June 17th, 2023

Specialist Meghan "Valkyrie" Castellano

West Coast Rainbow HQ. The Lab

Portland OR. USA

Meghan sat alone in the lab one afternoon. Derrick's sunglasses were in her hand once more and she was just sitting there staring at them. It might have been about 2 months since Derrick's death, but Meghan was still unable to accept what happened. She wasn't angry at any of her teammates but rather herself. When Derrick was born, her mother had told her to watch out for him and protect him because he happened to be a little smaller than the doctors had expected. She still remembered when she met her newborn brother in the hospital.

"Meghan, this is Derrick. He's your little brother," her mother said all those years ago while she held her father's hand in the hospital. Little Meghan walked over to see baby Derrick in her mother's arms.

"Hi Der-wick," she had said and gave him a little wave. Derrick's eyes had found his older sister and he just stared at her for a moment before he yawned and rested his head against his mother.

"See how small he is Meghan? You have to make sure that no one will hurt him, ok? That's what a big sister does," her mother said. Her father had followed her over to the bed. She remembered hearing the sounds of his Army boots on the tile floor.

"That's right cucciola. You've got to look out for him," her father said with his slight accent. Little Meghan looked from her father to baby Derrick. Baby Derrick was looking at her again. Little Meghan smiled at him. Derrick smiled back.

"I'll protect you Der-wick," she had said and gave her brother a kiss on his forehead. Today, Meghan slammed her fist against the table as she remembered this for like the 50th time. She had promised Derrick that she would protect him and always be there for him but she had failed. She was so angry with herself about it. Eliza had offered the mission to Washington to her first but she felt as if Derrick was ready to be on a team without her for once and suggested she take Craig. When Lukas told her what had happened, she had been pretty much inconsolable the entire rest of that day. Not even her crush, Monika, had been able to get her to stop crying. Meghan developed feelings for the German woman from the moment she had seen her after being recruited to Rainbow along with Craig back in 2017. When she learned that Derrick knew German she had asked him to teach her when they first got to HQ. Derrick deduced why pretty fast and agreed to help. It had been the first time since joining the Navy that she had developed feelings for someone else. She hadn't really had time for dating since college where she had had 1 or 2 longer-term relationships. Meghan glanced at the sunglasses in her hand and another memory had come forth. The day she told her parents who she really was.

A younger Meghan was eating dinner with her family. Derrick had just gotten back from hitting the waves on the beach so there was a bit of a saltwater smell in the air. Derrick looked pretty much the same back then too minus the full five o'clock shadow and his hair was longer. He looked a little bit like Shaggy Rogers from Scooby-Doo but shorter. He even had the wispy goatee. Thankfully, he wasn't as small as he used to be when he was a baby and a toddler. He was sitting across from her at the table looking at her with his characteristic smile on his face. Their parents were currently talking to each other about something pertaining to their jobs. Her dad was a high ranking officer in the Marines by this point of his career and he had retired from active field duty and was taking up an instructor position at the base where he worked. Her mother was currently talking about some new project she was the team lead on. She had caught Derrick's eye as he cut his chicken and lifted a piece to his mouth. She was terrified about what she planned to do.

"I can't," she whispered just loud enough that only Derrick could hear. Derrick put the piece of chicken into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. He sighed before saying

"Mom, Pop. Meghan has something to tell you," he said. She stared daggers at him before her father spoke.

"Does she now?" her father asked while Derrick smirked at her. He mouthed "Yes. You. Can." before he leaned back a little in his chair. Meghan looked from her father to her mother.

"What is it sweetie? Did something happen at school? Did you punch someone else again?" her mother asked. Meghan had punched Derrick's ex-girlfriend and got suspended for a week. Initially, her mother had been upset but once Meghan told her about what the girl did to Derrick, she had become less so. Derrick was her baby. Her mom still loved her of course, but Derrick was still her baby boy in her eyes.

