Continuing Transmission

A cool breeze tickled the top of Tree House HQ, taking along stray leaves as it passed.

On the roof, Numbuh 1 was enjoying the gentle wind as it refreshed him. Inhaling deeply, he let it out in a sigh.

A trip to the moon and back was never easy. He knew that better than his team. It was rather entertaining to see his wiped out group when they returned from the Secret Moon Base HQ. Having taken a trip there once before, he had come to expect feeling that way again. After all, traveling of any kind did tire a person out.

But they were back now, and they all had had a chance to rest a bit.

He found himself playing with the medal that he had been awarded with just hours before. His hand had been flipping it around as it rested on his chest. He rested his hand on the railway, trying to ignore the weight of the pendant as it lay against his chest.

'What a day it's been,' he thought, rubbing his eyes. 'I still can't believe everything that's happened.'

"Hey, Numbuh 1," he heard a voice say from behind. Turning, he found himself face to face with Numbuh 5, leaning against the opposite railing with her arms folded across her chest.

"Hi," he responded. "What are you doing here?"

She pushed herself away from the railing, taking a few slow steps toward him. "Numbuh 5 jus' wan'ed ta get some fresh air, and get some time ta myself, but looks like ya beat me to it."

"Oh. Sorry about that."

The Quiet One shrugged. "S'ok. Ya don't mind if Numbuh 5 joins ya, do ya?"

"No. Of course not. Go right ahead."

She stood next to him, leaning against the railing, looking down at the street below. "So, how do ya feel, Boss?"

"That depends," he replied, leaning against the balustrade next to her. "What exactly are you talking about?"

"'Bout da whole thang. I mean, it must be great ta be da greatest operative in da KND."

"I suppose."

She looked at him. "Oh, comon, Numbuh 1. It's got ta be a great honor."

He shook his head. "There's a difference between honor and glory."

"Whatchu mean?"

He picked up the medal that he wore around his neck. "Glory is this medal and the title that Numbuh 274 gave me. But the honor is what I did to deserve them."

Silence passed over the two operatives, except for the whistle of the wind and the laughter of the neighborhood kids.

The dark girl took a quick sideways glance at her friend, who was watching the kids on the street with a small smile. She hadn't really come up to the roof for fresh air. She knew very well that he was up here, and she had come to talk to him. She wanted to tell him how she felt about him, but she didn't know how to go about it.

Finally, she just decided to ask a question that had been bothering her for a while. Inhaling, she said, "Hey, Numbuh 1?"

"Hm?" he responded, looking at her.

"Ya 'membuh when ya jumped in front of me ta save me from da Delightful Children's robot?"

"Yeah?"

"Well……Numbuh 5 was just wonderin'……were ya……were ya scared at all?"

He turned his head in her direction, straightening his posture. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. Were ya scared? I mean, ya knew what you were doin', and ya knew that they coulda killed ya. So……why'd ya do it?"

"A leader couldn't expect his team to do what he couldn't do himself," he replied. "I was protecting a member of my team."

"Not even many adult leaduhs would do what you did."

"Then," he answered, displaying a small smile, "if not a leader helping a member of his team, then a friend helping out a friend."

"Oh."

She had slightly hoped that it had meant something else, something more. 'But what could I expect?' she told herself.

"Anyway, to answer your question, Numbuh 5, I was scared."

She looked at him, slightly surprised. "Ya were?"

He nodded. "Yes. I was terrified………But not for the reason that you might think."

"Oh? Then what reason were ya scared?"

He shook his head, the smile still present on his lips, "That's my secret.

"Can I ask you something, Numbuh 5?"

"Shoot."

"Were you scared?"

She looked at him, kind of surprised, trying to think of a way to answer him.

Sensing some discomfort from her, the Leader said, "Never mind. That's not important." And he turned again to look at the street below.

She blinked slightly, then smiled. "Hey, why do ya always do dat?" she asked.

"Hm? Do what?"

"Change da subject like dat."

"Oh. Well, if you don't want to talk about it, I shouldn't force you to."

Another fit of silence passed over them, when Numbuh 1 suddenly said, "You called me Nigel."

She looked at him. "Huh?"

"That day, when the Delightful Children were trying to kill us, and they shocked me with their electric gun the second time. You called me Nigel. You haven't called me that since we started in the Kids Next Door two years ago."

She felt her cheeks flush suddenly, trying to think of a quick excuse. "Yeah, well……y'know, when ya left, ya told us ta call ya 'Nigel', and…"

"Yes, but, before then, you were still calling me 'Numbuh 1'. I remember that when they were trying to lure you to the abandoned warehouse. But you called me 'Nigel'. Why did you call me that there?"

