Plagiarize and/or sue me, and Butch here will knock all your teeth out. Some characters belong to moi, others belong to Chanda or Delia, and the rest (originals) belong to MIB The Animated Series. I'd go into detail but I don't know all of the character creators' names. I don't have that much free time, really! ^_^ Enjoy!

Written in the Stars: A Destined Romance

Part 26: Pulling the Wool Over Their Eyes

The lone figure on the roof watched as the agents took off back down to the parking lot. She'd felt awful about nearly getting X killed, but it was a necessary evil. 'Funny,' she laughed to herself, 'I've never believed in necessary evils before.' She watched sadly as they passed by the disgusting blobs on the cement, the mass of blood and guts that had once been ex-Agent F and X's ex-partner Ziphron. Why had she helped them, shouldn't she have known better? Things were all out of sorts and Agent Elle had nearly lost her life. She wasn't fond of the woman but she didn't wish death on her.

"You've done well, Agent N." a cold voice spoke from behind her, sending unsettling chills running up and down her spine. She had to go through with this now, there was no turning back.

"Thanks." she replied almost as coldly. "Did the clones live up to your expectations?"

"Quite so." Ziphron chuckled, "now that idiot and his blonde bimbo think we're out of the way for good. Those clones have certainly become more lifelike over time. They used to melt into a puddle of goo, isn't that what you told me?" he inquired of his partner in crime.

"Yes," F nodded, "and the best part is that Research & Development won't even miss them until it's too late." F beamed with satisfaction as she looked at the stooge of an agent that would soon be taking the fall for them, if only she knew! It was, after all, her fault that the clones had been stolen and reprogrammed to take their forms and mimic their personalities. "And we couldn't have done it without our little heart broken mischief maker."

"Remember what you promised me!" N shouted to them, thoroughly disgusted with herself.

"We remember," Ziphron nodded, "don't worry, you'll get exactly what's coming to you."

N turned away from them, focusing on the fake bloodstained cement below. This plan HAD to work out, it was the only way. She'd tried everything else, run every possible solution through her mind, this was the only way save X, even if it meant that a certain other agent got hurt!

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"What's wrong Cowboy?" Elle asked, he'd been so quiet since they'd gotten back to HQ. He had mentioned on the drive back that he had something to ask her, but he hadn't said two words afterwards.

X glanced over at her, those beautiful beady blue eyes staring up at him, full of concern. "Nothing, I-"

"Elle!" Val exclaimed, rushing to her friend and throwing her arms around her. "You're alright!"

"Yes Val," Elle smiled, "I'm fine."

"Gotta get me a partner girl," Val sighed, "they wouldn't let me outta this place cause I'm not supposed to go out in the field without one."

Elle laughed and shrugged, "Those are the rules, I had to deal with them too. I was beginning to think I'd never get out of that lab, and then X came along…" Elle blushed and shied away from her partners adoring gaze.

Val looked at X, he had that look that suggested there was something on his mind, and from the way he was longingly staring at Elle, Val could put two and two together. Jay came down the hall whistling and was stopped by a paper pushing agent passing by, "Agent Jay, here are the paperwork forms for you stake out, remember to do everything in triplicate!"

The agent headed off and Jay looked down at the stack of forms that had been shoved into his hands and grumbled. Then he looked up and caught sight of Val, "VAL! Oh man, I told you girl, it was a dream! I SWEAR!"

Val saw this as the perfect opportunity to buy Elle and X some time alone, "Come on wimp," she grabbed Jay by the tie and led him off to the kitchenette, "I'll help you with those forms. Goodness knows you'd just make a mess of everything if you tried to do them all yourself." she tossed her short wavy hair aside and winked at Elle over her shoulder as she led the confused agent down the hall.

Elle blushed again and looked over at X, "So, didn't you have something you wanted to ask me?"