"Did someone hurt you?!" her father asked harshly. The man was very protective of his daughter and Meghan loved that about him but she wasn't sure if he was still going to love him after what she was about to do.

"No Daddy. I'm fine" Meghan said. Her heart was beating faster than it ever had. Even faster than when Heather Sampson had kissed her the other week at a party.

"Then what is it?" her mother asked gently. Derrick hadn't said anything else but rather sat there looking at Meghan. He pointed to his head, then to her, then to his chest before making a heart shape with his hands and fingers. Meghan took that as "Remember when you told me? I still love you."

"You...you want me to be happy right Daddy?" Meghan managed to say.

"Of course I do," her father responded.

"For a while...I've kind of been unhappy…" Meghan continued

"Oh dear. Are you ok? Do you need to talk with someone?" her mother asked.

"No Mom...I've decided that I can't be happy until I tell you this," Meghan said. Derrick was nodding at her.

"Well that is it?" her father asked.

"Daddy…Mom...I'm...I'm gay…" Meghan said and immediately looked down at the table. 5 seconds of silence followed before her father spoke again.

"Ok and?" he said

"I like girls. Like romantically," Meghan said to her plate.

"You think I didn't know that already? Your brother wasn't the only one I caught looking at some of the female Marines," he said.

"POP! UNCOOL!" Derrick said suddenly. Meghan stifled a laugh.

"You're still my daughter Meghan," her father said. Meghan looked up at him to see that he was smiling at her.

"You don't...you don't hate me?" Meghan asked. Her mother gently touched her arm.

"Why on Earth would we hate you? We just want you to be happy. Your father and I suspected you were to be honest. I don't care if you like women honey. You're still my daughter too. Derrick, did you know?" her mother said. Derrick, who had been staring at the ceiling as if he was disinterested, looked at their mother in mock confusion and then looked behind him as if to see if someone was there.

"Oh! Me! Nope, I had absolutely no idea. This is quite the surprise to me," Derrick said sarcastically as their parents got up and hugged her. Meghan smiled at him over her mom's shoulder.

"Told ya Megs," he said. He, of course, had been the first one she had told and he had accepted her without so much as a second guess. It was one of the reasons why she loved her brother so much. He might be a clown and pull pranks on everyone but deep down, if you came to him with any issue, he'd listen. He'd crack a few jokes but still, he would always listen.

Meghan continued staring at the sunglasses Derrick always wore in her hand as she felt the tears begin falling yet again. She had cried almost every night before she went to sleep the first few weeks after Derrick was killed. She still did so on occasion nowadays but it wasn't as often. Lukas had also returned Derrick's Desert Eagle he had apparently swiped from her. She had been rather upset when she saw it was missing but Lukas told her that it was the gun he used to shoot the fucker that killed her brother. Monika had been assigned to watch Lukas's behavior about a month ago now due to his solo mission. It was refreshing having Lukas back at HQ again even though he had been spending a lot of time with Monika. Meghan hadn't gotten the chance to talk with her privately the past month to tell her how she felt. Tina had persuaded her to do so one evening at Derrick's condo. She and Tina had been living in it. Meghan took the guest room while Tina slept in Derrick's old room. Meghan insisted that Tina do so partly because she could barely look at the photos in there without breaking down. She looked over to one of the work stations where Derrick's projector now lay undisturbed. She couldn't help herself. Meghan got up, walked over to it and sat down at the table. She picked it up off the mount and slipped it on her left arm. A holographic screen popped up from her forearm area. It read "Confirming Identity" followed by a cartoon of Loki doing some knife tricks. Meghan smiled at it before the screen turned green to her surprise and the text now read "Identity confirmed. Meghan Castellano. Authorized user." The screen changed into the basic menu of options that Derrick had shown her one afternoon. She was vastly impressed that he had designed and built this device himself with little to no help from anyone. For some reason, even though Meghan constantly told him that he was foolish, Derrick believed that he always needed to prove himself to her and in turn, make her proud. It was stupid of him to think this. She'd always been proud of being Derrick's sister. He had always come to her whether he needed advice or comfort much like when that bitch from high school broke his heart. Meghan in turn broke her nose and yelled to the surrounding students that nobody, NO BODY, does that to her family. The weekend following was when she told Derrick about her preference when it came to dating. Meghan examined the holographic screen wondering what she should do. Attempt to imitate someone? No, she wasn't very good at impressions or accents like Derrick was. She noticed a folder labeled "Favorite pics and videos" and touched it with her finger. The folder opened onto a selection of various photos and a few videos. Derrick had given little descriptions of them ranging from "Meg's college grad" and "18th birthday party" and "1st night with Tina." Meghan began to look through the photos smiling every so often when she recognized one of them. Especially the one of her college graduation where Derrick had appeared out of nowhere to surprise her. The photo was taken at the precise moment that she saw him standing next to her on stage. She got to one of the videos and pressed the play button. The video showed the interior of her parent's house around Christmas time and she could hear her parents laughing about something. She nearly began crying again when she heard Derrick's voice.

