A/N: Ok, it's stupid but it came to me when i was doing homework _ . ^_- God Bless ye, merry Reviewers! LOL Flames most definately welcome. It's like a friggin ice box here.


Chapter One
(.+. Alyssa Proudfoot .+.)

I looked up at the man staring over my shoulder at my homework. I assumed his name was "Neil" because aunt Jane kept yelling at him, and he was the only one doing anything. The other two men were busy with...important stuff. "Do you mind?" I said, staring at him.
"Not at all, don't mind me, keep going."
"Can you like, move over?"
"Well I want to see how it's possible you can be doing homework, talking on the computer and listening to music at the same time."
"Neil." Aunt Jane finally spoke up. "She's thirteen, leave her alone."
"Thanks aunt Jane." I smiled at her.
"No problem, Lyss. Sometimes he just forgets he's supposed to act like a grown man." she smirked.
"I see."
"Serge!" He whined. 'Geez,' I thought. 'The man has the most irritating whine I've ever heard in my entire life.'
"What, Neil?" Sergeant Ryan Whittaker asked, peering up from a letter. He was always calm, and well-liked. Probably because he didn't get hot-headed quickly.
"They're ganging up on me."
"A thirteen year old and Jane. We already know you can handle Jane, deal with it for a week." Captain Gray spoke, sounding a tad amused by the tone in Neil's voice. Soon a fight broke out between Neil and Jane, and then they both walked out of the room in separate directions.
"Sheesh." I said, looking up from my homework to make sure they'd left, then looking back down. "You could cut the sexual tension in here with a knife when those two are around." From the looks on Gray and Ryan's faces, they agreed. "So what are they, infatuation stage now or do they just hook up when you aren't watching?"
Ryan blinked. He probably wasn't expecting that from the innocent thirteen year old brunette with soft eyes. Of course, as my aunt, Neil, and Gray had told me, he didn't expect it when he first saw Jane out there doing her thing. None of them did. Gray and Ryan shared this weird male-bonding look. I just continued staring at my science book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(.+. Jane Proudfoot .+. )

I sighed, practically being stalked by Neil Fleming. God, could the man take a hint?! He'd left me alone for a few minutes, but no more then two. "What, Neil?" I said, turning quickly and almost having him run into me. He shook it off rather quick and took a step back as I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
"No fair ganging up on me and storming out before I can get a witty remark in."
"Witty? I wouldn't call your come-backs witty."
"There you go again." He gave me a slightly defeated look. I rolled my eyes, hiding my feelings (yet again) for the one guy who actually had *SOMETHING* deep down for me. Did he have feelings for me? Maybe. Not real ones of course, no one ever did. But Neil...he was different. Talks to me like a human being. Treats me as an equal, not some chick who wanted to act brave so her Daddy would be proud. Treats me as a friend. He trusted me, and I trusted him...to a certain level.
"Old habits die hard." I spoke, just loud enough for him to hear and snapping myself out of whatever daze it was that I was in.
"I can see that." I glared a little and he just smiled, getting a kick out of it.
"Good to see you aren't whining anymore, you were killing my ears."
"I don't whine." I just gave him a 'Leave it for someone who doesn't know you' look and he shrugged. "Ok so I do sometimes." He looked up as a guy called him over. They always did that, only when he was alone and talking with me. Who knows why, they all had some shit with me for one reason or another. He'd be nice and say "In a second" often, but they'd give him a reason to get his (cute!) butt over there now. Oh God, did I just think that? What is he DOING to me?! But anyway, he looked back at me with sympathetic eyes, knowing he did this a lot. Or rather, they did. They knew as well as he did that only Gray, Ryan, and himself were my only true friends. I just smiled a tiny bit.
"Go ahead, I better get back to Alyssa anyway." I turned, walking back the way I came, knowing he was watching me. I could feel his eyes burning holes through my body. I sighed to myself. I've got it bad. It was one thing when you were confused about how YOU felt. It was a whole other ball park when you had no idea about the way the guy you were FALLING for felt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(.+. Neil Fleming .+.)

