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Twilight was honestly torn between wearing a disguise or not when he had to go meet Anya's kidnapper.

In the end, he decided to come as Loid Forger. Anya wouldn't recognise him if he were to disguise himself, even though it would help safeguard his true identity from this kidnapper. After all, he had seen the bloody scene in the abandoned supermarket. Judging by the stab wounds and the way these thugs were scattered around the room, it was a massacre done by just one person.

This person was no mere kidnapper; there was a high chance that the woman he had just called was also a veteran hitwoman.

Still, he brought his gun and knives along just in case. He also told Franky to be prepared to call for backup should things go south. Operation Strix had just begun; he couldn't afford to fail before it could even pass Phase 1.

(Even though Twilight knew that it would be much faster and simpler to just get a new kid from the orphanage, a small part of him couldn't help but worry for Anya's wellbeing.)

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Twilight stared at the building in front of him. Then, he looked down at the note in his hand, before looking up again in puzzlement.

The kidnapper had directed him… to an apartment building.

Not an abandoned building or anything. Just, a normal apartment. It was located at the heart of Berlint and seemed to be well-occupied. He knew there was no secret bunker underneath the apartment either, as he had checked for anything suspicious about the address the kidnapper had told him. It was so ordinary that it scared him a little.

And to think that a veteran assassin was living under his nose like this… Asking for only a couple bags of peanuts, to boot…

(Yes, he had asked for clarification when the woman said that. It wasn't a secret code or anything. She really meant the food. The peanuts. Preferably of the Nutz brand.)

So here he was, in front of the door of the kidnapper's apartment, two bags of peanuts under one arm while his other hand was relaxed at his side, ready to pull his gun should the need arise.

Twilight took a deep breath and rang the bell.

A moment later, the door opened, prompting Twilight to plaster a neutral smile on his face. Which froze immediately once he noticed how stunning the woman who greeted him was.

Stunning, as in 'drenched in blood' stunning

Peanut bags thrown up in the air, he pulled his gun—

And reflexively jerked his hand, just in time to dodge the slap that sent his gun flying.

A gust of wind hit him. A loud crack immediately resounded in the hallway. Twilight gaped at his gun, now embedded in the wall, as his blood ran cold at the sudden display of power.

He jumped backwards and was about to use the communication device on his wrist when the woman, Yor, flailed her arms in panic.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, her blood-covered face reddening further in obvious mortification. "I didn't mean to slap your gun away! It's just—Anya-san is sleeping right now and the gunshots might wake her up so…"

He was stunned, alright. But he was Twilight, the best spy in Westalia, so it took him a second to comprehend the situation: that Anya was alive and this woman was frighteningly powerful. The only reason he hadn't called for backup just yet was her blurted out comment about gunshots potentially waking Anya up.

Still, Twilight also couldn't help but blurt out, "I had silencer on my gun."

Yor paused, before covering her face with her palms, groaning in embarrassment.

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Apparently, those 'blood splatters' all over her face were just ketchup. She accidentally squeezed her ketchup bottle too hard when she was making some tea for her incoming guest. Twilight would've called that bullshit were it not for him directly witnessing the 'bloody' crime scene that was her kitchen, the floor littered with the remnants of said ketchup bottle.

Why did she even need ketchup to make tea, Twilight had no idea.

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Upon seeing the peaceful sleeping face of his 'daughter', Twilight couldn't help but sigh in relief.

Anya wasn't his real daughter, per se. He and she were practically strangers until yesterday morning. He was only tasked to find a child and successfully infiltrate Eden Academy in order to get close to Donovan Desmond.

But he was the one who had chosen her and thus, Anya was his responsibility. And it was his job as her 'father' to be worried for her safety. It ashamed him to have this child kidnapped under his watch when he had vowed to create a peaceful world. One where children didn't have to cry anymore.

The kidnapping incident must've been terrifying to her.

Twilight stroked the little girl's hair softly. Anya stirred but didn't wake up, her tiny hand raising to grab his fingers instead. A smile bloomed on her face as she mumbled his nickname.

It was both endearing and painful to watch. Why exactly, Twilight didn't know for sure.

"...Thank you for saving my daughter," Twilight put on his 'Loid Forger' persona and turned to face Yor. "It would be nice if you could've brought her to the police station, though."

"I-I'm sorry for that," Yor stuttered bashfully, bowing once more. "It's just that, I was drenched in blood and for some reason Anya-san didn't want to let go of me, so I couldn't bring her there."

