Janet's attention was focused on her cellphone as she read Scud's last email about his next blind date. Apparently she liked to paint roadkill. Eew! That's so gross! I wonder what color she paints it? Janet for the life of her couldn't understand why Scud was going on these dates. She finished typing up a response, told him about the new sweater she bought, and hit the send button. She tossed her cellphone on her bed and sighed. Janet made her way downstairs and heard the front door slam shut. Max and Dominique walked into the living room with duffle bags. They both dropped them onto the floor and sank onto the sofa. "I smell gunpowder. You two go shooting?" Max nodded while Dom mumbled, "oui." Max turned to Janet. "Any news or missions or anything from Phipps? It feels like we haven't gotten out into the field in forever." Janet flipped her ponytail around to the other side of her head. "Well, no one has seen or heard from Lucy Diamond, and major crime seems to have taken a bit of a break..." Janet cut herself off when she heard the front door open and slam shut again. The three agents turned their heads toward the foyer expectantly.
Amy peeked into the living room and saw her three squadmates staring back at her. "Amy!" Janet squealed while jumping up and down and clapping. Max turned from Amy to Janet and gave her a scowl. "Hey, Amy. Good to see you. Um...I've been trying to get a hold of you." Amy nodded at Max. "I know. I wasn't ready to talk. Hey, Janet. Dom." Dominique slightly nodded toward Amy. Max crossed her arms and studied Amy. "Have you come back to graduate?" Amy opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again. She looked hard at Max. "Honestly, Max, I hadn't even thought about that." She sighed. "Maybe I should though. We are graduating next week. Endgame the week after. Seems silly to leave now." Amy looked from Janet to Max to Dominique. "Assuming you'll still have me on the squad." She held her hand up to Max who attempted to cut in. "However," Amy looked pointedly at Max. "I will not be staying after graduation. I quit." Max's eyebrows crinkled above her nose, and she appeared to be making a difficult decision. She looked hard at Janet and Dominique. "Well, what do you guys think?" Apparently finding an answer in each of their faces, Max turned again toward Amy. "Welcome back, Bradshaw." Amy solemnly put her hand out to shake with Max, but Max brushed her hand away and gave her a rare hug. "Your communicator is on the kitchen table. We haven't gotten around to turning it in yet. Your room is how you left it. Finals start Monday, graduation is on Friday." Amy sighed. "Guess I'll be studying this weekend." Max rolled her eyes. "You are going to ace these exams and you know it." Amy grinned. "Yeah, I know."
Amy entered the kitchen and slipped her watch comm onto her wrist. She then headed up to her room, remembering that she needed to grab her surveillance swing. Amy found the swing easily, and stood studying the room she was in. Her room. At least, it used to be her room. It didn't feel like home the way it once did. She grabbed a few changes of clothes, grabbed the swing, her backpack, and two extra ammo clips. She turned to leave the room, and saw Max standing in the doorway. "We need to talk, you know." Amy nodded. "I've realized a few things since you've been gone. For one, I haven't been a very good friend. I...I guess I just got angry and couldn't see things for how they really were. I know you aren't happy here. I think I've known that for a while. I just, I don't know. I saw things how I wanted them to be." Amy was silent for a moment. "What made you realize all of this, finally?" Max thought for a moment. "What really hit me was your room." Amy looked around her room. It was pretty much the same as it had been when she first moved in. "What about it?" Max looked once again at the curtains, the walls, and the trophies. "Without you in it, not a single thing in this room reminds me of you. I know you think I don't listen to you when you talk about art, or your drawings. I do." Max sighed. "I had a plan for my future. You were always in it. My squadmate, my partner." Amy interrupted Max. "I always will be, if you let me, as your best friend. But I can't be a Deb anymore. It was never what I wanted." Max nodded. "There is none of your art in your room. No drawings, sketches, paintings. No big-ass block of marble for you to hack away at with a chisel. You never settled in here because I think you always knew this wasn't for you." Amy smiled at Max and pulled her in for a second rare hug. "Nice to have you back on the squad, soldier. I guess I can let you be squad captain for a week." Amy laughed at that. "I'll make a shit captain and you know it." Max nodded and left the room.
Amy walked out of the room as well and shut the door behind her, which wasn't very easy with the armload of stuff she was carrying, and headed back downstairs. Janet stopped her on the landing. "I'm so glad you're back!" Then she paused and looked at Amy warily. "Um, Scud's date tonight?" Amy raised an eyebrow at Janet. "What about it?" A smile formed on Amy's face. "Janet! Are you jealous?" Amy couldn't help but giggle. Janet turned several shades of red before answering. "I'm not jealous...I'm worried. A roadkill painter?" Amy's giggles turned into all out belly laughter. "She's harmless, Janet. Besides, we will be there watching. I'll keep an eye on Scud for you." Amy could see relief wash over Janet's face. She looked at Amy again. "What color did she paint the roadkill?" Amy's laughter started again. "She didn't paint the actual roadkill! She just sketched pictures of roadkill. Hey, Vincent van Gogh cut off his own ear, consider sketching roadkill on the normal side for artists!" The shocked look on Janet's face was priceless. Amy shook her head smiling and continued back down the stairs, waved goodbye to Dom, and headed back to Lucy's.
