–In the year 2176–

Brick groaned as his alarm clock woke him up. The small headache reminded him that he both drank a bit too much last night and stayed up too late as well. Smacking the off button, Brick pushes himself up, contemplating playing hooky but ultimately deciding to get ready for the day.

Going about his usual routine of a shower, shave, meticulously hair grooming, clothing, and breakfast is the easy part. Those in between moments, those moments are what make him a nervous wreck.

He had dreamed of Dakota last night. Brick buried his face in his hands; even admitting that to himself was nerve-wracking.

The dream hadn't been PG either. Not even PG-13.

It had started out simple enough. Just the two men talking in Brick's penthouse. And then the kissing started, and Good Lord was Dakota good at kissing! Then it sort of escalated from there; Dakota's hands were everywhere at once and Brick couldn't keep his hands to himself, not that he wanted to.

Soon they were both panting; breathlessly pulling the other as close as possible and utterly intoxicated with the others presence. After that, clothes were coming off rather quickly and things were about to get hot and heavy—

Brick winced as he nicked is chin while shaving, distracted by his thoughts.

"Get a grip…" The man told himself.

It was just Vinnie Dakota, after all. This was just a phase. A two-month long phase. Brick shook his head. Despite his reluctance to do so, he admitted to himself he had it bad.

Brick adjusted the tie on his suit one last time—he wasn't sure why he bothered with the suit anymore, Block would probably stick them on Pistachio Duty again—before grabbing a muffin from his kitchen. As he chewed his muffin he contemplated taking his Camaro, but decided he would take the Future-Subway.

Being one of the top agents at B.O.T.T., he was able to afford any house he wanted. He knew for a fact Savannah had a high-end floating apartment, and she quite liked it there, often asking why he didn't get one for himself. It's not that they weren't luxurious or enjoyable; it's just Brick had always suffered from motion sickness, and floating houses were not of much help. His penthouse was high-end, on the top floor, and in the best district money could get you into.

Locking his apartment, Brick made his way to the Future-Subway station a block away from his house.

On the way, Brick passed a few vintage-newspapers stands and (out of habit) glimpsed at a few headlines. The headline: 'Dangerous Wonder-Drug Lost in Time' caught his attention. Fishing out a couple dollars from his pocket and handing it to the paper-boy, Brick grabbed a copy.

Arriving at the station, the first-class agent continued to read as he boarded a subway.

'A wonder-drug estimated to be created some time in the 21st century has gone missing. Usually, the Bureau of Time Travel would have no trouble fixing such issue, but with sudden computer viruses popping up at every possible inconvenience, the organization has had some trouble gaining any solid information.'

Finding a relatively clean seat, Brick blinks in surprise. Even he hadn't known that.

'Ironically, what is known about this supposed wonder-drug is its false name. Rumors and conspiracy theorist have made many believe the name of this drug is Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor, or SQUIP for short. However, the Bureau of Time Travel's public relation's department has confirmed that the only way the word SQUIP has any connection to the 21st century is a book entitled Be More Chill and a musical of the same name, in which the "SQUIP" plays an antagonistic role. The Bureau did not get back with the publishing house in time for any further comment, but this reporter knows for certain they will make one at their own time.'

Brick folds the paper in half and tucks it under his arm as he stares out the window. New Year's was, to him and most others anyway, a week ago. Usually, the Bureau is a bit more on top of new developments and hazards to the timestream, especially at the beginning of a year. However, this apparent attempt to hack the Bureau's computer has stalled most progress.

Smirking confidentially as the future-subway slows to a stop, Brick prepares to exit. "I know what I'm doing today." Surely Pistachio duty would come second to something as horrible as this.

Stepping off the subway, Brick begins the walk to the Bureau. Luckily, it's only an extra block until he gets to the building. Unluckily for him, there's a small Future-Starbucks in the station where Brick is supposed to exit.

Why is that unlucky? Because Vinnie Dakota just so happens to be there.