"Oh yeah," he pulled her into the closest office and shut the door. Turning and taking both her hands in his, which were clammy and shaking, filled with cold sweat, "Elle, I know that I haven't exactly been the perfect partner or anything since I came here. Truth is, I made up my mind to be that way. I didn't plan on ever trusting another human ever again but…" 'deep breath', "I couldn't help but get close to you and now, I don't regret a thing. I like the way we've grown close, in spite of everything. I'd throw an insult at you to push you away and," he laughed, "you'd come right back at me with something and refuse to be run off." he brushed her cheek lightly with one of his clawed hands, the touch made Elle's body tremble all over, a sensation that she thoroughly enjoyed. "You're just so stubborn Little Ears, like me. I love that about you. I love everything about you." he cupped her chin in his hand and drew her forward, leaning down. Elle's eyes slowly began to close as her lips lightly came into contact with his, "I love you, Elle."

The kiss sent waves of passion and withheld emotion crashing all throughout Elle's being, she hadn't wanted to tell him before, she'd thought he'd laugh or be insulted to know that a human felt so strongly about him. "X…" she murmured as their lips gently parted, "I love you too."

The words he'd been waiting to hear ever since he'd laid his big yellow eyes on that sassy, fiery, and somehow entrancing human form were finally spoken. No way he could have heard her wrong with his big ears. Elle, the human of his dreams, his soul mate, had just admitted to loving him!

Elle's heart was pounding in her chest, she ached with desire, she wanted to put into words EVERYTHING she felt about him. If only the right words would come! "X I-"

Another kiss silenced her, she was floating, the moment was perfect, but what now? "Elle, I wanted to ask you…to ask if…."

Elle smiled at X, he wasn't grasping the right words either, poor guy. "I wanted to try and make this work, I know we could be more than partners, more than friends. I almost lost you today and I don't want to chance that happening again." he'd never spoken words like this to anyone before, he expected himself to be uncomfortable, but her steady, loving gaze reassured him. "Elle, can we try to get closer, a lot closer than we are now? I promise not to push you away anymore, I couldn't bare too. I love you. Maybe we could start out slow, go on a date or something? Would you like that?"

She blushed a bit and nodded, X was actually asking her out on a date! Did JeeDangians date? "I'd like that."

"Good, wherever you want to go." X gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his neck, "I don't really know much about where human couples go on dates."

Elle laughed, he was so naïve to this, it was sorely obvious that he'd never been on a real date in his life. She felt special, being his first and hopefully only girlfriend. It wasn't like she'd ever given guys a chance, she'd stayed confined to her own little world, the morgue mostly. No one could hurt her there, except for the occasional alien Bug.

Putting her arms around him she replied, "Most humans go to dinner or a movie. I know you'd be uncomfortable in that human disguise the whole date though, so why don't you just come by my rooms and we can watch some rented tapes. I'll even cook for you. I'm not as bad as the cafeteria chefs I promise."

X chuckled, it was the first time he'd actually found something she'd said funny, well, there was that time in the SUV earlier, but this was better. He seemed to actually enjoy her company. She looked forward to that night, "Sounds like fun Little Ears."

"Are you still going to call me that Cowboy?" Elle teased.

"Well, would you prefer Scrawny Neck or maybe-"

"Little Ears is fine!" Elle snapped, giving him a sideways grin and turning to leave. "Well? Saddle up Cowboy, we've got forms to fill out!"

X laughed and followed her out the door, holding her hand, which freaked out every paper pusher they passed.

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Agent O had been searching all day for his partner. What with dangerous aliens like Ziphron lurking about, she could get into some real danger. He sighed in relief when he spotted her coming out of the garage. "Agent N!" he called happily then noticed her guilty expression. "N, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." she didn't even look up at him. "I just had to run out for a bit."

"It's dangerous out there now," O insisted, "you could've been hurt. You should've taken me with you."

"Why do you care?" she whirled around and demanded.

O was caught by surprise, "Why? Because I'm your partner, I don't wanna see anything bad happen to you."

N looked at him strangely, he seemed so sincere. It was almost cute the way he was so concerned and oblivious to the fact that she was capable of doing something like she was. He almost looked like he had a crush on her, she was just fooling herself. Besides, she liked X, even though he didn't feel the same way. "Well, I can take care of myself. Don't worry about me."

She turned and walked off, O was thoroughly dumbstruck. But he was determined not to give up, she was his partner after all, how long could she keep avoiding him?? With that attitude he braced himself for more of N's cold shoulder tactics and followed her back into the main area of HQ.

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