She looked down at the ground. How was she going to answer him?

Noticing her delay, he started, "Never mind. If you don't want to…"

She cut him off by placing her hand on his arm. "No," she said, "I wanna talk 'bout this. Actually…I need to."

And, before he had a chance to react, she wrapped her arms about him, pulling him into a tender embrace, as she buried her head into his chest.

He tensed up considerably, as he found himself in an awkward position. Heat flooded to his face. "Um…Numbuh 5?"

"I was scared," she confessed. "I was so scared……that I was gonna lose my best friend.

"We knew that da Delightful Children's robot could kill us. So you jumped in da way ta save me. But……I was afraid that I was gonna lose da person, da one that I care for the most in the entire world, for good."

"Numbuh 5…"

"Numbuh 1……Nigel……I love you."

Her eyes were closed tightly, yet tears were still escaping from them. She had finally said what was kept locked away in her heart, and now she was waiting for the rejection that she felt would follow.

But it never came. Instead, she felt a hand gently wipe away her tears. His other hand came up behind her, pulling her closer to him.

"I'm sorry," she heard him whisper, "that I made you feel that way. I never meant to hurt you, it's just that……When I found out that you weren't there with us, and that you were trapped behind us, I was afraid that I was going to lose you, and I was afraid that you were going to be hurt.

"I was…I am…terrified of losing you."

She felt a finger underneath her chin, lifting her head up to look at him, as he looked at her with a adoring smile on his lips.

He suddenly leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers. Her eyes widened in surprise, but only for a second, when she suddenly leaned into the kiss, deepening it, enjoying the taste of his lips against her own.

But, for some reason, she pulled away from him. "We can't do this, Numbuh 1," she said, sounding a bit forced and slightly hurt.

The expression of her voice was reflected in his eyes. "Why not?"

"You already have a girlfriend."

It took him a minute to realize who she was talking about. "Lizzie?"

"Who else?"

"Lizzie is not my girlfriend."

"Yeah, not anymore. Long distance relationships hardly evuh work."

She was surprised to hear him chuckle slightly. "Numbuh 2 told you about the letter, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Listen, the whole issue with Lizzie is a huge misunderstanding. And when Numbuh 2 read that letter, he didn't know the whole story.

"Do you remember when we were in the second grade, and we were asked to do that pen-pal assignment?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Lizzie was that pen-pal. Even after the assignment was over, we found we had some things in common, so we kept writing to each other for a while.

"That was when I discovered her parents were divorced, and her father had lived here in our neighborhood. When you and the others met her for the first time, that was her first time here, because she was visiting her dad for the first time. She had asked me to show her around, and I did."

"But if that were true, Numbuh 1, why did she kept saying that you were her boyfriend?"

The Brit waved it off with his hand. "She was going through a tough time with her father, and she believed she could alleviate for that by having me as her boyfriend. Even when I told her that I didn't want to be her boyfriend, she still insisted that we were."

"So why didn't ya say anythang about this when we first met her?"

"Easier said than done. I mean, if I had told you all this, would you have believed me then?"

Thinking for a minute, she replied, "Not really."

"Exactly. Besides, Lizzie thought that way as well, so I really couldn't fight it.

"However, the letter that Numbuh 2 read was Lizzie's letter telling me that her father moved somewhere else, meaning that she couldn't come to see me anymore. That's what it meant when it said she moved away."

"So you and Lizzie weren't really going out?"

"No."

She let out a small sigh. "Okay."

Numbuh 1 then smiled playfully. "So, when Lizzie had gotten me the 'Boyfriend helmet', and I had said that you were jealous, were you really?"

The dark girl blushed furiously. "NO!"

"Oh, come on…Tell the truth."

She shuffled the ground with her foot. "Maybe a little."

Looking up, though, she noted that he didn't really believe her.

"Okay, so I was."

He still had that look on his face.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, fine! I was really jealous! Are you happy!"

He smirked, nodding. "Hey, don't feel bad. If it's any consolation, when Numbuh 274 picked you up and carried you on board the ship that time we were fighting his parents, I was jealous too."

"You were?"

"Sure. I couldn't exactly do that."

She laughed. "No, no you couldn't."

He stuck his tongue at her. "Thanks a lot," he retorted.

She laughed again, placing her head on his shoulder, as he placed his arm around her waist, pulling her closer together to him, as the two of them watched as the sun began to descend from the sky.

Transmission Interrupted