Her words reminded him once more that she was a pro assassin. Twilight didn't know (yet) who exactly she was nor which organisation she worked for, but her demeanor so far kept making him think that she was just a demure civilian. It could be a ruse to make him let his guard down.

…Actually, that sounded more plausible than her genuinely caring for Anya without asking for any sort of compensation.

Twilight couldn't help but be paranoid. He was a spy, after all, and this kidnapping incident had put quite a big wrench in his plans already. They had stayed in this house for too long. Time to get Anya out of here and move as far away from this woman as possible.

"Anyway, we should go," he smiled and moved to scoop Anya from the bed. "We must've overstayed our welcome—"

"W-wait!" Yor fumbled and grabbed his hand. "Don't go yet—!"

Alarm bells immediately went off in his head. He yanked his hand off her grip—or attempted to, anyway, as he was once more reminded that this woman was bloody powerful for no good reason. This time, he began to panic for real—

"Anya-san's clothes are still wet!" Yor then yelped. "I had to wash it because it was covered in blood too so she's wearing my clothes right now and it's hardly appropriate and I forgot to tell you to bring her spare clothes when you called so, uh…"

Twilight was speechless. It felt like those times when he made too good of an impression on his female targets and they ended up begging for him to stay with them longer. And it made him suspicious on Anya's current condition because why would this kid sleep so soundly in her kidnapper's base if not for—

"Mama…?"

At once, the two adults froze. They turned to see Anya sitting up and rubbing her eyes blearily. Anya blinked and blinked some more because it was pretty dark in the room, until she realised that she was not alone.

Twilight swore he could see stars in Anya's widening eyes.

"Papa!" Anya squealed and ran to hug his leg. "Papa's here!"

"...Anya," Twilight whispered, letting out a shuddering breath in relief. He pulled his hand and, this time, Yor let go of his hand easily. He crouched down and scanned the child for any injury. "Are you alright? Does anything hurt?"

"Anya's okay!" Anya beamed innocently before tilting her head to smile at the woman behind him. "Mama saved me from bad men!"

"Ma—," Twilight spluttered but let it pass. Considering her past, maybe she didn't really know the meaning of 'mother', yet. Recalling the 'parenting' book he had read last night, he said, "I see. Have you thanked her yet?"

Anya gasped, seemingly mortified of her own lack of manners, before bowing towards Yor. "Thank you very much!"

Yor chuckled and waved her hand. "Don't worry about it, Anya-san."

"Right," Twilight stood up, before smiling neutrally once more. "Now that that's done, we should go now—"

"Wha—Nu-uh!" Anya shook her head and, before he could stop her, ran past him towards the assassin in the room. She casually hugged Yor's leg and pouted. "Anya wanna play with Mama more!"

"Anya! Don't be rude!" Twilight hissed, ignoring the fact that he'd been rather rude to the owner of the house since the beginning, and pulled the kid's scuff. Unfortunately, Anya was as sticky as a sloth on a tree trunk and refused to loosen her hold on the assassin's leg. "Let go of her already!"

"But Anya just met Mama! Can't go yet!"

"She's not your mother!"

Silence descended in the room.

"...Sorry," Twilight exhaled and rubbed his face tiredly. He'd unknowingly been so strung up ever since he found his apartment empty of the little girl. Even more so after coming to know that an assassin had taken her away. "That was unbecoming of me. But you can't just call anyone your mother, Anya."

To his consternation, Anya hiccuped and began to get teary-eyed.

"T-then, why can't Mama be my Mama?" Anya asked shakily. "Papa chose Anya so Papa became Anya's Papa. Why can't Anya choose Anya's Mama?"

"Because that's not how it works," Twilight replied softly. A part of him was nervous for Anya revealing their true relationship when a stranger was in the room, but he could deal with that later. Anya was an orphan; she may not truly understand the concept of 'parents' just yet. "Technically, you need her and my consents if you want to do that."

"Con…cents?"

"Like a permission. What if she doesn't want it?"

Anya blinked, before turning to look up at Yor. "You don't wanna be Anya's Mama?"

"Anya-san," Yor smiled and crouched down. "While it'd be an honour to be your mother, I'm not sure if it's a good idea. I'm, uh, I'm not experienced in this kind of thing at all, so I'll probably end up being a bad mother."

"You won't be a bad Mama," Anya pouted. "You cared."

"... My point remains, Anya," Twilight said, feeling genuinely a little guilty. But there was really nothing they could do, especially not if Yor was an assassin whose identity was still a mystery to him. "You cannot force her to be your mother if she doesn't want to."

Anya stared at him for a few moments. Then, bit her lip and looked down, visibly upset. Which probably prompted the assassin to continue to talk.