Lucy had been floating around the Evil Lair all day, wondering what she had done so right. She had a great girl who loved her, and who Lucy was starting to realize she loved too. She was somewhat surprised by that. She had made herself promises, vowed to herself to never let a woman get that kind of power over her again. Lucy realized it didn't feel that way with Amy. She felt like she was expanding upon her own life by including Amy in it. She didn't feel trapped, she felt freed. Weird. Being in love is weird. Being in love. She stopped and looked over at Scud, typing away at his keyboard. Once this second date of his was over, maybe she really would be nice and have his third date be with Janet. He probably deserves it. She tilted her head to the side and frowned slightly. He put on a yellow shirt. I bet he didn't even realize it. Lucy burst out into peals of laughter and fell to the area rug, holding her stomach. Scud scowled at her from his computer. "What's so funny?" "Yellow, Scud? I thought you weren't going to wear yellow?" He distractedly looked down at himself. "I am not a Minion! I just like this shirt!" He got up and ran to his room to change, Lucy still howling with laughter on the carpet.
Amy got off the city bus with her things packed into a duffle bag she had found in the Debs hall closet. It was somewhat heavy and she wasn't looking forward to the six block walk to the Evil Lair, but she remembered there was a smoothie place on the way, so she got moving. She made it about a half a block when she heard, "Babe! Hey babe, where you been?" yelled from behind her. She froze, wondering if she should try and hide in the laundromat to her right, or if she should just make a run for it. She decided with the extra weight she was carrying he would outrun her in about a block, and there just aren't many places to hide in a laundromat. She slowly turned around and set her jaw. Her posture was a frosty one, but Bobby didn't notice. He grabbed her in a big bear hug. "I missed you! Did you lose your phone or something? I haven't been able to get a hold of you in days!" Amy just continued to glare at him. "Wanna get a smoothie? I'm not sure if you like them, but someone took me to this smoothie place right up the road." Amy couldn't help but laugh. "Really? Bobby, I'm the one who took you there." She shook her head at him still laughing. "Perfect, babe! Let's go!" Amy sighed in disbelief. "I'm going to say this, one last time. I am not your 'babe'." Bobby moved to put his arm around her. "Playing hard to get, babe? It's ok, I like that." Amy dropped her bag, grabbed his wrist, and twisted his arm behind him, pulling his hand up between his shoulder blades. "Bobby, nothing I have said to you seems to get through that thick skull of yours." She pulled his hand up a bit higher. "Ow!" "We are broken up. If you need to speak to me at all, please call me Amy." She let his wrist go and her grabbed his shoulder. "Ow, babe-I mean, Amy. That hurts!" She rolled her eyes at him. "I can hurt you a lot worse. I gotta go. Bye, Bobby."
Bobby was starting to think Amy was serious about their break up. He assumed he had just pissed her off somehow and she'd come back when she had cooled down. I guess she still needs more time to calm down. Bobby shrugged, turned around and walked away.
Lucy was looking at blueprints of the restaurant/bar where Scud's date was taking place later. It was formerly a warehouse, and looked like it was going for some kind of industrial chic look. Which was fortunate for Amy and Lucy, since the surveillance swing would work perfectly. The large door of the Lair opened and Amy walked in with a heavy looking duffle bag in one hand and a smoothie in the other. "Hey, babe!" Lucy called out, waving. Amy gave her an evil stare. "What did I say?" Amy laughed. "Please, call me honey, sweetie, snuggle bunny, anything...ANYTHING...but babe." She kicked the door shut and walked to where Lucy stood. She dropped the bag onto the floor and sighed heavily. "Uh, so is there a story that goes along with that whole 'babe' thing?" Amy nodded and chuckled to herself. "Not so much a story as a jackass named Bobby." "Ah, the ex, huh?" "Yeah, he kinda overused that particular term of endearment." "Well then snuggle bunny it is!" Lucy smiled at Amy. "Come over here. I got blueprints to the restaurant tonight. Did you bring your swing thing?" Amy nodded. "There's some things we should talk about too." Lucy wrapped an arm around Amy's waist and pulled her into a close embrace. "First things first, snuggle bunny." Lucy silenced Amy's small snicker with a kiss.