A/N: I own nothing! Except plot. :)

Chapter 2: Lunch Break

Holly was resting her head in her hands in the cafeteria as Trouble set his tray next to her.

"Hey Holly." He looked at her, she had no food tray. "Not hungry?"

She looked up and he could see that her face was slightly green. "No. Root had me test-drive some new wings. I didn't expect them to be so fast so I flew pretty much out of control for about 15 minutes. After that I turned in the wings early and hurried here. I don't think I could stomach anything right now."

Trouble grinned sympathetically. "Sorry to be the one to tell you this but Root and Foaly do this to all new recruits. Those wings are meant to go out of control. Basically it's to see if you have the guts for this job. I had to go through with it. You were lucky though, you didn't throw up."

Holly looked surprised. "But that's not fair...I mean... it's not... ugh!"

"Got the 'test drive thing' huh?" Captain Ash Vein said putting his food tray across from Holly. "To bad, but remember, you'll never have to do it again."

Holly smiled weakly. "Thanks. Maybe I can stomach something now." She got up and went over to the food line.

Vein looked at Trouble. "Like her, huh?" he asked slyly.

"Uh huh." Said Trouble before realizing what he just said. "Wait. No I don't. She's just a friend."

Vein looked at him skeptically. "Right. You know you could ask her out or something."

"Maybe. We'll see" Trouble said but stopped as Holly sat back down.

"Hey." She said looking at Vein. "I didn't catch your name. I'm Holly Short."

Vein looked up at her. "Ash Vein, but you can just call me Vein."

She shook his hand and began eating her salad. 15 minutes later a bell rang through the building, signaling the end of lunch break. The three of them got up and left the cafeteria. As they passed the Ops Booth Foaly stuck his head out.

"Oh good there you are. Root wants you and Trouble in here right away." He said to Holly.

She and Trouble exchanged a glance.

"Ok." Trouble said. "See you later Vein."

Captain Vein grinned and walked down the hall.

The two elves followed Foaly into the Booth. Root looked up as they entered. "There is a group of rogue gnomes of the surface. We need you to bring them back. Short as this is your first Retrieval mission, I want you to take orders from Kelp. Foaly will brief you on the mission."

Trouble looked to see Holly's face turn a slight red. He knew that she didn't especially like taking orders. This was one of the things he liked about her.

"Don't worry." He whispered so only Holly could hear. "I won't give you to many orders."

She grinned at him and then looked at Foaly to hear what he was saying. Trouble was very glad that she did look away because he could feel his face blush at the smile she had given him.

Get a grip Trouble! He mentally yelled at himself.

"Trouble? You in there?" Foaly asked.

"Huh? What?" Trouble asked.

Foaly smirked. "I said, are you ready to go?"

"Um sure. Yeah absolutely."

"Then get going already." Root shouted.

Holly and Trouble hastily grabbed some wings (not the out-of-control ones) and hurried out the door.

"So what are we supposed to do again?" Trouble asked.

Holly giggled. "You really weren't paying attention were you?"

When he shook his head she said. "It's simple, all we have to do is corner them in this location Foaly will send to us when we get to the surface, capture them and be back by nightfall."

"Nothing's ever that simple." Trouble muttered as they entered a shuttle port.

A/N: Review!