"But we could still be friends," Yor offered cheerfully, grabbing Anya's attention. "I had fun with you today, Anya-san. Maybe if your Papa allows it, we can meet up and play again in the future!"

Unlikely, Twilight wanted to say. Anya was lucky she was kidnapped by a rather mild-mannered assassin, but it was better not to be associated with her any further. Though, looking at Anya's expectant eyes, he could only lie and said, "Well, sure. If the chance arises."

Twilight very well hoped he'd never see this assassin again.

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Twilight honestly wanted to go back to their base right away, but it was midnight and their current house had been compromised. Anya's clothes were also still drying (which reminded him to bring her to a tailor shop soon, because that black dress of hers didn't exactly help paint the image of a rich kid). Moreover, Anya had begun nodding off, so Twilight reluctantly let her go back to sleep.

"But… Anya's ransom…"

"You can eat your peanuts tomorrow," Twilight sighed and nudged her back to the bedroom, discreetly attaching a tracker on her headpiece when he patted her head. "I found a poisonous snake in our apartment so we might have to move later. I'll come back in the morning with your clean clothes."

"Oh, a poisonous snake?" Yor asked, sounding both worried and interested. "Do you need help?"

"No, I can take care of that myself," Twilight declined her offer. He could guess why she was excited about that. Too bad for her, there was no real poisonous snake in the apartment.

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"Um, I know this is sudden but… Do you know that I'm an assassin?"

"...Yes."

"Ah. Then, can I trust you not to tell anyone about it?"

"Sure."

"Really?"

"...Not that I want to die but, isn't it better to just silence me permanently?"

"I did think about doing that, but Anya-san told me that her Papa makes her happy and her happiness is important for world peace and I like world peace very much, so… Yeah, please don't tell anyone, Loid-san."

"..."

He should reward Anya more peanuts later.

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"Ah! I'm sorry, I forgot to serve you some tea…"

Twilight took a look at the cups of tea on the dining table and shuddered. "No, that is alright. Thank you anyway."

They said their goodbye and Twilight went home, feeling awfully disconcerted talking to a polite assassin like this.

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Three days later, Twilight came back to their new home from a WISE briefing only to find Anya kidnapped again.

Blood running cold, Twilight immediately followed her tracker. He then found her in a certain assassin's living room, eating peanuts while watching Bondman with said assassin.

"I didn't mean to kidnap your daughter again, Loid-san," Yor tried to explain as she watched him grind his knuckle on Anya's head. "Anya-san didn't want to study anymore so she called me to, uh, kidnap her."

Anya felt no remorse at all, only lamenting that her Papa was too fast in finding her and that Yor's apartment was supposed to be Anya's own Bondcave.

Twilight gave up.

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Two weeks later, Twilight felt like dying from embarrassment when he met Yor again in a tailor shop and had to ask her if she would like to be his wife.

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Author's Notes:

1. I swear it was unintentional that I ended the last chapter that way. No, I won't write Loid replying to Yor's question, "You want deez nutz?!" even if the perfect opportunity is right there. I'm not a degenerate. I'm above that.

2. So in this story, I also named a peanut brand "Nutz" before realising that Spy x Family is based on Cold War Germany and—

Nutz.

:'v

3. Please tell me there is no culture out there where people add ketchup into their teas. I don't want Yor to accidentally make an edible food/drink. Please.

4. I will not address all the loopholes Spy x Family (and my own story) have, because that'll make the chapters too long and the story progressing too slowly. So if you see any, please just laugh it off unless if you want me to write a full-blown cynical angst :')

5. I and euphoricimage do think that Twilight in this story is not suspicious of Yor enough. But canonically, Twilight is already like that when it comes to Yor. Maybe his eyes' got a special filter that every time he sees Yor kicking ass, Twilight would just go "Wow Yor, you're so strong haha you sent that guy flying!"

Love is blind, they say ;)

6. Which one do you think would be better in this story?
(a) Yor guesses Loid's identity as a spy.
(b) Yor somewhat knows the nature of Loid's real job (not specifically a spy, but speculated that he might be a military officer or an investigator or even an SSS agent).
(c) Yor thinks that Loid is really a psychiatrist who knows martial arts (and that he got the gun with the silencer after confiscating it from one of his more violent patients).

I myself am thinking of going with (c) because that's perfectly canon (LOL). But I am also interested to see how a spy and an assassin couple would actually interact as husband and wife in this setting. You know, like what FMAB's Izumi and Sig Curtis do, throwing kitchen knives at each other lovingI mean, casually.