"Megs, you think that guy painted the Mona Lisa?" Derrick said. Meghan watched as the camera swung over to herself sitting in a chair, holding a glass of booze in her hand.

"IT WAS LEONARDO DICAPRIO YOU BITCH ASS!" Meghan slurred at him. "I WOULD KNOW! I HAVE A 4.0 GPA!"

"Would you now? You're confident that you're right? Cause I'm pretty sure the artist was DiVinci"

"SHUT UP DERRICK, YOU DON'T KNOW, I'M A NAVY SEAL!" Meghan yelled and pointed at her shoulder for some reason. She wasn't wearing any combat fatigues but rather a plain T-shirt. She heard Derrick laugh at her and she laughed too. She missed hearing him laugh with Lukas or Elena or Tina. The video ended shortly after that.

"No...no!" Meghan said softly. She needed to hear his voice again and accidentally scrolled to another video which began to play. This one consisted of someone walking through rows upon rows of servicemen and women standing at attention with their eyes forward. She heard her mom speak

"There he is Joe!" The camera turned and rested on an 18 year old Derrick dressed in camo and looking forward. Meghan gasped. She remembered this day. It was Derrick's basic training graduation. She had surprised him that day. Her parents stopped right in front of Derrick but neither of them tapped him out. He stood there showing no emotion which was really weird if you knew Derrick's personality. Eventually she saw her younger self in a blue camo navy uniform appear from behind him. Her younger self was smiling toward the camera and her father spoke.

"Airman Castellano, I will not be tapping you out. Someone else is here. SA, will you do the honor?" Meghan could see Derrick fighting the urge to cry as she herself spoke

"Airman Castellano, atten-TION!" Derrick obeyed and brought his feet together.

"A-bout, FACE!" Meghan said in the video. Derrick turned around to face Meghan as their mother got a better angle on the pair of them. Meghan, smiling, gave Derrick a salute and he returned it before she dropped her hand and said,

"Hi little brother," and gave him a hug. Derrick began crying in earnest. Meghan remembered how happy he was to see her that day. She had been the only one that had ever seen him act like that.

"I'm so proud of you Derrick" she heard herself say on the video. Meghan paused the video on the image of herself hugging Derrick and began crying herself. She reached out toward the screen at Derrick's image.

"I always have been Derrick...and I always will be," she whispered and let the tears fall again. Derrick had labeled this as his favorite video. She was so busy crying that she didn't hear someone sit down next to her and place their hand gently on her shoulder.

"You really miss him don't you" someone with a German accent said. Meghan looked up into the face of Monika who had joined her at the table. Monika was smiling sweetly at her. Meghan flinched slightly at the sight of her. God, she was beautiful.