There is just something about the way Dakota looks that morning; bundled up tight in winter clothing, fluffy hair poking out from a small stocking cap, and that God-Damn smile that reduces Brick to a puddle every time he sees it is on his face—he's starting to wonder if that smile ever leaves his face— and Brick finds that Vinnie Dakota is beautiful.

The time-traveler finds he can't move. He's to transfixed in the spell Dakota has unknowingly cast on him. Brick just stands in place for a couple minutes and watches as Dakota pays for two cups of coffee, entranced by how the light hits the shorter man in just the right way.

"Hey, dick-waffle, move it will you!" Brick is shoved rather roughly from behind. As he stumbles forward, a woman with short green hair wearing a pair of sunglasses and a leather jacket storms past him. "I have places to be, you ass-wipe!" The woman flips him off before storming up the steps to the station's exit.

Once Brick regains his footing, he glances over to see Dakota half-way up the exit's steps, two cups of coffee in his hands. Thankfully, it seems as though Dakota didn't catch him staring. Brushing himself off, and giving himself a couple seconds so it won't look like he followed Dakota out of the Future-Subway, Brick starts his trek to work.

–At the Bureau of Time Travel–

When working for the Bureau of Time Travel, one has to expect a certain level of peculiar or even unexpected events to occur. Whether it be someone walking through the foyer dressed as if they came from either the 1960's or 1560's, or a small gaggle of people going on about some minor scale threat (like an agent accidentally bringing swine flu back with them), or even seeing multiple versions of themselves from a different point in time.

Brick has grown accustomed to all of these (he actually holds the unofficial office record for how many times he's spotted another version of himself in his timeline). However, what Brick hasn't grown accustomed to is walking into the B.O.T.T. Headquarters and hearing an angry female shout "Get your sweaty paws off me, shit-blender!" followed by the sound of someone hitting the floor hard.

Brick quickens his pace until he reaches the beginning of a semi-circle. At the center, the same green-haired girl who flipped him off in the subway stands over a curly-haired, unconscious man who, from what Brick can see, is already suffering from a broken nose. The green-haired girl turns to Block, who is glaring at her from the other corner of the room. Brick spots Savannah at his side, manila folder in hand.

"Blockhead, I don't give a flying fuck what you say; there is no way, no how, that I'll be his partner!" The green-haired girl points at the curly-haired man on the floor.

"I don't know what else to tell you; there are no other available agents for reassignment."

"Then I'll fly solo," The green-haired girl wrinkles her nose in disgust at the man on the floor, "as long as I'm not with this piece of shit again, I'm fine."

Block rolls his eyes. "You of all people should know the Bureau doesn't allow agents to work by themselves, not after the Summer of 2123."

The green-haired girl gasps in faux joy. "You mean I don't have to work with Shitty McDick-Face anymore and I get the day off? You, Mr. Blockbrain, have made my day." The girl turns on heel, smiling like the Cheshire Cat, as she waltzes towards the exit.

"You know that's now what I meant!"

"I can't hear you, Blockhead… even though I'm not outside the building yet." Once she leaves, Block is left standing over the man's unconscious body. Facepalming, the Head of the Bureau barks an order for somebody to get the man to medical ward in the Bureau before stomping off himself, mentioning how the paperwork for this incident isn't going to be pretty.

Watching as a couple agents reluctantly go to help the poor man, Brick makes his way over to Savannah. "Dare I ask what the hell just happened?"

Savannah shook her head in disbelief. "That girl just walked in, started shouting at him," she points to the agent on the floor, "before knocking him out." Savannah pauses and narrows her eyes at the unconscious agent. "Does he look familiar to you?"

Brick gives the man a once over before shrugging. "Kind of. We've probably passed the guy who knows how many times."

