Chapter 11: New identity

Rocket woke up with the most annoying headache. He would of gone back to sleep if he hadn't remember he was suppose to be meeting Tia in an hour. Sighing to himself he quickly pushed himself out of bed. His family had been a total nightmare last night, as soon as Jamie asked if Tia was his girlfriend he was bombarded with a million questions about her. If he thought that was bad enough, his father brought up the whole 'leave the army' subject. He knew his father was only trying to protect him but why didn't he get the point. Over and over again, Rocket had to explain to his father how important it was to him to be in the army. To be honest he was surprised to get out of the house alive. Pushing the thoughts out of his head, Rocket got himself ready and grabbed a cup of coffee, before he climbed into his car and drove to meet Tia at the agency.

Tia was very nervous. She didn't know why but she was. It was meant to be a happy moment; she was starting a new life, away from the pain and suffering she had dealt with for the last couple of years. Maybe it was where the new life was going to take her that was making her nervous. Honestly, she had no idea what she was going to do. Tia wished she had thought this through better. She thought she was doing a good job of hiding her nerves until Sonny brought up the subject.

"Why are you so nervous kiddo?" He joked, as he parked the car in front of the agency's head quarters. Curse Sonny for being too observant, Tia swore silently to herself. Tia could only shrug at his question since she really didn't know the answer to that question. Sonny seemed to understand and helped her out of the car. The protection agency was a tall building, though not as big as the army headquarters she had been the day before. She stayed close to Sonny, given that she didn't really know what else to do. Panic rose up inside her when they approached the building because she found out earlier this morning that for part of the process Sonny wasn't going to be with her but instantly calm down when she saw who was waiting outside the building. Tia couldn't help but admire how his t-shirt showed off his firm muscles. He didn't see them approaching at first until he turned his face in Tia and Sonny's direction and waved in their direction. Tia smiled and gave a small wave back; she didn't understand why butterflies were swirling around in her stomach. She tried suppressing the feeling flying in her stomach but the velocity increased, as they got closer.

"Hey Rocket." Tia smiled, when she was only a step away for him.

"Hey guys." Rocket nodded back to both of them with a big smile when Rocket looked at her. Tia used all her might to stop her cheeks from blushing. They all stood outside for a few minutes talking to each other about random topics, before Sonny ushered Tia into the building with Rocket, following close behind. The building was buzzing with people running around and talking with co-workers and friends. Moving around the crowds of people and approached the desk that lay on the other side of the room.

"We have an appointment for ten o'clock." Sonny spoke to the young assistant, who had a white shirt that was showing off her black bra and a short black shirt that showed off nicely shaped legs. The girl looked up from the magazine that she had been reading. Her eyes slowly drifted to where Rocket was leaning next to the counter, a sly smile spread across her face. "Our appointment." Sonny firm voice broke the girl's attention from Rocket. She muttered her apologises and began searching the computer screen, her eyes drifting to Rocket now and again. Tia was thinking about slapping her around the face when a female voice called out behind them.

"Thanks Shelia, I'll take it from her." Tia turned to see a tall young woman with brunette hair pulled up in a pony tail, stunning blue eyes and an amazing figure. It wasn't just the way she looked that made her stand out but the way she held herself as well, like she was the queen and this was her domain. "Hey Sonny." The mysterious woman waved. Sonny embraced the young woman in a hug.

"Hey Mei, how's D'jok and little Rosie?" He asked, after they let each other go.

"Well, the nanny was looking after Rosie and D'jok was still in bed when I left." The young woman answered as she and Sonny both laughed. Tia felt Rocket step a bit closer, as he also watched the happy exchanged between Mei and Sonny. She had been having a difficult time trying to remember where she had heard Mei's name from, until Sonny mentioned D'jok and little Rosie. Glimpses of her and D'jok's conversations began to replay in her head, as she remember that Mei was D'jok fiancé and little Rosie was their child. "So Tia, are you ready?" Mei questioned, breaking Tia from her thoughts and back into reality.

"Uuummm, yeah, I guess." She replied nervously. Mei gave her a gentle smile and led her off to one of the doors. Tia turned to give a quick wave to the two men still standing near the desk before she disappeared through the doors.

After an hour of Tia disappearing through the doors, a man came up to Sonny and handed him an envelope. Before Rocket could ask what it was, Sonny grabbed Rocket by the arm and pulled him out of the building. Rocket knew better then to argue with Sonny or ask what was going on, he knew Sonny would tell him when they were some place private. Once they were in the clear from any audiences, Sonny turned to Rocket with a very serious expression on his face.

"I want you to be honest Rocket, what are your feelings towards Tia?" Sonny asked. It took a few moments for Rocket to answer the question because he didn't understand what Sonny was asking him, until he processed it through his head.

"Pardon?" Rocket questioned, it didn't mean to sound rude but he didn't understand why Sonny had even considered asking him this question in the first place. Sonny just raised an eyebrow, meaning 'just answer the question'. Rocket took a few more moments to examine the question again before he let out a loud sigh. He knew there was no point lying to Sonny because Sonny had known him for too long and could read him like an open book. "To be honest, I don't know. I never felt anything like this about a person before. I think about her all the time, I become ten times happier every time she smiles at me and every time she's hurt and I can't do anything about it, I just want to beat my head against the wall." Rocket explained, letting out a big breath when he had finished talking about her; she always seemed to make him go breathless. A nervous feeling started to hover around Rocket's stomach when a sly grin appeared across Sonny's face.