"He was my best friend, Monika. He was a clown but...but I still loved him. I could tell him anything and he'd listen and never judge me…" she said while turning to look at the image of the pair of them hugging again. Meghan felt Monika begin to caress her shoulder. She closed her eyes and let her do so.

"Derrick was the first one you told, wasn't he?" Monika asked. Meghan looked at her in confusion. Did she know about her sexuality? She must by this point. Meghan shared Derrick's tick of flinching slightly whenever their object of affection spoke to them before becoming a couple. Meghan decided to go for it.

"Yes. Do you know what he said? I told him that I liked girls and without missing a beat he said 'so do I, your point?'" Meghan said. Monika smiled again and continued to rub her upper arm.

"Sounds like something he'd say," Monika said.

"I thought he didn't understand what I meant at first so I said it again but...but he said 'MJ, contrary to what everyone says, I am able to comprehend things people say. Why the hell would you being who you are make me love you any less than I already do? You're my big sis'" Meghan said remembering how Derrick had said these words as if he was talking about the weather.

"MJ?" Monika asked with a puzzled expression on her face. Meghan thought it was cute.

"My initials. He called me that when we were kids. He couldn't quite say Meghan when he was a toddler so mom said to call me MJ or Megs...I miss him so much...I want him back," Meghan said the last sentence as if she was still a child. She'd give anything, anything to have Derrick alive again. Monika wrapped her arms around her in a hug at this point.

"Danke Fräulein," Meghan said before she could stop herself.

"He was teaching you in order to be closer to me wasn't he? You've been continuing your lessons with Lukas ja?" Monika asked in her ear. Meghan was surprised at this information and, after taking a deep breath, decided to finally tell her.

"I've sort of...had a crush on you since joining Rainbow but kept it quiet. It's fine if you don't feel the same. I'm used to it. I just had to say it. You've been comforting me since...since…" Meghan began before Monika kissed her on the lips softly. Although surprised at first, she returned the kiss. Monika pulled away after about a minute.

"I like you too. I'm bisexual myself. Couldn't you tell? Remember how Lukas and Derrick always had smug smiles on their faces while we all worked in the lab? I forgot that Derrick spoke German and straight up said to Lukas that I thought you were beautiful. Derrick heard me," Monika explained, running her thumb along Meghan's cheek. Meghan however could not fucking believe that Monika had a.) Kissed her and b.) told her that her feelings were mutual. She racked her brain for a moment before she remembered a day in the lab where she had seen Derrick and Lukas exchange a glance before looking at her. Monika had said a word that sounded like "shown" before they did so.

"Is that what that word meant? 'Shown' or something?" Meghan asked. Monika chuckled.

"Schön. And yes, that's what it means. Would you like me to stay or would you like to be alone? Everyone else is in the cafe," Monika said.

"What about Lukas? I thought you had to watch him,"

"He's been better. Plus Ela has been watching him too if you know what I mean. She's a bit feisty isn't she? Perfect for my brother. She'll keep him in check. So did you want me to keep you company?" Monika said.

"Stay," Meghan said abruptly "Please...I need...I need..."

"Comfort?" Monika asked.

"Yes...it's...it's cute when you say words with 'r's in them…" Meghan said awkwardly. She wasn't the best when it came to dating. Derrick was a little better.

"Gladly. I've liked you for a while myself. Mainly due to your determination and the fact that you're cute. Why don't you tell me about all these memories. I'd love to get to know you better," Monika said and rested her head against Meghan's shoulder. Meghan remembered something else about Derrick during her inital lessons with him

"Derrick did tell me his favorite German word though," Meghan said.

"Oh ja?" Monika asked.

"He said it was the one for ambulance. Der Krankenwagen," Meghan said. Monika smiled up at her.

"I knew it would be that one. Come on, tell me about yourself. I've got all night," Monika replied. Meghan smiled at her and began going through the pictures again and told her the stories behind them. Perhaps, with Monika's help, she'd be able to learn to remember Derrick without bursting into tears.

