Chad stood at his locker gathering the books he would need for that night's homework. He didn't feel the need to rush; Cree always showed up sooner or later on days that she scheduled meetings. Sure, she'd been acting just this side of crazy lately, but he could tolerate a little crazy if it meant spending time with her. Hell, he would tolerate a lot of crazy to spend time with her. One bonus to Abby's addition to the team was that Cree was so happy now that her sister was working with them that she didn't spend much time scrutinizing him. They just walked to her home together, and she'd chatter on, sometimes about her sister, but often about nothing in particular. And Chad enjoyed her company; he always did, it was only the constant underlying impulse to grab her and hold her tight that ever really made him hesitant to hang out with her. Well, that and the horrible pain he sometimes felt when he remembered she still wasn't his. But other than that, it was those small, stolen moments alone with Cree that he came to live for.

Which was why he was disappointed that she didn't show up that day. He waited long after classes were over, until the halls had completely emptied. He went to her locker, then to her last class of the day. Just as he was trying to decide what to do next, his cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Chad, where are you?"

"Cree? Where are you?"

"I'm at home. We had a meeting today, remember?"

"Yeah, I was-- I mean, I was just…."

"You…weren't waiting for me, were you?"

Chad paused before answering. "No."

"I'm sorry, I...needed to do something before the meeting, so I came right home after class."

"It's okay, I wasn't waiting," he lied in a low, steady voice. "I'm just running late. I'll be there in a few."

"Okay, see you soon."

He turned off his cell phone and slumped against the wall. It's not like I expected her to wait for me. It's not like I really care about walking home with her. We never really talked about anything important anyways….

---

Abby spent the majority of the meetings sitting uninterestedly and avoiding eye contact with Maurice. If he couldn't figure out why she was upset, she sure wasn't going to tell him. It amazed her how stupid he could be.

Yet she still found herself watching him sometimes….

Abby should have realized that pointing out Cree's crush on Chad would have the unfortunate side effect of increasing her sister's displays of affection towards Maurice. And of course he never rejected them; either out of his sense of duty to the Kids Next Door or whatever. Abby tried not to think of it too much.

However, seeing Cree interact with Chad was usually a good distraction. Lately with him she was all strained and awkward and distant. It was amusing to see her so self-conscious. Abby smugly took credit for this; it was revenge for her sister's embarrassing attempts to hook her up with Chad.

That'll teach her to try and mess with me.

---

"I don't get it." Cree looked at the papers in front of her as the others sat around unresponsively. "The Chewy Pellet mission was weeks ago, why hasn't anything happened yet?"

Both Abby and Maurice knew that nothing had happened because Maurice had thrown out the stickiness-enhancing compound instead of incorporating it into the candy factory's sugar supply, but of course neither of them said a word.

Chad just sat slumped in his seat and stared at the table.

Cree looked at her sister, and then her boyfriend. Then she took a breath and looked at Chad, who sat across from her.

"Chad?"

He looked up, and she immediately looked down at the papers before her. "I was wondering—could you check—I mean, well, hack into the Perfect Pellets computers again? Check for…look for reports—documentation or something, anything on, um, you know, if they found anything suspicious. Or something. If you could."

Abby smirked and shook her head. Cree's display was both comical and painful to watch. She was glad that they were having meetings less frequently these days.

"Okay, sure," Chad answered apathetically.

"Thanks. And Maurice, Honey, everything went all right when you put the compound in with the sugar, right?"

"Yeah."

"Of course it did. I didn't mean to sound like I doubted you." Cree stepped over to her boyfriend and gave him a hug and a kiss.

Abby quietly scoffed and averted her eyes. Her gaze unintentionally fell on Chad, who was watching the 'happy couple.' On his face was an expression she knew all too well. It spoke volumes of pain and loneliness and heartbreak.

He loves her….

---

After the meeting, Chad left, Abby went to her room, and Cree and Maurice cuddled, or did whatever they did when they were alone. Abby had a clear view of the street from her window, and when Maurice emerged from the house an hour or so later, she climbed out from her window silently, as she had done hundreds of times in the past to sneak to the Treehouse.

"Maurice," she called to him in a whisper.

He turned. "Oh, hi, Abby," he said somewhat coolly.

She wanted him to know this meeting was strictly business, so she immediately said, "in all your recon reports, you never said anything about Chad."

"What do you mean? It's all in there. 'Chadworth Dickson: football-playing, computer-hacking jerk.' What else is there to know?"

"You never said anything about how he feels about—" She stopped. "You don't know, do you?"

"Don't know what?" he asked, suddenly uneasy. "How he feels about what?"

"Never mind. I don't know for sure, anyways."

"Don't know what for sure? What's going on?"

"It's not important." Abby turned back to the house, brooding. Teasing Cree about her crush on Chad was entertaining enough, but she didn't realize how Chad felt about her. Now Cree was acting all aloof towards him, and it was largely her fault. Abby never really thought about Chad at all, but after seeing him so hurt—

"Abby," Maurice interrupted her thoughts. His voice was serious, almost sad. "Abby, what are we doing?"

She turned back to look him in the eye. "I don't know." Then she stepped away from him and returned to her house.

---

Cree lay on her bed with a magazine spread open before her, but she just stared at the pages without actually taking any of them in. It was Sunday morning and she knew she should be doing her homework, but no matter what she tried to do lately, all she ended up doing was staring into space.

She lay there on her stomach, absently gnawing her thumbnail. When she realized what she was doing, she removed the appendage from her mouth, disgusted with herself. Ugh, nail biting, I haven't done that in years. What's wrong with me?

Everything. That was the answer. Everything is wrong with everything. She didn't know why, but life had suddenly become wrong. The smallest things irritated her, she was always upset or depressed. She remembered being happy when Abby joined the team, but now that feeling was gone. Now everyone just aggravated her. Even spending time with Maurice took effort. She had thought he was happy ever since Abby was around, but she must have been mistaken. He seemed more glum than usual.

And Chad…. She shut her eyes tight and shook her head. She didn't want to think about Chad. He's always been such a downer, from the very beginning. I just don't have the energy to try to make him happy anymore.

Then as if to taunt her, a memory of them laughing together flashed in her mind. It hardly seemed real.

There was a knock on her door.

"Cree? Can I come in?" she heard her sister's voice through the door.

"No."

But the door opened anyways.

"Hey, Sis, what are you up to?"

"I'm jet skiing," she said as she stared at the magazine before her.

Abby stood at the threshold of the door for a moment, and Cree wished that she would go away. For a moment it almost seemed as if she would.

But then she said, "Listen, Cree, about Chad—"

"I've stopped trying to hook you two up; will you just leave me alone about him?" she snapped.

Abby lingered for another moment, but then turned around and left.

Cree was thankful, because she had started to cry.

Why am I so miserable? She questioned herself as fat tears rolled from her cheeks and splashed onto the magazine in front of her. Why…?

---
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author's notes: and now, after all the silliness, the angst returns, full force!