"Nervous?" Burke asked Shinji. The boy was pacing up and down the hallway, his arms folded. He nodded his head.

"I don't know what to say," he added, the speed of his voice increasing with each sentence. "I mean, she's not Ayanami. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. I should go."

"Oh no, no." Burke, thinking that he might run off, grabbed his shoulders to stop him. "I think this is something you have to do."

"I suppose," Shinji replied. "But I still don't know what to talk to her about."

"The weather, what she had for breakfast, I mean there are many things you can talk about. The key is to talk to her like she's just a regular girl." Burke released his hold on him slowly, prepared to stop him again should it be needed.

"I don't even know what to call her," Shinji said. He stayed where he was, but Burke noticed that his legs were shaking.

"Call her what she wants to be called," he answered in a matter of fact fashion. "Look, it doesn't have to be a long conversation. I'm thinking three to five minutes to start with. I would think you can keep talking for that long." A nurse approached them saying that they were ready on their end.

"Okay Shinji. Follow the nurse here, and she'll take you to her." Shinji nodded his understanding and proceeded to follow her down several corridors stopping just long enough to run her security card at certain doors. At last, they approached a door guarded by one soldier with a bored look on his face. He nodded to the two in acknowledgment of their presence as the nurse turned to Shinji.

"This is her room. Knock on the door when you're done."

"Thank you." Shinji took a deep breath and opened the door. What he found on the other side was a cross between a hospital room and a student's dorm room. The bed was standard for hospitals, but instead of the usual white and beige colored sheets and blankets, there was a large pink bedspread on it. Barring one security camera, the walls were bare. In one corner, there was a wooden desk with a lamp on top. In the desk chair was the Ayanami type sketching something on a sheet of paper, not seeing that Shinji was there. She was wearing hospital clothes, but unlike the hospital gown that Shinji wore on the Wunder, the gown she wore allowed for the wearer to keep some dignity. It consisted of two pieces, a button-down long sleeved shirt and matching pants. Shinji watched her sketch, he couldn't see what she was drawing without looking over her shoulder. He then coughed to get her attention. She turned towards the cough, her eyes widening a little at the sight of him.

"Ikari," she said. He waved to her in greeting.

"How have you been?" he asked her.

"No problems," she replied. A silence settled in the room, something which Shinji didn't want to happen. His mind raced trying to find something else to talk to her about her about. He knew that Burke said it only had to be a few minutes, but he felt that it had to be more than an answer to a question. There had to be something, anything to discuss with her.

"Um…What are you drawing?" he asked.

"Several things," She answered. She lifted the paper to show him. They were simple shapes; circles, squares, triangles. Upon closer examination, Shinji found the shapes to be more complex. In one case, a triangle was composed of smaller triangles. A square had another square drawn within it followed by another producing a series that seemed to stretch into infinity. Some of the drawings appeared to be three dimensional, which produced spheres and cylinders, even so far as to have one shapes turn into another.

"These are great," Shinji told her. He had to admit that he couldn't draw that well. "Did you always draw?"

"No," she replied. "I only began after I arrived here."

"So, why did you start?" he asked.

"I don't know. One day, I took a pencil and paper and just started."

"Oh…" The silence settled in once again and he searched his mind for another topic.

"Wouldn't you like to wear something other than hospital clothes?" A few seconds of silence elapsed before she answered.

"Why would I? They're comfortable."

"I don't know, variety?" he said. "I mean, haven't you ever worn normal clothes before? I've only seen you wear either a plug suit or-" He stopped himself when he realized he was about to say when he walked in on her while she was nude at Nerv HQ. She appeared to think his question and was silent for a couple of minutes.

"I'm not entirely sure," she soon replied. "I've never worn anything else, but I've seen clothes where I slept. That is something I don't understand." His mind flashed an image of the rows of decapitated Ayanami heads. He shook his head to get that image out of his mind and decided to switch subjects.

"There's one other thing I'd like to know," he began. "What should I call you? I know you're not the Ayanami I know, but I have no idea of what you want to go by." Shinji couldn't tell what was going through her head as her face never betrayed her thought process.

"I'm not sure," she said at last. "This is something that I would need to think about further."

"Oh. All right then." Shinji couldn't think of anything else to talk about, but was glad that more than five minutes had passed. "I'm going to leave now. Okay?" He stopped and turned back towards her. He did have one more question for her.

"Is it all right if I come again some time?' Her answer came in less than a second.

"Yes, it would be appreciated."