"I don't know, something about this seems familiar…" Savannah trails off and Brick glances at the man one more time before he disappears out of sight. Now that he thinks about it, the curly-haired, unconscious agent being dragged away does seem familiar to him somehow. The whole situation feels familiar

"It's nothing important." Brick waves her concerns off. "Did you see the headlines?" Brick hands her the newspaper. She skims the article and, judging by her reaction, he wasn't the only one left out of the loop. "I'd say I know what we're going to do today."

Savannah shakes her head and hands him the manila folder. "Pistachio Duty, again."

Brick groans. "Again? What the hell is Block's problem?"

"Why are you asking me? I tried to get us off of Pistachio Duty, but he was adamant about it."

"Apparently, you didn't try hard enough."

"Well, excuse me if a man getting knocked out five feet away from us interrupted our conversation."

"You could have tried talking to him afterwards."

"He stormed off!"

"You could have followed him."

Savannah groaned and began walking away. "At least I tried to do something about it. You haven't done much of anything lately."

"I've done things!"

"Sure, you have."

Brick roughly shoved the folder containing details of their mission into his coat pocket. "Let's just get this over with."

"Fine."

"Fine." Savannah glares at him.

"Do you always have to have the last word?"

Brick glances at his partner over his shoulder, "You're one too—oof!" Brick stumbles back after having crashed into someone. As the first-class agent is about to apologize, he freezes.

Meanwhile, Vinnie Dakota stands in front of him, holding a cup of coffee in his tense hand. After a second, in which the smaller man makes sure none of the contents of his drink have spilled, Dakota chuckles. "That was a close one. Don't wanna pay that much money on a drink only to have it spilled, am I right?"

"Um, I—uh." Is Brick's eloquent response.

Dakota doesn't seem to notice, patting his shoulder before walking off. "Sorry 'bout that, by the way."

"Uh, um…" Brick watches as Dakota rejoins Cavendish, who also has a cup of coffee in hand, no doubt the second one Dakota bought, and the two men proceed toward the exit. Cheeks burning, Brick adverts his eyes, suddenly finding himself very interested in the floor.

Savannah pokes him in the arm, rolling her eyes as she walks towards the exit. "Whenever you're finished doing whatever the hell it is your doing, we have a mission."

Brick glares at the floor. "We have a mission. That's you, that's what you sound like."

–In the 21st Century–

Brick had mixed memories about his high school days. Some were good, some were bad, some were just sort of 'meh'. That didn't stop him from feeling a bit of nostalgia as he and Savannah set-up shop. 'Shop' being a Pistachio stand alongside a few other concessions outside the gym at Danville High School as a basketball game went on.

Brick had played a few sports during school, mostly football and track though, so he wasn't particularly interested in the game going on inside the gym. Occasionally, a group of teenagers would come out of the gym, laughing and cheering, order a few pistachios, among other drinks and snacks, before heading back into the gym.

It looked like it was shaping up to be another slow, boring mission. Until two middle school-aged children, a girl in a magenta jacket and the boy who Brick recognized as the one who got into his limo with Cavendish and Dakota that one time laughing emerged from a darkened hallway.

"C-c-c c'mon, c-c-c c'mon, go, go! C-c-c c'mon, c-c-c c'mon, go, go!" The two of them laughed, doing an odd little run-dance as they entered the concession area. The boy glanced around, still smiling, before asking "What did the others want again?"

The girl held up a finger before pulling a list from her pocket. "Melissa wanted some chips, Zack wanted a bottle of water and some popcorn, Bradley wanted a bottle of Red Gush, Joni and Chad wanted pistachios and some fizzy orange soda, Mort wanted two bottles of water and a chocolate bar, and Lydia wanted some hard candy."

The two looked at the concession stands, which were perfectly split down the middle, before the boy spoke up. "I take the left side and you take the right?"

"Sounds like a plan to me, Milo."

As the two kids set about getting their snacks, Brick nudged Savannah. "Isn't he—?"

Savannah nodded, narrowing her eyes at the boy. "What's he doing here?"