June 21st, 2023

Specialist Monika "IQ" Weiss

West Coast Rainbow HQ

Portland OR. USA

The fact that Meghan Castellano had told Monika that she liked her too was all that she could think about for the next few days. Lukas could hardly notice how happy she currently was.

"I see you finally told her ja?" he asked her one day during a lunch break. Lukas had accompanied Eliza the previous night during a bomb threat. Eliza said that he had handled himself well and followed her orders to the letter. She had even given him a small smile when they returned to HQ.

"I did. I saw her using Derrick's projector and viewing his old photos. I've never seen another person care about their sibling as much as Meghan does," Monika said. Lukas cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Gee thanks, guess I'll return your birthday present then," he said. Monika rolled her eyes.

"You know what I meant," she said to him. It was true. Meghan reminded Monika of herself. It was probably why she was so attracted to her. The night they spent together in the lab kept replaying in her mind. She remembered Meghan talking to her about her childhood and shared the story about how she came out to her family. It reminded Monika about how she had told her own family. Lukas, of course, was the first person she told.

Her mind flashed back to the time when she was 18 and sitting outside the 13 year old Lukas's room as he played his acoustic guitar. Monika always liked doing her homework while listening to Lukas play. He had taken up the guitar at around 10 years old and tended to play it everyday. Monika remembered how frustrated he had been when he first began playing and even talked him out of giving up. Later, it turned out that Lukas was actually quite the prodigy at the guitar when he actually practiced the songs he wanted to learn. All he needed to do was play the song slowly a few times before getting up to the right tempo.

"Lukas, it takes practice. Did you think you were going to be the guy from Iron Maiden immediately?" she had told him. Lukas looked back at his guitar.

"Maybe…" he admitted. Monika reached over and handed the guitar to him.

"I like it when you just strum the various chords. I know you like those acoustic songs too. Like that American band the Goo Goo Dolls," Monika said. Lukas looked a little bit embarrassed. Monika knew why, he wanted to be known as the cool kid that liked the hard rock bands but she knew he had a soft spot for acoustic songs.

"Trust me Lukas, I know what girls like. I happen to be one. The nicer ones always like the guy that can play the softer songs," Monika said. She had been trying not to reveal that she also harbored feelings for women as well as men. Lukas took his guitar from her.

"I do...I do know one song," Lukas said.

"Show me," Monika said. Lukas took a minute to fiddle with the guitar tuning knobs. He eventually settled on something called "Open D but a half step down" tuning and strummed the open guitar strings slowly a few times using an unusual pattern. After about 2 times through the pattern, he placed one of his fingers on the top string on the 5th fret and repeated the same pattern. He looked up at his sister as he played.

"Recognize it?" he asked. Monika listened for a moment before she shook her head.

"What if I played it faster?" he said and sped up his strumming. "How about now?" Again Monika shook her head. It did sound familiar though.

"I'll sing it in the original English too. Ready?" he asked before repeating the strumming pattern between the 2 chords and began to sing in English.

"Baby's black balloon makes her fly...I almost fell into that hole in your life...And you're not thinking about tomorrow. Cause YOU WERE THE SAME AS ME," he sang while switching between the 2 chords and then plucked the strings when he got to the word "cause." Monika smiled at him. She did know this song. It was called "Black Balloon." She had a feeling Lukas had no idea what the lyrics were about but she still liked hearing him play. She sat there listening and heard some movement from the hallway. She turned to see her parents standing out there smiling at the pair of them. When Lukas finished, he turned to see their parents standing in the doorway.

"I know that song, American right?" their mother asked. Their father nodded.

"I recall hearing it on the radio," he said.

"You're getting good Lukas," Monika told him. "Don't quit, ok? Remember what I told you when you were 5?"

