I'm introducing a new character in this chapter, made entirely by moi. I hope you like the character; their purpose is to bring humor to my story. Enjoy!

Ch.4 A Girl and Her Dog

Kel heaved her bag more firmly on her shoulder. They'd arrived at the apartment complex a minute or two ago. Dan's apartment was on the floor below and he was gathering files on the mission. They were going to meet in Kel's apartment in a few minutes. Kel read the numbers engraved in the gold plaques on the white doors. Her apartment was 14E and she was now passing 7E.

She rounded the corner and heard a loud, somewhat muffled voice, "DAMN!" Kel frowned, she didn't approve of cursing, but she slipped once in a while. She trekked down the hall and had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from giggling helplessly.

A young woman laid sprawled on her back. Two sacks of groceries lay on the floor next to her with the items running in all directions. A rather excited Great Dane was on top of her body, pinning her down helplessly and licking every inch of her face that he could. The woman was trying to shove the beast off, but he wouldn't move.

Kel walked slowly closer to the woman and her dog. She saw that the door was wide open and read 15E. This woman would be one of her neighbors. Kel grabbed the now rolling can of spaghetti sauce to prevent it from bounding down the hall.

The woman struggled one last time and then yelled at the top of her lungs, causing some to poke their heads out. "SARGE, IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR FAT ASS OFF ME, YOU WON'T EAT AT ALL FOR A WEEK! HEEL, YOU MONSTER!"

Instantly the dog named Sarge rolled of his owner and sat on his haunches, squishing a loaf of bread.

The woman stood up and brushed her navy jeans of dirt. She wore a cardinal blue sweatshirt that was too big for her and obviously didn't belong to her. She wore a black pair of converse shoes on slender feet. The hood to her sweatshirt was pulled up over her long straight layered locks of auburn hair that reached down to the middle of her back. Kel caught a glimpse of her face. Her face was thin with freckles everywhere. The woman even had freckles on her eyelids and lips. Her bottom lip was fuller than her top and her eyes were amber brown that reflected her hair in the light. Strangely, her eyebrows were black, but Kel was certain this woman never dyed her hair. Her eyebrows were thin and arched; you'd only notice the difference in color if you were right up in her face.

The woman knelt and began piling groceries back in the two large grocery sacks. She was so immersed in her grocery packing she didn't notice Kel watching her. She was now muttering under her breath, Kel tried desperately to hear and it sounded like, "Spaghetti sauce, I know I bought it."

Kel stepped forward and cleared her throat, "Here's your spaghetti sauce."

The woman whirled around and Kel found herself shocked, this woman was taller than her. Sure, it was only an inch, but the only woman that had ever been taller than her was her mother.

The woman scratched the back of her neck, "Thanks, ugh, sorry I can't remember your name. Please don't be offended, it's just I'm always at work or being dragged around by that lard," she said pointing at Sarge.

Kel smiled while handing the woman her spaghetti sauce. "I just got here and I've never been here before. I'm 14E."

The woman sighed and held out her hand, "Thank God, you would have been the third person this week that helped me and I couldn't remember their name. I'm Elizabeth Scott. But please, call me Liz, Elizabeth's dreadful."

Kel shook Liz's hand, "I'm Kelly Young."

Liz nodded her head. "What brings you here Kelly?"

"New job," said Kel while dropping her bag on the floor in front of her apartment door.

"What is it? You're job I mean," said Liz while patting Sarge on the head.

"I'm a Nuclear Engineer, I just got hired by Scanra, but I went to college in Tortall."

Liz beamed at her, "I'm a Nuclear Engineer as well…" she was about to continue when she heard footsteps further down the hall. She frowned, "Everyone's asleep by now." Sarge's ears perked up and he stood ready to pounce.

Kel held her breath till she saw Dan whistling with a large pile of manila folders.

To her surprise, Liz burst out laughing at Dan. And he laughed at her. What was going on?

Liz ran over to Dan, and…hugged him tightly. Kel felt like she was intruding, especially when Liz punched Dan in the shoulder.

He laughed, while rubbing his shoulder. "I thought you were in a different apartment complex."

She shook her head, "Nope, been here the past six months. When did you get here?"

"Last week, I'm the floor below here."

She frowned, "How could I not have seen you? How could Sarge not have smelled you?"

"I've only been here to sleep. Other than that, I've been learning roads, ya know the usual."

She nodded and dragged him over to Kel, who was more confused than ever. She turned to Kel, "Kelly this is Dom."

Dan, or Dom, elbowed Liz in the ribs. Her eyes widened and she gasped for air while clutching her side.

Dan smiled sheepishly and held up his manila folders. "There's more, but this is all I could carry without losing any..." he stopped. Liz had recovered and thwacked him hard on the back of his head.

"She's allowed to know, you know, you are partners and we all will be working together. Kelly," she started while backing away from Dan, "this is my old friend from the academy, Domitan Masbolle. Dom. His cover name as you know is Dan Roberts. My cover name is Elizabeth Scott, but I'm really Elizabeth Peterson. And your cover name is Kelly Young. Yes, I know, I've talked with Commander Wyldon this morning. I had no idea you'd be arriving this week though. And your real name is Keladry Mindelan."

Kel's eyes widened, "I had no idea there'd be others except for Dan, or Dom."

She smiled, "You both will be joining my Engineering Team. I'm the leader," she said proudly, "tomorrow you both will meet the rest of our team. They're all agents as well, the rest of the lot are in the next apartment complex. It's in walking distance."

Kel nodded. "Now, Dom you can show me your information and we'll let Kel go and sleep. She needs it. No offense or anything."

Kel smiled, "Thanks." She saluted to the two and grabbed her bag while unlocking her apartment.

She sighed while throwing her bag in the bedroom. It was an average sized bedroom. In fact, the whole apartment was average sized, but Kel like it. She took off her sneakers and fell onto the red satin covers. She nestled her head on the throw pillows and let the black oblivion of sleep envelope her. Tomorrow would be a big day.

Ok, that chapter's done. I just have to type chapter five now.

I would like to thank the following for giving me nice reviews and reading my fic:

SarahE7191-thanks for the reviews. I don't think I'm going to make it a Cleon one, because I'm not very fond of him to put it nicely. Now that I think about it, most definitely not Cleon. I'm thinking of making it Kel/Joren because I like the pairing. Oh, and I hope this chapter answered your question on who Dan was. I can see how you didn't figure out who he was because I wasn't very descriptive.

LandUnderWave-thanks for the reviews

klutzyspaz- thanks to your review I actually didn't delete this fic, I was about five minutes from deleting it

The Awkward One-thanks for the review

I already wrote chapter five, it's going to take me awhile to type it, it's 16 pages! and I'm taking advantage of my Sunday. Keep reading and I'll keep writing.

redpheonix

p.s.- I just did spell check and it told me the reading level was 4.8, that was a low blow to my self esteem.