The woman selling candy bars next to them gestured to the hallway he and his friend emerged from. "They're probably apart of the middle school play. The high school's letting them use their auditorium since the middle schools was flooded the other day."

Savannah blinked. "How do you flood an auditorium?"

The boy, Milo, from his spot at a nearby vending machine shrugged. "Well, in my experience, you have to get chased down by some alpacas while also chasing a tow-truck that left with your math homework."

While the two time-travelers were trying to process how any of what he just said made sense, a screw on the Pistachio cart came loose. The screw rolled into the gym, where a nearby teenager happened to be walking. The teenager slipped and lost her balance, tripping and falling onto a nearby table, sending the high school basketball team's merchandise flying into the foyer. A foam finger from the table sailed through the air until it got jammed in the broiler of the Pistachio cart.

Brick and Savannah, still a bit perplexed by the situation as a whole, were a bit shocked when Milo and his friend yanked them out of the direct vicinity of the exploding Pistachio stand—which careened from the foyer into the gym, destroying the scoreboard.

The children wince at the damage done, and the two-time travelers are left in shock. Savannah is the first to recover, as the girl in the magenta coat waves a few dollar bills in her face before gesturing to the two bags of pistachios the time-traveler has managed to hold onto.

As Savannah exchanges the remaining Pistachios, Brick glares down at Milo, almost accusingly. The boy only shrugs helplessly before gathering up the snacks and drinks he bought. "Sorry about that."

As the two children leave, Brick feels a headache coming on. "This is going to be a lot of paperwork…"

–About an hour later–

As it turns out, Brick was right, there was a lot of paperwork. However, the moment he and Savannah submitted their reports of what happened, Block had called them to chew them out for their incompetence. Saying how it shouldn't be possible for two agents of their caliber to mess up something so simple as protecting a green nut. The grouch had also added that if things didn't change, quickly, they'd both be in big trouble.

Suffice to say, after everything that just happened to them, the two were in a rotten mood and had resorted to their only "effective" way of coping with it; blaming each other.

"I'm just saying, if you hadn't upset him with almost letting Texas cease to exist, Block would be a lot less likely to scream at us." Savannah told Brick matter-of-factly.

Said agent scoffed. "First of all, the fact Texas almost ceased to exist is all your fault. Second, if you hadn't tattled on Cavendish and Dakota, we wouldn't be stuck on Pistachio Duty!"

"'Tattled'? Oh my god, how old are you?"

"Old enough to understand that's basically how we got into this mess."

"Oh, so you're blaming me?"

"Well, I see no one else who is at fault, here."

Savannah rolled her eyes before fixing him with a glare. "Try looking in the mirror once and a while, huh?"

"I do, in fact," Brick smirked to himself, "and for the record, I like what I see."

"You'd be the only one…"

"Oh, like you're one to talk—"

"If you want to live to see the end of the week, I recommend not finishing that sentence."

"What's the matter? Insecure about your looks?"

Savannah shook her head, increasing her pace as to walk past him. "Y'know what? I'm not dealing with this right now."

As she continued to walk away, Brick rolled his eyes. "Where are you going?"

"To warm up the Time-Limo. It's practically two degrees outside, it'll take a second to warm up."

"So, you forfeit, and I win?"

"Is everything a competition to you?"

"Again, you're one to talk." Brick could have sworn Savannah mumbled something like "Go to hell" but he couldn't be quite sure. The first-class agent decided that he—and by extension, Savannah—each needed some time to cool off before regrouping to head back to the future.

However, Savannah was right. The temperature outside was dangerously low. Not wanting to get frost bite, Brick glanced around the area until he found a small café at the end of the block. Figuring a hot cup of coffee was about the best thing he could get right now, Brick made his way over towards the small establishment.

Of course, because he was the universe's punching bag at this point, the Milo-boy from earlier, accompanied by the two youths Brick remembered he and Savannah chased into the sewers, came running up from behind him.