"Never back down from something I want to learn, yeah...ok...I'll stick to the slow stuff for now," Lukas said.

Cut to 2 years later and the 18 year old Monika was, yet again, listening to Lukas shred something on his guitar. For a 13 year old kid, he was getting really good. Recently, she had been wrestling with the desire to tell someone her secret. She was about to go back to the States and study at Caltech and needed to tell someone. What better person than her little brother. She waited for a break in his playing and knocked on the door.

"Yes Monika," the 13 year old Lukas answered. She opened it and entered his bedroom. He was pretty tall for a 13 year old, standing about 170cm tall. He was almost as tall as Monika and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

"Got a request or something sis?' Lukas asked her. Monika shook her head and closed the door.

"I need to tell you something," Monika said and sat on the foot of his bed next to him.

"Oh boy...did you get a 97 on a test again?" Lukas asked. Monika gave him a look that said "very funny."

"No...I need to tell you...I need to reveal who I am," Monika said.

"Uh...if that involves you taking your clothes off in front of me, gross," Lukas answered.

"Seriously Lukas. You know how you like girls now?"

"Dang it Mom! She told you about Gabriele didn't she! She's NOT my girlfriend!" Lukas said angrily. Monika raised her eyebrows at him.

"No...who's Gabriele?" Monika asked slyly.

"No one!" Lukas said.

"Anyway, Lukas, you know how you like girls? And some girls like you too? Well...I like girls too as well as men. Like romantically. I sometimes want to date and kiss men and sometimes...I want to date and kiss women..." she said. She trailed off a little bit near the end. She was terrified that Lukas was about to hate her forever now because she felt she wasn't "normal."

"Ok and?"

"What?"

"Did you expect me or mom and dad to hate you or something? I don't care who you decide to date, you just need to bring them to my shows when I'm a big shot guitarist ok?" Lukas said and used his left hand to give her a one armed hug. Monika returned the hug and cried against him. She had told her parents shortly after and they reacted in pretty much the same way.

"Yeah, I thought so. Your mother and I don't care Hase, you will always be our daughter," her father said and gave her a hug before going back to reading his paper.

"Come on Monika, why would you even think we would hate you for being who you are?" her mother asked. Lukas appeared at the foot of the stairs behind their parents and grinned at Monika. She grinned back.

"Hey Monika, did you hear me?" the present day Lukas asked. She had been so enveloped in happy memories she had forgotten that she was now a part of Rainbow.

"No sorry, what did you say?" she asked him.

"I asked if you two are going to go out at some point." Lukas said and gestured at Meghan who was sitting across the cafeteria next to Elena. Meghan glanced over at Monika and gave her that little smile Monika loved seeing so much. Meghan must have noticed that Lukas was sitting next to her, turned red and went back to talking to Elena. Lukas had been glaring at Meghan with a fake angry expression on his face as if to say "yeah right American, you'll need to get through me."

"Jerk," Monika said and hit him on the shoulder. Lukas chuckled.

"Any news from Eliza?" he asked. Monika faltered for a second. Recently, Lukas was struggling with the belief that Derrick was still alive.

"Not to my knowledge," she said. Admittedly, Monika believed it too. The circumstances around Derrick's death were a bit concerning. There was no body and no trace of him in the destroyed helicopter. She had this recurring fantasy of bringing Derrick back to the base alive and well and reuniting him with Meghan and Tina. She had glanced over at Meghan again and saw that she too was facing in her direction and reading something. Monika made a small squeaking noise that only Lukas could hear when she saw what Meghan was reading. It was one of her sci-fi stories. Lukas saw her looking at her again.

"Ah yes, she's doing her homework like a good student," Lukas said. Monika quickly turned her head in his direction.

"You gave her that?" Monika asked sharply. She didn't think her writing was going to be meant for anyone but herself, let alone the woman she had a huge crush on and revealed it to her a few days ago.

