running into each other.' Cortana shook her head in disbelief.

'What the hell are you doing there?' He wondered

'Watching those two.' She silently jerked a thumb at the two, who had since broken their kiss, and entered the part of the night where they just… looked longingly at each other.

John looked to them, then back to her. 'What for?'

'Same reason as you, numbnuts!' She mouthed back. 'I thought: 'gee, Kelly's too awkward to do this on her own, I'd better make sure she doesn't make an ass of herself in public while trying to woo her friend.''

John slowly nodded. 'Yeah, I figured… might as well do the same for Fred.' He glanced again, seeing Kelly and Fred getting really absorbed in each other. 'Looks like everything's going well.'

Cortana looked, slowly nodding. 'Yeah… I guess so.' She turned back to him. 'You're looking mighty lonely over there, all by yourself.'

John shrugged.

'Want to join me?' Cortana asked. 'Or, me to join you?'

John glanced at Fred and Kelly, thinking about it.

…well, the two could handle themselves now that everything had gotten off the ground.

John nodded, and Cortana smiled, quickly approaching.

"Look at those two." She quietly told him as she sat down across from him. "God, it feels so… nice to see the two of them acting like that. All lovey dovey."

John shrugged. "I suppose. But if they're happy, then we should be happy too."

"Exactly." Cortana nodded with a smile. "It makes me happy to see people happy. So," She looked at John, questioning with a grin. "How'd you get stuck spying on Fred?"

"Drew straws." John answered. "All of us wanted to be Fred's wingman, but there was no way we could all go, so we drew straws. I drew the shortest." He crossed his arms. "Pretty sure Sam rigged it. Somehow. I'll need to talk to him about fairness."

Cortana rolled her eyes. "Or maybe you just got lucky, ever think of that?"

"No." He honestly admitted. "You?"

"Got volunteered." She shrugged. "It's not bad, though… food here is serviceable." Her eyes twinkled with mirth, as she looked up. "I'll assume you'll foot the bill?"

John frowned. "Huh?"

"That's what the men usually do on dates."

John began to cough as Cortana laughed, the noise fading into the background chatter.

Unbeknownst to the two, however, they were being observed through a high-powered scope, pointed at them from a park just across the way.

The face behind the scope grinned as she looked at John and Cortana, before she stopped looking through it.

"You were right," Linda grinned, "They've got it bad for each other."

"Told you." Sam returned, "So, mission accomplished?"

Linda turned to the window, before nodding with a smile. "I'd say so."