I hate it when they do that. I hate it when she does that. They pull me away from her, just as I'm about to get serious, and she looks at me with her fake smile and glittering eyes. And no, her eyes weren't glittering with happiness. I have to hand it to her, she never cried in front of me. Not when her parents died , not when her sister was violently ill, not when we almost died. It can't be normal though. To bottle up feelings. I may be a year younger but I'm not fully retarded. Maybe one more smack from Jane will make me, but, that's different. The guys carry on the conversation, and I nod when I'm supposed to, then pretend my pager's on vibrate and the Captain needs me.
So now that their lips aren't flapping withing five feet of me, let me tell you about her. The first day she arrived here she was in her gear already. We were taking her out for a "test run", I guess. To see her reactions, her way of thinking, her strength, and all that other stuff she needed to get in to make the Deep Eyes the completed set. You know, 'collect all four'? At first she didn't look strong, just pissed off at the world. We took her out there, into the middle of a big Phantom fun-park, and Ryan handed her a gun. We all murmured 'Be careful with that'. Well, Ryan and Gray did, I just said 'Don't break a nail'. The death glare was enough to shut me up, and she aimed for a second and shot the huge Meta coming towards us. I blinked, watching it disappear after a big "Boom".
"This is all I have to do?" She said, raising an eyebrow and dodging a Phantom coming from behind her, then shooting it as it passed.
"Er, Serge, you can check off 'reactions'."
"Oh yay, the field trip isn't over?" She said, staring at me. I just grinned.
"Not yet, Princess."
"Not while I have a gun in my hand, Computer freak." I frowned a little, then smirked, realizing it might turn out to be interesting having someone like her to talk to. She rolled her eyes and climbed aboard the ship again. Back to New York, for her little "training" session. Ten of the strongest men on the Force. Somehow I doubted she'd pass through this one. I mean, who knows what she looked like under that gear? She walked in, making sure her ponytail was secured and then raising holy hell on those guys. I just stared, thinking "Steroids. Gotta be steroids." as she kicked their asses- half acrobatically and half...think bar-room brawl. She walked out, looking at us.
" 'Thinking skills', check." Ryan said."Two more."
"And those two would be?"
"Strength and teamwork." She sighed, following them. I trailed behind, watching her. Sure, I couldn't see anything, but I got a chance to study her. She walked to the lockers, changing out of her armor. She walked back out and I had to bite my lip to keep my mouth closed.
"So where's the 'strength' part of the Strength test?" Gray handed her a crowbar and she grinned. "Back to basics." They pointed out a locked crate and she grinned wider, walking over, and with one quick movement, the crate was open.
"Hey that's my stuff in there!" I whined.
"Ow! God, how old are you?" She said, rubbing her ear. Ok, so it was a little shrill, and Gray and Ryan were holding their ears too, but it wasn't that bad, and that WAS my property. "Twenty-five." I said, nose in the air. No way she could be older then me.
"Twenty-six. Respect your elders." She smirked, looking back at Gray. "So?"
"So..." Gray said, sharing a look with Ryan. "...I guess you've got the job." Part of me wanted to kiss his feet and part of me wanted to punch him out, but I restrained from doing either. She looked like quite a trip. At first she didn't let us in. Didn't even join in conversations. I remember the first day she was there was my third. She sat alone at a table in the cafeteria, not comfortable with us yet. I walked over to her.
"Hey." Simple greeting. Couldn't hurt. She looked up, startled a little.
"Hi."
"Mind if I sit here?"
"Um, no. As long as you don't whine." She looked me up and down quickly before I sat. "Neil, right?"
"That's me. Jane...right? Aren't going to hurt me, are you?" I asked, still wary from the beating she had given those ten soldiers. She shook her head, looking down and then back up. I struggled to get through to her- To at least get acquainted. "So, make friends with anyone yet?"
"Please. With who? Everyone here stares at me like I'm the cat with the dogs. Try to blend in and end up sticking out more."
"I had the same problem my first d---"
"How? Last time I checked, you were a guy. You can't even imagine how hard it is to have someone stare at you with the fear of God in their eyes or the "I want to sex you up" look." I sighed, knowing this wasn't supposed to be going the way it was. She was very...different, sure, but I was willing to try to get through to her. About three weeks later, she still wasn't being treated right, and a lot of it was getting taken out on me or all the Deep Eyes. Didn't take orders from even the Captain, but knew what she had to do and coped just fine by herself. She knows what she's doing, that's for sure. She's a quick thinker, and not too shabby looking either if you get what I---
"Ow..." I said, snapping out of it. Jane, Alyssa, Aki, Gray, and Ryan were all laughing behind the closed door, and Jane opened it a second later.
"We wanted to see if you noticed the big white *door*." Alyssa said, turning up her cd a little more and packing up her homework while I rubbed my nose. Aki went back to talking to Gray and Jane went over by Alyssa, followed by Ryan.
"Want to go get some food, Lyss?" She asked, looking at her. The music ceased immediately, followed by a metallic "Thank you for using Connect Net. Have a good day."
"Ooh! Yeah yeah yeah!" Lyssa grinned, standing and stretching quickly. It was then that I noticed she looked a lot like Jane. Who knows how- If that's her brother's daughter and it looks that much like her, imagine what hers will look like...If she ever has one, that is.
"Lets go. Serge, Captain, Doctor, you want anything?" She said, looking at them. She was bombarded with answers. "Um, got any paper?" She wrote down the orders and looked up at me. "You want anything?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(.+. Aki Ross .+.)