"Rocket, isn't it obvious." Sonny tried to point out to him but Rocket was still totally clueless. He couldn't help but think he must have looked like a right idiot standing there with a dumb looking expression on his face. Shaking his head to suppress the laughter that was threatening to escape Sonny's throat he gave Rocket another second to see if he could figure it out before explaining. "You're in love." At that moment Rocket's face went from confessed to shock and maybe faint in a blink of an eye. For Rocket, it seemed the world had gone still, as he replayed every memory he ever had with Tia or someone mentioning her name.

"Oh shit." Rocket finally managed to utter out in disbelief. He could think of three battle plans in a minute when under intense pressure, he could survive the wilderness for a week with little food and water but he couldn't figure out that he was in love. How did this happen? Rocket thought to himself, as leaned against the wall to stop himself from passing out. How could he not realise it before? He had always thought Tia different when their eyes met and he realise that she had caught him stealing a security card but hadn't raised any alarms. He even had little daydreams of what her lips would feel like against his. Grumbling to himself, he continued to mentally slap himself for being an idiot.

"Now that we've establish that you're in love her, I think it's time I passed on a warning." Sonny voice automatically ordered Rocket to break from his thoughts and turn to face the older, who looked like he was in full commander mode. "You and I both know that Tia has been through a lot, right now she needs to put her life back together. So just be careful, otherwise I might have to hurt you." Sonny warned. Rocket shook his head; he perfectly understood what Sonny said. There was no way he could ever hurt Tia, he cared far too much for her and now he knew why. But he had a feeling that acting normal around Tia was going to be much harder.

Tia looked at the new her in the mirror. Her hair that used to flow past her bum in tangled curls was now shoulder length with layers, making her hair wavy. She had also gone a shade blonder with a few high lights and had a fringe. Mei had told her to wait hear while they got all her documents ready, giving Tia time to think. Confusion and disbelief were still rolling about in her mind. Even though Mei hadn't told anyone who see was and had only heard a few people whispered the title to Mei, she couldn't help but believe that was what Mei really was. A spymaster. Tia had doubted it at first because of how friendly and talkative she was. But now she was giving time to think about it, it all made sense. She hadn't taken notice of the small questions that Mei had slipped into the conversations and the way she seemed to know what people were saying when they were on the other side of the room. Honestly, it was scary stuff. She could feel another headache coming on and began massaging the temples in her head.

"So, what do you think of your new look?" Mei asked, suddenly appearing behind her and made Tia jumped out of her skin. That was another thing that made Tia think she was a spy; Mei was very good at sneaking up on people.

"Oh Mei you scared me, yes I love it." Tia smiled back. Except her wedding day (when she had her face and hair all done for the big day) she never thought she looked so pretty in her life. Still her looks were nothing compared to Mei's stunning appearance. Mei only laughed and handed her a brown envelope.

"Here's everything you need: Passport, bank statements and birth certificate." Mei exclaimed, as Tia opened the envelope. She opened the little red passport the fell onto her lap. Tia opened it to see a picture of herself with her new hair cut with a date of birth and nationality. She had to get use to her new name and nationality because her old ethnic group was Obia Moon but it was now Akillian. Her name hadn't changed that much. She still had her first name but her last name was now Johnson and she was no longer a Mrs but a Miss. Tia was about to ask if this meant she was officially single but was too scared to ask. When she looked at her birth certificate she was a little surprise to see that her mother's made up last name was Blackbones. Tia looked up and gave Mei a confuse look. "Yeah, Sonny is now your uncle, since we needed an excuse to explain why you were living with him." Mei explained with a little shrug. At that moment Rocket and Sonny walked into the room. Tia saw Rocket's mouth dropped for a second before snapping it shut again.

"You look amazing Tia." Rocket stated overcoming his shock. Sonny nodded in agreement, before passing Tia another envelope, this time it was a white one.

"Sonny, I thought I told you not to go through with your plan, since its illegal." Mei stated, her arms crossed and an angry expression appeared on her face.

"Oh come on Mei, I'll only get in trouble if you tell on me." Sonny replied, showing Mei an innocent smile. Tia could only look back and forth between the two people before nervously opening –since she didn't know what illegal stuff Sonny was giving her- the envelope and looked at the piece of paper on the inside. Carefully looking over the piece of document, she saw her new name again and underneath school subject grades and effort grades, with an attendance score. Looking closer she recognised that the piece of paper showed her old final examination grades that she was going to use to go to university. Her eyebrows disappeared up her hair line when she read the information again.

"Sonny, How?...When?..." Tia was in too much shock to finish what she was saying. Sonny could only laugh at her shock expression.

"I know how much you wanted to go back to school, so I called in a few favours and managed to dig up your old school grades." Sonny smiled. Tears were beginning to form in Tia's eyes, as the sacrifices of what everyone had done for her kicked in. She was instantly surrounded by Mei, Sonny and Rocket, as they tried to comfort her. She brushed away the tears and smiled at everyone.

"I don't know how to thank you guys." She managed to blubber out between sobs.