Zero rushed into Reccardi's. "Sorry I'm late," he yelled catching the eyes of everyone within the restaurant.
A waiter was quickly beside him, looking at his disheveled look with a small hidden snear. "I'm sorry, but do you have a reservation?"
"It's ok," a voice said behind him, "he's with me."
The waiter nodded as he stepped aside, Xero standing right behind him.
Zero looked at her with a look of shock on his face, and vice versa but for different reasons. She wore her usual black pants but now she wore a new long blue blouse with anchors pattern print, her long hair had slight curls at their ends, a bag in hand.
She quickly grabbed onto his hand and rushed him into the men's bathroom, making sure to lock the door behind her.
"You look nice," Zero said.
"And you look…" she took a moment to look him over. His hair was disheveled, his shirt ruffled up and dirty, his hair was covered with dirt, dust, and muck. And his shoulder had blood on it.
"You look like you gave someone hell," she finally said.
He turned to the mirror and looked himself up and down. "It's a long story."
"You can tell me it over dinner. But first, we need to clean you up. Take off your shirt."
"What?" he said surprised as she pushed him into a stall and closed the door behind him, it now separating them.
"You have blood on your shirt, take it off so I can clean it under the sink," she said matter of factly. She waited patiently on the other side until he finally threw his shirt and coat over the door frame. She pulled down the shirt, her eyes quickly noticing the blood on the shoulder, and the two bite marks. She ran it under warm water from the sink in a useless attempt to clean it.
As she hung his shirt back on the stall she eyed his torn trench coat. "This thing was supposed to protect you like armor."
"Sorry," he said sincerely, "it's not really a match against giant rhinos or snakes."
"What?" she asked confused as she fingered one of the holes on the coat.
"It's part of the long story," he said sheepishly.
"Well then it's a good thing I came bearing gifts," she said as she slid the bag under the stall door.
He looked at the sealed bag for a moment, then he opened it. He looked at the gift, a new, dark blue, long coat. "Where did you get this?"
"Well, it actually is your first one. The one you first came in with," the one you wore when we first met, she thought. " I just patched it up and dyed it dark blue to hide some of the patch marks, so it's more of a regift."
I love it," he said through the door.
She waited on the other side of the stall, her hands still examining the damage done to his coat. As her hand passed over one of the pockets she felt a familiar shape. She opened the pocket and was staring back at a book, one like the one she had in her pocket, the one she found by Zero's bed.
In shock she stumbled back towards the counter, her hands fumbling and dropping things on the counter.
"Xero. Are you ok?" he asked as he rushed from the other side of the stall. He wore his "new" long coat, yet his face was still covered in dirt and dust.
She could only smile at his well intended, but misplaced heroics. "I'm fine. You don't have to save me from a bar of soap," she said sarcastically. "But since you are out here," she said as she grabbed onto his striped tie and pulled him closer to her.
She grabbed a small towel for the counter and ran it under the sink. "Close your eyes."
He looked at her for a moment, as though it would be the last time he would. He then closed his eyes.
She used the warm towel to clean his face from the dust and dirt, one hand holding and scrubbing, the other, around his neck to move his head when she needed to. "You're without me for an afternoon and you change from Zero to Pigpen."
"I guess… I need you," he said.
Xero felt her heart skip for a moment. She looked back at him, his eyes still closed, his head lowered down sheepishly. "What?" she asked as though she didn't hear him, wondering if he would say it again.
Suddenly Xero's ring communicator went off.
She let out a soft, annoyed sigh as they both took several steps away from one another. She turned her back to him as she answered it. "What?" she said, frustration oozing in her voice.
"Agent Xero, agent Zero; substitute leader, Mrs. Whitman is requesting your presence."
"This is unexpected. Why weren't we informed of this sooner? Zero and I are-"
Xero was cut off by the agent. "She is demanding your presence now. Non-negotiable." The agent on the other end then shut off the transmission.
Xero looked at her ring, frustration and disappointment across her face.
"So no dinner," Zero said softly.
"I guess not," Xero said, trying to hide the bitterness in her voice.
Zero just nodded his head. After a moment of silence, he asked, "do you want to steal the complimentary bread and run out of here like we're crazy?"
Xero just smiled at him and nodded her head in agreement.
Zero quickly grabbed onto Xero's hand, and the duo bolted from the men's room, a line of angry guys yelling at them about locking the door. They quickly swung around their designated table and grabbed handfuls of breadsticks. "Snatch and run," Xero yelled to no one in particular. They then rushed towards the exit, out the from doors and into the Modi-Mobile, their hands never separating until they were in the car. Something neither one wished had to happen.