"~I don't wanna be a hero, just wanna stay in the line. I'll never be Rob DeNiro! For me, Joe Pesci is fine. So, I follow my own rules, and I use them ass my tools, to stay alive. I don't wanna be special—no, no—I just wanna survive~" The three children screamed-sang as they jogged up from behind Brick. Dodging pass the man, continuing to sing their odd little song without any real beat or melody, laughing as they did.

Brick paused and watched the children suspiciously. They were there when he and Savannah got their Time-Limo trashed, Brick remembered passing their campsite while he and Savannah were chased by a bear in the forest, and that Milo boy was there when their latest Pistachio mission flopped. If he didn't know any better, Brick would say those kids had something to do with all this bad luck.

As Brick got closer to the café, he noticed the children seemed to be going through a very specific set of steps. Though they weren't taking it seriously at the moment, not by any means, the kids seemed to have rehearsed it before. As the man was about to enter the café, he heard quite the ruckus.

"C-c-c c'mon, c-c-c c'mon, go, go! C-c-c c'mon, c-c-c c'mon, go—whoa!" The youths odd sing/scream combination was interrupted by sudden yelps and a couple low thuds on the ground. Brick heard a few moans of pain, moans that definitely were not coming from the children, and blanched.

"My foot, I can't feel my foot!" The red-headed girl shouted in a panic.

"That's my foot, Melissa!" Dakota groaned, gently yanking his leg out of Melissa's grasp.

Why? The man thought. Why now, after everything that went wrong today? Brick ducked into the alley by the entrance of the coffee shop before, in a panic, glancing back to where he once stood.

Cavendish and Dakota were gently helping the three children to their feet. Thankfully, neither party seemed to notice Brick was there or had even been there. Quietly sighing in relief, Brick ducked back into the alley, ready to wait this interlude out so he could catch up with Savanah and go back to the future.

"You kids ok? No sprained whatsis, no broken whatchamacallits, no missing thingamajigs?" Dakota asked.

The other boy laughed and shook his head. "Nah, just a bruised backside. We're fine."

"What were you kids doing, anyway?" Cavendish asked.

"We were walking home from play rehearsal!" Milo smiled. "We've got the first two songs stuck in our heads, so we figured we'd sing on the way home."

"And dance on the icy sidewalks?" Cavendish raised a brow.

Melissa shuffled her feet in slight embarrassment, "Ok, that might not have been our best idea…"

"For what it's worth, you kids had some good moves." Dakota scratched his chin. "I especially liked that part where you slid on your feet and crashed into Cav and I. What was that called?"

The children giggled before unanimously shouting "The Murphy Shuffle!"

That got a laugh out of Dakota, causing Brick's heart to beat a mile a minute from where the agent was hiding. Peeking out from his hiding spot, Brick observed the group more closely, especially Vinnie.

"Yeah, that's a good move. I'll have t'remember that one next time I go out dancing. Just picture it, I'm at the club and I bust out this bad boy," The smaller man shuffled his feet, sliding a bit on the ice before leaning onto Cavendish, smirk in place, "I'll be the talk of the town."

Brick smiled dreamily as he watched Vinnie do that weird little dance. On anyone else, Brick would say they looked like an idiot. Yet Vinnie made it work, and it boggled Brick for a moment just how much Vinnie made it work. Sighing, Brick felt himself get lost at just staring at the man. There was snow in his fluffy hair, his nose and cheeks were a wonderful shade of pink due to the cold, and Brick was starting to realize he never wanted to kiss anyone more in his life than in that moment.

Realizing this, however, sent a bolt of fear running through the first-class agent. As Brick slammed his back into the brick wall of the alleyway, he heard Cavendish say "Yes, they'll talk about what a fool you are."