"She needs to practice reading the language too. I told her to come to me or you if she has any questions. It's not like you write like Stephen King or Shakespeare. To Meghan, it would probably be intermediate level," Lukas explained. "Hey, hey. Relax. Look, she likes it. If you freak out about every little thing, you might scare her off." Monika, who was beginning to freak out a little bit, had noticed that Meghan was reading the story with a small smile on her face. Eventually she got up and left the room. She glanced towards Monika again and nodded at her before leaving the room. Monika inhaled sharply

"See?" Lukas said calmly. Monika felt his hand on her shoulder and she began to calm down. She looked around the cafeteria and spied Ela sitting with Jordan and Craig talking about something.

"Is Ela still mad at you?" Monika asked. Lukas frowned and looked at Ela. Ela caught his eye and puckered her lips in his direction before winking.

"Not to my knowledge, unless I did something wrong that I don't know about," Lukas said, wiping his forehead of some sweat. Monika smirked at him. She knew what Ela had done to punish him. Something about making him carry her around the base.

"Oh shit, we gotta go. I think we're running drills today," Lukas said, finishing off his water and getting to his feet. Monika saw him glance at Ela before addressing her again.

"Meant to tell you. You were right about girls liking slow acoustic songs," Lukas said before he began to walk out of the cafeteria while humming "Black Balloon." Monika saw Ela's eyes follow him out as she mouthed the lyrics at his back. Ela saw that Monika was watching her and she quickly struck up a conversation with Jordan. Monika followed Lukas out of the cafe only to be confronted by Meghan.

"Hey, did you…" Meghan began and put one of her hands on the back of her own neck.

"Want to go out tonight?" Monika finished for her. "Of course. What did you want to do?" Meghan smiled at her.

Later that night, Monika and Meghan were sitting in the movie theatre, holding hands. They had just got back from taking a walk around the city and just talking. Monika had expected to hear a lot of homophopic comments that were common in the States but Lukas had been right about people being more accepting in the larger American cities for the most part. Pretty much everyone left the 2 women alone. They watched the sunset from the same bench Lukas and Ela sat at once a few months ago. Once or twice, Monika had caught Meghan looking at the sky.

"I know he's watching you with that trademarked smile on his face," Monika had told her. Meghan held her closer when she had said it. Currently, Monika's head was resting on Meghan's shoulder as they watched some action movie from the 90s. Meghan apparently was a fan of action movies which had surprised Monika a little bit. She thought that Meghan was a little more "tomboyish" than most of the other women on Rainbow but hanging out with her brother for most of her life must have affected her entertainment preferences as well. Monika didn't care. She was actually happy being the object of Meghan's affection. She had initially thought Derrick was cute when she saw him for the first time back in Greece during the Tournament but her feelings shifted towards Meghan after their brothers had started hanging out together more. Plus she knew that Tina liked Derrick and you don't get in the way of Tina Lin Tseng. That was fine. She liked Meghan's determination as well as how cute she looked whenever she was all serious. Currently, she could hear Meghan crying softly again.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

"Nothing...it's just," Meghan answered. Monika grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She knew her mind was on Derrick. He must have liked this movie about Dying Hard or something.

"Think about how happy he would be to see you happy. He'll never be truly gone from your life. Eliza and Jordan are working on something. You heard what that guy told Lukas right?" Monika asked gently as a shootout scene played on the screen. Meghan nodded.

"I just don't want to get my hopes up," Meghan said and wiped her eyes.

"If that guy wasn't bluffing, I will bring Derrick home to you and Tina. I promise ok?" Monika said, grabbing Meghan's head with one of her hands.

"You will?" Meghan asked. Monika responded by kissing her again. Unlike last time, Meghan actually responded quicker and ran a hand through her hair. Meghan pulled away and Monika stared into her soft blue eyes.

"Yes Meghan, I will."

"Mission" Report:

Meghan and Monika revealed their feelings to each other and began spending their down time together.