FIRST CHAPTER! YAY!

…

Natasha was working in her office when she heard a knock at the door. She spun her chair round and saw Pinky standing there. She initially smiled until she saw that her boyfriend had a rather serious look on his face. "Is everything okay?"

"Do you remember what day it is today?" asked Pinky soberly.

Natasha frowned, thinking, until it dawned on her and she pressed the backs of her fingers to her mouth. "E-Day," she said quietly. "One year since Edith died."

Pinky nodded sadly. "That means we'll have to be extra supportive for Perry, okay?"

Natasha sighed through her nose. "Sometimes I question what the point is, Pinks. He doesn't appreciate what we do for him. I don't think he even notices." She turned back round in her chair to face her computer, where a photo of the three friends, smiling, was pinned. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I can't just let him down but I also don't want to be stuck like this forever: stuck in this loop of helping him and getting ignored for it." She hesitated. "Is…is that bad?"

"No, it isn't." Pinky approached Natasha and began rubbing her shoulders. "I feel the same way sometimes too. Like you said, it feels like a loop: doing the same thing every day. But also like you said, we can't let him down. We're his best friends, even if he doesn't notice us. As long as our efforts make even the tiniest difference to his day, then it's worth it."

Natasha gave a small smile. "Maybe our efforts are letting him heal faster?"

"Keep thinking like that," Pinky advised. "Keep thinking that we're helping him heal faster, because it may well be true. But until Perry decides to open up to us again, we won't know."

"Yeah…" Natasha smiled at her boyfriend. "What time does Perry usually get in? Is he here already?"

"He might be. Let's go see."

…

As a matter of fact, Perry was in. He had arrived before anyone else and had cleared the office floor of all decorations and party things. He had heard yesterday that the agents were planning to celebrate the day. Perry didn't blame them for that. He thought that he would be able to handle the celebration but when he went home and tried to sleep, the horror of E-Day was slammed in his face, and he didn't want anyone celebrating the fact that Edith was dead.

Now he was in his office with a waste-paper-bin full of decorations. But even that was taunting him, so he flung the whole bin out of the window. He stormed back to his office and placed his hands firmly on his desk, hanging his head. He breathed heavily, trying to calm himself down. You don't want another panic attack, he reminded himself.

Slowly, he felt his blood pressure lowering. He sat down behind his desk and tried to ignore the picture of a smiling Edith that was pinned up on the wall above his computer. Unfortunately, he couldn't. No sooner had he looked at the picture than he started to cry. He put his arms on his desk and rested his forehead on them, simply allowing himself to cry. Artemis had said that the release of emotions kept people healthy, so it was okay to cry every once in a while.

It was then that Natasha and Pinky came to the door. Seeing their best friend in such a state, they exchanged an incredibly sad look, before Pinky put his hand on the teal platypus's shaking shoulder. Perry violently flinched, so Pinky backed away to the door.

Natasha took over. She put her arm round Perry but the platypus agent literally pushed her away. Then he got up and walked towards the door. Natasha and Pinky both backed out of his way. They watched him leave the office and turn a corner.

Natasha almost cried. Nothing ever made her cry: not her fears, not bullies, not anything. Apart from knowing that her best friend apart from Pinky was hurting so badly and she couldn't do anything to alleviate his pain.

"He really misses Edith," Pinky stated quietly.

"We all do," Natasha sighed. "But him most of all, I get it. I'm not saying that he shouldn't still be grieving. It has only been a year."

"It's been exactly a year," reminded Pinky. "It's only natural he'd be feeling worse on this day."

Natasha composed herself and rubbed her eyes under her black-rimmed glasses. "We had better get back to work."

…

Perry didn't really know where he was going but he only realised he was outside Major Monogram's office when the major himself poked his head out and said, "Ah, Agent P. Could you come in here a minute?"

Wiping his eyes so he looked half-presentable, Perry entered Major Monogram's office and immediately stopped short. A platypus with very light purple fur was sitting on a chair in front of Monogram's desk. For a moment, he thought it was Edith. She looked exactly like Edith. But then he shook his head. Edith was dead.

He went and sat on the chair next to the platypus. Trying not to stare, he gave her a once-over. She had brown eyes, like Edith's; lilac fur, like Edith's; and even the way she sat was like Edith. She gave Perry a smile, and even that looked like Edith. Ignoring the fact that his heart was now twisting in his chest, Perry looked at Major Monogram, who had just sat down behind his desk.

"Agent P, this is Sylvia the Platypus. She's the younger sister of Sampson and Hugh, two famous BOWCA agents. That's the British Organisation Without A Cool Acronym."

Perry didn't bother to snap at the major that he knew what BOWCA was, as he would have done before E-Day.

"She's here for exactly three weeks on a training assignment from Inspector Initials," continued Major Monogram. "I want you to train her."

Perry's heart almost stopped. It was bad enough that he had a platypus who looked just like Edith running around OWCA for nearly a month, but he had to train her?

"Uh…sir…can I talk to you for a minute?" Perry could barely get the words out. "Alone?"

"Sure." Monogram turned to Sylvia. "Agent Sylvia, how about you go down to reception and meet Agent P there? You know the way, right?"

"Yes, sir," said Sylvia, speaking for the first time. Perry realised that she had an English accent.

Well, duh. She's from England, idiot.

Sylvia got up off the chair with another Edith-like smile at Perry and left the room, closing the door behind her. Perry waited ten seconds to make sure she was gone, before he stood up hard, violently tipping the chair over, and shouted, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"Shout louder, I think there are still one or two people in Canada who didn't hear you," said Monogram, sounding mildly amused.

"She looks exactly like Edith!" Perry shouted. "And you knew about that, yet you assigned her to me anyway!"

"It's because you're one of OWCA's top agents," Monogram said calmly. "It's nothing to do with the fact that she looks like Agent Edith."

"I can't train her!" Perry snapped. "Assign someone else to me!"

"It's already done," Monogram said. "And anyway, it's only for three weeks."

"I can't even handle being in the same room with her for three seconds!" Perry hit the desk with his paw. "Sir, this is incredibly unfair to me!"

"Agent P." For the first time since entering the office, Perry heard the stern tone in the major's voice and fell silent. "I will expect you to train her to the best of your ability. Do you understand?"

Perry bit back several angry replies and said, "Yes, sir," though his tone could not have been more frosty.

"Good. Dismissed."

…

Poor Perry. Here's the conflict he has to suffer: Sylvia looks like Edith. How is he going to get past this?