Dakota smiled and poked Cavendish in the cheek. "But they'll say I'mma loveable fool…"

There was a short pause, and Brick calmed his breathing enough to peak his head back out just in time to see Cavendish come to a sort of realization. "Wait a moment, you children weren't actually considering walking all the way home in this weather, were you?" The two-other time-travelers looked at the children expectantly.

Milo shrugged and said. "Well, we missed the bus home and all our friends left before we did so we can't ask them for a ride."

"And Zack's dad is heling Milo's mom get Milo's dad to the hospital after he dropped us off at play rehearsal this morning." Melissa explained.

The other boy, Zack, added on to this with "And Melissa's dad had to go put out a fire at the hospital once Milo's dad got there, Sara is sick in bed today, and my mom's doing surgery so none of them could really pick us up."

Cavendish shook his head. "Well, you children can't walk home in this weather, you'll freeze to death. Come along, our time vehicle is this way, we'll take you home."

"Really?" Melissa questioned.

"Of course!" Dakota smiled, giving her an affectionate noogie. "Can't have our favorite actors get frost-bite before they're big debut, eh?"

The children readily agreed and followed the two time-travelers back in the direction of their car. Which, as luck would have it, would be in the direction that Brick just so happened to be hiding. Noticing this, Brick quickly ducked into the shadows of the alley and waited for the group to pass. As they did, Brick felt his face redden as the children said something to make Dakota laugh.

Once they were out of earshot, Brick emerged from the alley and, deciding against the coffee, went to go find Savannah.

Brick, feeling dejected, kicked a small ball of slush as he walked on. Was this how it was going to be from now on? Failing the simplest of missions and then ducking out of sight whenever Vinnie Dakota reared his stupidly handsome face? Brick frowned.

He couldn't continue doing this. Brick needed to figure out a way to do more than just the bare minimum to survive.

–In the year 2176–

"At least the renaissance potties weren't so horrible this time around." Dakota pointed out as he and Cavendish exited their time vehicle. By regulation, all agents had to keep the vehicles they used during missions parked in the Bureau's Garage. That way, if something happened while on duty, the vehicle could (usually) be easily fixed upon returning.

"Yes, I suppose there is that positive aspect of today. It was still incredibly cold out." Cavendish mumbles, handing the keys back to the man at the desk, who seems more occupied with a game show he's watching than the time-travelers before him.

Once out of the man at the desk's ear shot, Dakota whispers in Cavendish's ear. "Plus, we didn't have to worry about the pistachios today because Milo did us a favor."

That made Cavendish smile, just a bit. Milo had told the time-travelers about how Murphy's Law had sent the Pistachio Cart that Brick and Savannah were stationed at crash into a scoreboard. Cavendish was grateful, as there were only so many times the two could "accidentally" run into the two first-class agents before things became awkward and suspicious.

Well, now that Cavendish thought about it, Brick seemed to be acting awkward whenever they were around; more specifically, Brick would act awkward whenever Dakota was around. His face would turn a bit pink, he would tense up, and he'd only be able to speak one or two words at a time, and even then, it was usually nonsense. But, Dakota didn't appear to notice, so Cavendish figured it wasn't a big deal.

"He didn't know he did us a favor, you know." The mustached man pointed out.

The younger man shrugged. "I know that, but it was still pretty helpful."

The two reached the end of the garage's hall. At the end of the hall, there were two wooden double doors that would lead into the main building. As Dakota was about to reach for one of the doors, it opened from the other side and out stepped the green-haired girl they had seen knock a man out earlier that day.

"Oh, sorry, excuse me." She said, taking a step back to let the two men pass.

"Nah, you're fine. Go ahead." Dakota moved aside and gestured to let her pass. The girl smiled in thanks and squeezed passed the two men. Dakota turned to his partner. "So, Cav, you wanna grab a bite before we head out for the day?"

"Hmm, I suppose we could—"

"Wait a second." The two men turned to see the green-haired girl had stopped a few feet away from them. She turned around and narrowed her eyes slightly at Cavendish. "Balthazar Cavendish? Is that really you?"