They look at each other. Not in a glance-y way, either. Staring. Waiting for the other to make a move because they're too frightened to. Everyone can tell they're attracted to each other, everyone always could. So why do they pretend? Every time he talks about a new female recruit she has a pang of hurt in her eyes, but as quick as it comes, it leaves. I look at Gray, a "When will they learn?" look. He looks at me, shrugging a bit. Alyssa walked out first, followed by Jane and then Neil, who decided to tag along. The door closed and I let out a sigh, then noted I wasn't the only one sighing.
"This is getting sick." Ryan said, not in a forceful way, but a concerned way.
"Tell me about it." Gray said.
"Anyone up for some matchmaker?" I grinned. Both men stared at me, horrified. Ryan reacted first.
"You realize if something goes wrong, Neil'll put viruses in all the scanners and everything and Jane'll just find a big gun...and...I don't think that needs explaining."
"We aren't going to be involved...as far as they know." I smiled to myself, staring at Alyssa's back as she walked, with Neil to her left and Jane to her right. Neil was obviously babbling, because the two girls were rolling their eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(.+. Alyssa Proudfoot .+.)

I waited in line with my aunt at some random burger hut while Neil was in the bathroom.
"So...You like that guy?" I said, acting innocent. The funny part is, when this happened, I didn't have a clue the others were discussing it.
"What?!" She said, eyes wide. She didn't SCREAM it, she just sounded a tad...surprised. "Neil? Neil Fle-no, Lyss, what even made you *THINK* of something like that?!"
"Well you fight a lot. And you're both soldiers...so it's like flirting then, isn't it?"
"Me hanging off of him is flirting. I would kill myself first."
"You say that, but do you mean it?"
"Of course I mean it."
"Mean what?" Uh-oh, here enters the man in question (wink wink).
"Nothing." Jane says, giving me a look.
"Tell me." Agh, God, did this guy's voice not change when he hit puberty or what?! Aunt Jane just sighed and leaned on the counter when we reached it, rambling off all the orders. And if he thinks I didn't see him checking out her ass, he's totally wrong. 'Cause I did. And when I saw that...I just immediately knew something had to happen soon. Leave the magic to me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ech, how is it so far? Nothing belongs to me. Except my lufferly webpage, my Little land called Denial and Bingo The Evil Poptart Monkey. (complete with his brothers- Eek Eek, the Confused, Half-evil Poptart Monkey and Boo Boo- the Poptart Monkey of Flowers and Sunshine ^_^)

Quote of the moment: "Yanno what they should make?! Jane and Neil figurines! Like, together!"- Me

Review! If you think it sucked....

::cackles, does the Cotton Eye Joe with Bingo:: FLAME, MY CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT! FLAME!


::hisses:: The plot is mine! ::bares teeth, lunging at a author who tries to take her idea:: HSSSSSSSS!