"Great," Shinji beamed. "And if you need to reach me, you can. I'll see you again." He knocked on the door and was let out. As he was escorted again by the nurse through the corridors, Shinji was mulling over whether or not to get her some art supplies, and if so, what to get. He narrowed it down to either a large sketchpad or a set of colored pencils. He considered for a moment trying to find her a how-to-draw book, but decided against it as he realized that it was a good idea to ask her if she would like one the next time he visited. That's what he should have done when he was at Nerv. He should have asked her instead of just dumping books on her. Before he could beat himself up some more, they returned to where they started and the nurse left him.

Shinji then found that Burke was nowhere to be found. Wondering where he had gone, Shinji began to wander in an effort to locate him. As he was approaching a junction between two corridors, he happened to see someone walk past. It was Ritsuko, who did not see him as he she went by. Shinji stood there frozen for a minute before he began to follow her, not running but walking rapidly. He didn't know why, but he wanted to talk to her, about what he didn't know. It was if he was going on instinct. After five minutes of walking down multiple corridors, he caught a glimpse of her walking down a corridor. He only saw the hem of her lab coat, but it was her. He pursued and came in full sight of her, but she swiped a key card for a secure door and went through, closing it before he could get one word out. He stood in front of the door for a couple of minutes debating with himself whether he should knock on the door or not before someone called out to him.

"What are you doing?" Shinji turned around to find himself face to face with a huge man, ebony-skinned and no hair on his head. Though, the man had spoken to him in Japanese, Shinji wondered if he knew anymore than what he spoke. The tutor was just getting him started in the more advance aspects of English, so he couldn't talk to him too well.

"Um…well, you see, I'm-" he began in English before the man cut him off.

"I'm well aware of who you are." To Shinji, his Japanese appeared to be perfect. "I'm asking what are you doing here?"

"Well, I couldn't find Mr. Burke, so-" he returned to Japanese, but he was cut off again, not by anything the man said, but by him pulling out his phone and dialing.

"It's me," he said in English, of which Shinji could only make out a few words. "Are you looking for Shinji Ikari?…Well, he's in front of the security door leading to Section L22…Yes I said L22…He said he was looking for you…you're coming? Good." He hung up the phone.

"He's coming here," he said to Shinji in Japanese.

"Thank you, um… what's your name?" Shinji asked.

"Dr. Samuel Hood. Chief Supervisor, Evangelion Maintenance Division," he replied. "I'm supposed to be assisting Dr. Akagi on her repairs for Units 02 and 08. I'm not going to hear the end of it from her if I'm late again." The two heard footsteps coming towards them. They sounded to Shinji as if they were coming fast before then slowing down to a normal pace. Burke then strolled around the corner looking as if that was the way he walked the way here.

"There you are," he said to Shinji before speaking with Hood in English, who nodded at what he said.

"All right Shinji," he returned to Japanese. "Let's get going."

"Sure," Shinji replied before turning to Hood and bowing. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Uh, Sure thing kiddo," Hood replied, taken aback by the formality. The two began to walk down the corridor. Shinji turned his head back to see Hood swipe his card and go through the same door as Ritsuko.

"I'm sorry," he said as he turned back around. "I didn't mean any trouble."

"It's all right," Burke replied. "It's my fault for not waiting for you, so you're in no trouble. Just next time, when you're in a similar situation, head towards the reception area."

"Right," Shinji answered. "By the way, it seemed like you came here in a hurry. Why is that?"

"Well…" Burke began uncomfortably. "I wasn't sure if anyone besides Sam knew about it."

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked. A dour look appeared on Burke's face as he stopped and turned towards the boy.

"Do you like living with me and being able to go wherever you want?" Burke asked and Shinji nodding yes. "We had to make several assurances to various higher ups that you would follow certain rules. One of those rules is that you can't be in or near that section as it leads to the Eva cages.

"You mean where Unit 02 and the other one is here?" he asked. Burke could tell he was sounding worried at this revelation.

"Not just those two, but two others. As we're so close to Nerv HQ, it's best for us to have them in case of a sudden attack. It is also why the two pilots you know are here as well despite the Wunder being on deployment. Your ability as an Impact Trigger is why that prohibition is in place.

"I'm sorry," Shinji stated. Burke's face smiled again as the two continued their walk.

"No harm, no foul. That's how we're going to look at it. And you don't need to worry about Sam, he'll keep quiet to the right people. So buck up, but remember that unlike the Commander and myself, there are people in the upper ranks that do not care to be lenient. We can't give them any excuses, Understand?" Shinji nodded, but kept a worried look on his face.

"Hey, I said to buck up," Burke said. "Now we need to stop at my office for a moment, then it'll be time for you to go to the daycare center. Got it?"

"Got it," Shinji replied. He was relieved that there were people who had his back, but there was also a nagging feeling that what peace he had found could be taken away again so easily.