A bit confused, Cavendish nodded slowly. "Yes?"

The girl smiled brightly. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe it, look at you! I haven't seen you in so long."

Cavendish exchanged a quick glance with Dakota, who only shrugged helplessly. Cavendish turned back to the woman and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry miss, but do I know you?"

"You don't recognize—wait, it's the hair, right?" The girl gestured to her short, neon green hair and smiled. "Yeah, that's been tripping a lot of people up. It's me, Lotte Landero!"

"Lotte Landero…" A light went on behind Cavendish's eyes and his face lit up. "My goodness, Lotte!" The two time-travelers shared a quick hug before Cavendish pulled away. "I haven't seen you in ages."

"I know! For me it's been about five years now." Lotte winced slightly.

Cavendish shook his head. "You make me feel old, for it's been much longer for me."

"Damn time-travel, am I right?" Lotte smiled before pinching the ends of his mustache. "Man, you did not have this the last time I saw you… and you didn't have grey hair, either."

"I don't feel like you have much room to talk about hair color."

"Oh hush, it's a good luck on you. You're all dapper-y and fancy and stuff!"

"Well you look like you've stepped out of a heavy-metal concert."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." As the woman, Lotte apparently, shoved Cavendish playfully, Dakota shuffled his feet before coughing awkwardly to let the two know he was still there.

"Um, hi. How ya doin'?"

Lotte blushed a little in embarrassment. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, where are my manners?" She held out a hand clad in bright cyan nail polish and tacky, bright colored bracelets towards the younger man. "I'm Lotte Landero. I was the one who trained Cavendish when he first joined the Bureau."

Dakota smiled. "Vinnie Dakota, I'm Cavendish's partner."

Lotte's eyes twinkled mischievously, and she turned back to Cavendish with a knowing smile. "So, this is the Vinnie Dakota I've heard so much about, huh?"

With his heart rate picking up ever so slightly and butterflies forming in his stomach, Dakota turned to Cavendish and smiled, albeit shyly, and asked "You mentioned me to other people?"

Cavendish, who at this point was as red as a tomato, coughed. "Well, er, yes I have. Occasionally—"

"Oh, don't be so modest, Cavendish!" Lotte had slid an arm around Dakota's shoulder and stage-whispered in the shorter man's ear "He mentioned you a lot. He says your funny and smart and really fun to be around."

Dakota, who at this point was floating on cloud nine, didn't hear Cavendish's embarrassed huff as he yanked Lotte away. The younger man quickly shook himself out of it, however, and turned to Lotte. "So, you were Cav's partner back in the good ol' days, huh? Got any embarrassing stories up ya sleeve?"

"Dakota!"

"What? Like you wouldn't do the same if you met the person who trained me?"

Ignoring Cavendish's protests, Lotte pulled out her phone and, after a few seconds of tapping and swiping, flipped it over to show Vinnie the picture on screen. "That's us back in the day. Hard to believe, right?" It was in fact, very hard to believe.

Vinnie looked between the Cavendish and Lotte that stood before him and the Cavendish and Lotte in the picture. Picture-Lotte had long brown hair and was wearing a frilly pink dress. A stark contrast to the short, green-haired woman in a leather jacket standing before him. And Picture-Cavendish?

"Dude, you don't have a mustache! And I didn't know you were a blonde." Dakota couldn't stop staring at the picture of how his partner looked back in the day. His blonde hair was still neat and trim, but he was without his usual period get-up (instead wearing the standard issued red-and-black Bureau uniform) and he was without the soft-looking, prim, and proper mustache Dakota had come to know and love.

Cavendish sighed and, desperate to get the topic of conversation off of how he used to look, turned to Lotte, "So, what have you been up to Lotte? Any exciting missions since the last time I saw you?"

After getting her phone back from Dakota, Lotte tucked it into her jacket's pocket before shrugging. "Well, after I was finished training you, my third-partner and I were assigned to prevent the Gangoo Bird from extinction."

