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Chapter 4: Freundin

"What the HELL were you doing, Triela? You had me worried sick. If I didn't know you better, I'd have called an alert. I've..."

Claes, once again, jumped in to save Triela from too much trouble. "All of us were with her, Hilshire. She was safe. There isn't a force on earth which can take the four of us on at the same time."

"And what," continued Hilshire, deciding to investigate Claes, who seemed very willing to answer questions, "were you girls doing out in Rome to this unholy hour, armed to the teeth, yet having Triela in a dress?"

"Taking her out to a first date," supplied Henrietta, deciding to bite the bullet for her comrade. For all her faults, Henrietta was extraordinarily loyal.

Hilshire sighed in relief. It was something as innocent as hormones that he was dealing with. That, he supposed, he would have to expect, as an almost parent. "And why, pray tell, would a girl as accomplished as Triela need not one, but three of you covering her?"

"Her date was an assassin, she thought. Turns out he was, too."

"Triela, who's the lucky man?"

Triela who was now wide awake, mumbled "That cyborg Jan."

Hilshire began to put the pieces into place. Triela had refused to talk about the conclusion of her mission. Triela was never like that. Triela was complete in her report, almost always. And, oddly enough, Triela had asked about going to Rome, the location of her excursion. That was his mistake, not putting enough merit in that request to investigate further. The next piece was Jan himself, asking about Rome as well. Obviously, the boy was looking for a place to take Triela. Hilshire breathed another sigh of relief when he realized he had recommended the perfect place. That alone must have done wonders for the date. Shaking his head, he brought himself back to the task at hand–gently scolding Triela for doing something dangerous and stupid. "And did you enjoy yourself?"

Rico, whose tact was missing in action, pointed out "She would've made out with him if he'd made a move. But Jan was too much of a gentleman."

Triela indignantly retorted "Rico, do you really think I'm that easy?"

"Yes." Sarcastic humor, however, inherited from Jean, came to Rico naturally, and leaving one's self open to a barb around Rico was simply asking for trouble, in general.

Hilshire frowned, now actually getting to the punishment. "Triela, what you did was foolish in a way that I thought you'd never be. Don't do something like this without thinking about it. I'll let it slide this time. But the next time, it's not alright. Now get to bed. You've got a busy day tomorrow. We'll discuss how you're going to be punished for this later."

A week later, Jan showed up at the door of Section II. Flipping open his cell, he dialed the number that he had been given to contact Triela when she arrived. It rang, Triela answered, and moments later, the door opened, granting him entrance. Triela was not waiting for him. Instead, it was Hilshire, smiling disarmingly. Surprised, but maintaining his cool, Jan asked "Um, is Triela home?"

"Why yes, she is. And before you meet her, we have some things to discuss. Outside, if you could."

Not one to disagree with people who most likely had guns when he wasn't armed, Jan stepped out into the yard. "So, why am I being interrogated?"

"Because, Jan, my Triela is not going to end up dating some two bit idiot. She deserves better than that, and, if nothing else, you show potential."

"You're her...what's the word...handler?"

"Yes. Now, I'll be asking the questions."

"Ok."

For the next half an hour, Jan was questioned about very many things–but none of them involving work, and all of them involving his character. A lot of it seemed like a psychological evaluation rather than an interrogation, really. Lots of these questions seemed unreasonable to him, but, to his credit, he answered honestly. It was also among the more harrowing experiences in his life–which, considering his profession, was rather impressive. Jan's will to continue was under severe strain when finally, after what had seemed like an eternity to him, Hilshire stood up, and offered Jan a handshake. Stunned, momentarily, Jan stood up, and shook Hilshire's hand. "I'll enjoy seeing you around, Jan," stated Hilshire, "Now, don't keep your lady waiting too much."

Hilshire directed Jan to Triela's room, so he could pick her up. As he was walking, the three other girls intercepted him, and walked beside him. Claes cleared her throat, before beginning. "Jan, we've got a few things to tell you that Hilshire may or may not have covered."

"This was a setup, wasn't it..."

Rico piped up. "We did steal Triela's cell, and definitely used a recorded voice to fake you out. Don't worry, the real Triela should be answering her phone any time now."

"Remind me never to get on your bad side...what's your name?"

"Rico. That's Henrietta to your left, Ange's in front of you, and Claes is to your right."

"Nice to meet you all."

"Now, as we were saying," continued Claes, "if you so much as elicit a whimper from her, or send her home crying some night, or generally do anything she's not terribly comfortable with..."

"You'll kill me. Right."

Henrietta, whose protective streak had been expanded to include more than Jose, rather than removed, as she grew, cheerfully said, "Nope. We personally enjoy slow torture much more. Besides, we'd get in so much trouble if we killed you."

"I somehow don't feel encouraged."

Angelica grumbled under her breath, "And if we kill you, I somehow doubt Claes will ever find the opportunity to seduce one of your friends. She was eyeing that boy in the hat."

Claes shot Angelica a nasty look, but the soon to be battle that Jan sensed was cut short by the group reaching Triela's door. Claes had the last word before the girls went their separate ways. "Good luck, then." She winked broadly, and walked away whistling "Ode to Joy."

Jan knocked softly. So many things were running through his head at that moment. How did he look? Was this really happening? How could he escape if he needed to? Would Hilshire and the girls ever warm up to him (though, really, he never sensed real malice, but rather guessed that they wished him luck in being a good boyfriend)? However, like any good killer, the instant the moment of truth came, all the jumbled questions, and possible answers were evicted from his mind. Triela opened the door, and looked Jan in the eye. The reason, unfortunately, that Jan's mind was clear in this moment was not that he had cleared them himself–rather, it was that an overwhelming thought, fueled by hormones, was crowding all of them out. Jan, for the first time in his life outside of training, froze up. "Hi."

"Hi, Jan."

Triela's voice seemed to break Jan out of his stupor. "Triela, can you close the door?"

"Why? You've just arrived."

"I want to try that again."

Triela closed the door. Gathering his thoughts once again, this time organizing them correctly, Jan knocked on Triela's door, this time with lots of confidence and loudly. Triela answered, and politely greeted "Hello Jan. How nice it is to see you," with sugary sweetness dripping off of each word.

"Triela, you're fantastic."

And with that, Jan, without any warning at all, passionately kissed Triela. Claes, who had never really walked away, captured the entire event on tape.

"... and as kisses go, this was pretty high on the list of best of all time. Perhaps not quite as amazing as Wesley and Buttercup, but right up there with Spider-man and Mary Jane in the rain."

Claes finished penning her report, wondering exactly what Jean would think of the entire escapade.