Dakota raised a brow. "The what-who bird?"

Lotte frowned. "Exactly. After that disaster, Blockhead gave me a new partner and we were sent back to the 1980's."

"You have to admit, there are worse places to be." Cavendish patted Lotte's shoulder sympathetically.

"Still! That guy I got reassigned to was a total pig. I'm glad I don't have to work with him anymore, then again, I didn't really give Blockhead much of a choice."

"What do you mean you 'didn't give Mr. Block much of a choice'?" Cavendish asked.

Lotte scowled, "I'd ask if either of you heard what I did this morning to my ex-partner, but I'm pretty sure everyone in this century and the next has heard it by now."

"Yeah, what was that all about, anyway? Not to pry, or anything!" Dakota added that last part quickly, seeing Cavendish's warning look.

"The long and short of it was my ex-partner, Chip, is a self-centered, egotistical jerk who can't keep his hands to himself. Believe me, the prick had it coming." Lotte's hand twitched, as if recalling something this Chip guy had done to make her angry.

"Well, you don't have to work with him anymore. So, that's good!" Cavendish smiled.

"Not to mention it looked like ya broke the guy's nose, so you defiantly got the last laugh." Dakota assured her.

Lotte smiled before turning away, forlornly. "Yeah, but that bad news is that unless I find some agents I can slum it up with temporarily, Blockhead'll fire me!"

"That's terrible!"

"I know! Where am I going to find other agents, who are willing… wait a minute," Lotte's face lit up and she turned to the two-time travelers, "what if I just tag-along on your missions?"

This suggestion caught Cavendish and Dakota off-guard. Seeing as how they were the lowest of the low and Lotte, their superior, was asking to tag-along on their missions. "Well, I—"

"Please, you guys? I won't get in the way and I can be a big help!" Lotte begged, hands clasped in front of her.

Cavendish rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly. "Well, Lotte, our missions aren't necessarily… glamourous."

"Don't care, I'll do whatever it is you guys do."

"We clean out renaissance potties." Dakota said bluntly.

Lotte's nose crinkled a bit before she shrugged. "While it's not ideal, count me in."

The two men were beyond shocked. "Really?"

"Of course! I really don't wanna be paired back up with Chip-the-twit and I don't wanna lose my job. So please, please, please, please could I tag-along with you guys until I find myself a new partner?"

Cavendish and Dakota exchanged a look before smiling slightly and shrugging. "Alright, it sounds like we have an arrangement."

"Welcome to the crew!"

Lotte squealed happily before tackling the two men with hugs. "You two won't regret it, I promise! Dakota, I just know we're gonna be great friends, and Cavendish, we have a lot of catching up to do." After releasing the men from the hug, Lotte was practically beaming. "I'm gonna go find Blockhead and tell him about our little arrangement. I'll catch up with you two later, ok?" The green-haired woman didn't give the men time to respond as she dashed back into the Bureau proper.

The two men waved good-bye to their new partner. "She seems nice," Dakota noted.

Cavendish nodded. "Oh yes, she's quite friendly… If you don't get her angry, of course."

Dakota nodded and, after a bit of silence, smiled cheekily. "So… you think I'm funny?"

Cavendish blushed a bright pink. "I have no idea what you're referring too."

"It's fine, Cav, a lot of people think I'm funny. Guess it's just my smart sense of humor."

"Dakota, please stop." Cavendish shook his head in embarrassment.

"What, I thought you said I was fun to be around?"

"I better go check on how Lotte's doing with Mr. Block. Make sure everything transitions smoothly and all…" Cavendish turned and all but bolted through the doors. Dakota was close behind though, smiling like an idiot all the way.

Because wouldn't you be walking on sunshine if you just found out your crush thought you were funny, smart, and fun to be around?

For the record, I imagine Lotte would be voice by Mandy Gonzalez if this were an actual cartoon.